Samsung BlackJack2 gets ready to launch on AT&T

Don't get too excited -- you can't order it just yet -- but AT&T's at least ready to admit that the Samsung BlackJack2 exists. It seems the carrier's pulling the same stunt it did with the Q9 Global, taking email addresses for notification of availability without giving any indication as to when it might be available. Compared to the original, the keyboard and d-pad both look considerably hotter, Windows Mobile 6 comes installed (just imagine the horror if it wasn't!), "faster 3G speeds" are being touted, and perhaps most importantly, GPS capability is integrated. Oh yeah, there's some Video Share action in there too, but we're not too sure we'd call that a "feature." When it's launched, look for it in "wine red" and black.

[Thanks, Chris P.]

[ChrisSchwartz @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:08PM]

Crap, and work just gave me a version 1.

[Trevor @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:20PM]

That keyboard looks crazy tight. I like the new look though.

[DrNeuralgia @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:22PM]

the link says Win Mobile classic... wasn't this supposed to be with Professional (touchscreen)?

[Mark @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:45PM]

Different model. The i780 has a 2.5" touchscreen while this one has a smaller non-touch screen. The original Blackjack had a 2.2" screen, so look for something similar on this one.

I hope they make it thinner.

[ghostsfp @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:26PM]

Samsung just lost me as a customer. I've been waiting forever for a WM6 update for my Blackjack, and it turns they're making a new version? PSHHH.

[astute @ Oct 23rd 2007 3:05PM]

Hello, goodmorning??

WM6 has been on the old blackjack for ages! I am running WM6 on my blackjack, and its a charm!

[Cagrino @ Oct 23rd 2007 3:20PM]

I agree with you on the WM6 update. I've been waiting too, but I am tempted to upgrade because of the GPS.

*shakes head in shame*

[getz76 @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:52PM]

I wonder how much these will end up going for as 'unlocked', no contract.

[Lein @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:32PM]

Damn, yet ANOTHER reason to smash my head on the desk for getting the first-generation Motorola Q and signing away some more of my life to the big red V.

It's nice to see AT&T touting other mid/high-end smartphones besides that one with the touch screen surrounded by black gloss and metal.

Now if Verizon would just get off their asses and SHOW us why their network is better instead of just telling us, I'd stop complaining.

[iamdigitalman @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:37PM]

This is the second time in a year cingular/AT&T has pulled the OS upgrade bait and switch stunt. First they promised us LG CU500 owners a firmware update so we could have CU500vs, but then said the hardware is different, when it is not.

Now they are doing it again with the blackjack 1. They promised a WM6 upgrade for all original blackjack owners, but are now coming out with a second version with the new OS, and pulling there previous statements.

They just lost me as a customer. I'll be getting another plan on a better carrier, one that actually cares about their consumers and listens to what they want, and actually delivers on their promises.

[jflint @ Oct 23rd 2007 2:55PM]

So you're basically saying you won't be using a cell phone?

[SHopkins @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:38PM]

I'll likely replace my original with this version, mainly for GPS (been putting off buying a Bluetooth receiver). I do, however, want to make sure tethering has not been disabled as it was in WM6 update that leaked. If it is disabled I can continue to live with my original Blackjack for a good long while. If someone would release a low profile extended batter it would be my perfect phone.

[iamdigitalman @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:39PM]

This is the second time in a year cingular/AT&T has pulled the OS upgrade bait and switch stunt. First they promised us LG CU500 owners a firmware update so we could have CU500vs, but then said the hardware is different, when it is not.

Now they are doing it again with the blackjack 1. They promised a WM6 upgrade for all original blackjack owners, but are now coming out with a second version with the new OS, and pulling there previous statements.

They just lost me as a customer. I'll be getting another plan on a better carrier, one that actually cares about their consumers and listens to what they want, and actually delivers on their promises.

[crescentdavid @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:46PM]

Just out of curiosity, who would that carrier be who "actually cares about their consumers and listens to what they want, and actually delivers on their promises."

I mean, really ... I didn't know that a non-duplicitous and consumer responsive carrier existed. I'd love to be proven wrong on this one.

[comanchezen @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:49PM]

dude, buy an iphone...

[iamdigitalman @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:53PM]

I don't know of one either, but it's nice to dream.

Actually, I have heard some good things about prepaid, which I might just do. At least then you control your minutes.

I have 7k+rollover minutes, and I thought they were paid for, so I started using them, and they billed us for them. WTF? Are they not minutes you have already paid in full for? Correct me if I am wrong here.

Who knows, I might just start up my own wireless service. Oh would that be fun to get past the FCC.

oh yeah, sorry about the double post. The commenting system on here seems borked at times.

[Eric @ Oct 23rd 2007 2:42PM]

You should not be getting charged when using rollover minutes. I've usually got 2k-3k and am never charged for them.

If you are, a phone call to AT&T is in order.

[iamdigitalman @ Oct 23rd 2007 2:48PM]

oh I did, and they told me they charge us twice for it because we also have the data package, and I told them that is not the what they said when we signed up for it.

between that, misleading us on insurance, and a pile of 6 broken phones, something's got to give, and I think that will be me.

or it may just be they are total arses in Michigan, and nowhere else. Would be just my luck.

[slice @ Oct 23rd 2007 3:18PM]

+1! Never buying a Samsung smartphone again.. when I bought it in May, then said WM6 would be out within a month or so.. its almost goaddamned november now.. mails to samsung support are met with silence. dash has had wm6 for ages now.. buying samsung was a BIG mistake..

[B @ Oct 23rd 2007 5:23PM]

I don't know about other carriers, but don't bother getting the insurance from Sprint/Nextel. I knew plenty of people who tried to put in a claim on that insurance after their phone was damaged or lost and they were either charged $100+ to replace the phone or were turned away.

[MrFuNKy76 @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:48PM]

No wifi, No deal...

[SeditioN VII @ Oct 23rd 2007 2:00PM]

Are you serious? Or cheap? HSDPA is FAST. Granted my iPhone on Wifi is faster, but it really has to be because its loading "Real" web pages. Not mobile versions of real web pages, typically anyway. Plus theres only three phones with wifi that at&t offers at this moment, iPhone=EDGE, 8820=EDGE and the tilt. I use the tilt at work and I never switch it to wifi. Not only is it not much faster but wm6 makes changing things like that more of a pain then it is on its friend/enemy dressed in black and chrome.

[getz76 @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:55PM]

@ comancheeze

Some of us dinosaurs actually like buttons. They're terribly useful, you know.

[comanchezen @ Oct 23rd 2007 4:34PM]

true dat. the touch screen buttons are, um, dufferent. all around the iphone isn't the god phone promised, but it sucks less than the competition, imho...

[tundraboy @ Oct 23rd 2007 2:01PM]

Wow! GPS on a tiny screen. That will really work well when I'm behind the wheel.

That's what's so hard about good product design. It's not so much what you put in, it's also what you leave out. What the hell use is GPS on a screen that small? GPS for hikers? Geocachers? Yeah, those markets are big.

Samsung has too many geekgineers and not enough normal people doing product design.

[lonestarrd @ Oct 23rd 2007 2:16PM]

GPS? Get a mapsco if your that lazy.... Sheesh GPS works two ways you know.

[brad @ Oct 23rd 2007 2:20PM]

you sir, will be the first and only to complain that a phone has to many features...



integrated GPS is excellent, go buy tomtom software, slap it on, and listen to the directions...no need to look at the screen

[tundraboy @ Oct 23rd 2007 2:27PM]

Oh really? Like most people buy GPS units for uses other than driving directions. Sheesh, try and look at what's going on in the real world before playing the know-it-all.

[Jon @ Oct 23rd 2007 3:03PM]

What about GPS for walkers? Not everyone drives. Plus you do not need a huge screen to use GPS. Ever heard of voice directions?

[Surur @ Oct 23rd 2007 3:33PM]

He's probably another dummy with an iPhone thats scared of a phone that can actually do stuff.

[Bayard Michael @ Oct 26th 2007 1:08AM]

Ah, I was not sure about GPS on a small screen, but almost instantly I am a huge fan of it, it works way better than I thought, and at the moment I am using free google maps, no voice, but I don't think you need to be looking at your screen all the time and perhaps one needs to use their head when they drive, too.
I use it in many ways, but mostly to drive and discover new twisty roads, it's working for me.

[Bayard Michael @ Oct 26th 2007 1:01AM]

Ah, I was not sure about GPS on a small screen, but almost instantly I am a huge fan of it, it works way better than I thought, and at the moment I am using free google maps, no voice, but I don't think you need to be looking at your screen all the time and perhaps one needs to use their head when they drive, too.
I use it in many ways, but mostly to drive and discover new twisty roads, it's working for me.

[general @ Oct 23rd 2007 2:24PM]

Well it seems they fixed a pair of pet gripes for me. #1 The finally have the numeric pad on immediate adjacent keys and #2 they don't have 0 on the space key.

Now if they improve battery life they will make me smile.

[h4ldol @ Oct 23rd 2007 2:23PM]

So this means no WM6 for the original Blackjack I suppose. Well, at least they put a significant new feature, GPS, in the Blackjack II. I'm tired of using my keychain GPS receiver. Hopefully it will work well with CoPilot and MS Live/Google Maps.

[Travis @ Oct 23rd 2007 5:01PM]

Does anyone know yet if the battery life will be better? It was a great device but even with the bigger battery the most you'd get out of it was a day. 3G speed literally sucks the life out of it

[Jacques @ Oct 23rd 2007 2:48PM]

Does it have Wifi? No, So forget about it!

The telcos want you to use their expensive networks to browse the Internet. With so many free Wifi zones, it's faster and easy to get Mail, make Skype phone calls, browse the internet, stream Audio and video, etc.

[Lawrence Waters @ Oct 27th 2007 4:41PM]

Are you sure it doesn't have WiFi? The Samsung i600 (which was supposed to replace the BJ does). If it doesn't have WIFI, Why bother?

[Jacques @ Oct 27th 2007 5:51PM]

I must admit Lawrence that I have not seen the full specs (I did try to find them). We will see when more info becomes available.

[saq @ Oct 23rd 2007 2:50PM]

This is the second(?) device launched by AT&T that features HSUPA, is a formal HSUPA network announcement due soon? I'm getting slightly faster downstream speeds on my Tilt than I was on my 8525, but upload speeds don't seem to be quite in the HSUPA area.

[Ty @ Oct 23rd 2007 2:53PM]

Just saw a little video demo and now I understand why they got rid of the side scroll wheel. I still wouldn't go out and replace my blackjack 1 with it but it's sharp.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVySSiZhTaE

[Wun Chiou @ Oct 25th 2007 10:10PM]

That jog-dial is pretty hot.

[jsherby @ Oct 24th 2007 1:15PM]

Well I'm glad I just sold my Blackjack. :)

I wasn't impressed by it and unless they fixed the annoying flaws in WM6 I'm not sure how much better it will be.

I hated not being able to edit tasks and some other things like I could on my 8125.

[Sang @ Oct 26th 2007 7:56AM]

I wish BJ2 would have a bigger screen at least like i780.

[Sang @ Oct 26th 2007 7:36AM]

I wish BJe have a bigger screen at least like i780.

[Erik Speece @ Oct 26th 2007 6:21PM]

I work for at&t and I was at a meeting last week with Samsung and the "faster 3G" means it will utilize the 3.6 Mbps once they open it up.

[Jim @ Oct 27th 2007 12:44AM]

Hey Erik,
Since you work for at&t do you have any knowledge about the upgrade to WM6 for Blackjack v1 phones?

[den @ Oct 29th 2007 6:58PM]

A cheap way to make us buy a new phone that doesn’t offer anything new...
where is my touch screen and mouse I saw in a YouTube video.
It’s like buying a new car because this year’s model has a cool sticker on it.