Out with the Treo in with Blackjack [sort of...]

After getting back from Atlanta whis week, I have to admit that I was feeling a little 'inferior' after taking some razzing from my friends/clients all proud of their new corporate standard phone, the Blackberry Pearl.  I got over it.

This weekend I was lying on the couch half asleep watching Saturday Night Live when like a sign from above I rubbed my eyes in time to see Cingular's latest ad for my long, long awaited PDA/Smartphone/Crackberry/Treokiller - the Cingular Blackjack (aka the Samsung SGH-i607)...AVAILABLE NOW no less!  More overjoyed I haven't been in a long time.  Immediately I text my pal & Fuze designer Dan and tell him...when you wake...before you brush...get a Blackjack.  And we both did...

More info...

Today Dan & I made the switch from our Treo's over to Blackjack. I also made the switch from T-mobile which I am apprehensive about because for me, T-mobile both internationally and here stateside, has been a GREAT company.  We'll see how this goes now that I am in my new 2 year agreement with the little orange guys.

OK, first off Cingular is giving good deals on the Blackjack...nice compared to the usual  rape-job we early adopters get nailed with when a new device comes out.  I think my total bill was in the neighborhood of $400 with accessories, and some pretty maxed out plans. Cosmetic wise, its great. The phone is light, small (.46" thick), full function, and reception is great.  Call quality great. Speaker great. Battery life great.  Streaming video & audio...great. All BLACKJACKS in the true sense of the word. Ahhh but alas, on this parade a little rain must fall. There are a number of things I find unrefined, and unacceptable. Here are my bitches so far:

NOTE: A Blackjack hand rating scale seems applicable here so think of my ratings in those terms.

• SMS Message threads - threads are not maintained on SMS.  For us in the office, we live on SMS messaging when we all travel. It is convenient to have each of us with a thread that we can continue.  Blackjack dealt us a 13 on this hand...with dealer showing Ace.  This frankly S U C K S and may be a deal breaker.
• Home page organization - Treo allows you to meticulously position items on your various start menus, Blackjack deals a 16 on this one.  It's Windows and I haven't determined how to customize my home page to include the programs and functions that I want to use frequently.
• Camera - the Blackjack camera is a 20 in terms of quality. Video is also good. It has nice settings adjustments.  Only thing that is crap is actually finding the Camera Application on the phone.  A little CAMERA button would be appreciated.
  
• Support - I'd call this a Pair of 7's - Online support for the Blackjack wasn't ready for Marketing to push it out.  While i was pleasantly surprised on the launch weekend to be able to actually get one at my local Cingular store, I think that the online resources are a bit vague, as are the instructions provided for customization and settings.  This will likely improve.
• Menus - Samsung dealt us a 12 here as the menu's are not anything close to what the Treo menu system is.  Treo is very intuitive and simple, Samsung takes you FIVE STEPS deep at times just to change a setting.  There are no breadcrumb trails to let you know where you are.
• ...

These are my current beef's after exactly 3.75 hrs of ownership.  I will update the blog as I decide whether or not I will keep the device.  I will also ask Dan to log some of his gripes as we take it on ourselves to educate the world on Blackjack (much like I did with the Treo600 which I received proudly on opening-day...come to think of it, I feel personally responsible for at least 100 Treo6xx sales for Palm...still waiting on my check). 

Anyway, if you have one of these little gems...feel free to post up your own comments. Or, set me straight on some of my bitches. BTW - if we ever catch any of you splitting 10's at the tables, we will of course kill you. [rules]

Aces 'n Eights to you all...

Willie Vega