[ARHYTHMATIK]

So here's the dilema, Blackjack has 3G and Slingbox capability (your home tv in the palm of your hand), but is Windows Mobile and is somewhat a dog to type on. Blackberry 8800 supposedly will have wifi, but no Slingbox capability, yet has the ever-so-stable blackberry OS.

Which one should I take? Is the Blackberry 8800 really worth the wait when something that's possibly "better" is out right now?

[kasperapd]

Well, you are on a BB forum, so you can probably only guess what will most likely be suggested. However, you seem to want some very specific things, and only you will be able to decide which device will best meet your needs.

[greggebhardt]

Sounds like watching movies are the most important to you so the Blackjack will suit you fine. Blackberry is for email first so if looking for entertainment the Windows OS is not a stable but entertaining!

[jfisher]

using windows mobile will knock 5 years off your life due to stress and frustration. and watching tv reduces your brain to mush.

[Dubdub]

I found the Blackjack to be a capable device. It wasn't all that hard to type on and actually, I felt that it was better than my 8700. But I came back to the BB because the O/S is stable, I liked the push email, battery life was great. I didn't need 3G and didn't need video.

[redsoxnation]

Blackjack also uses Micro Soft. So NO WAY!

[takeshi]

Originally Posted by ARHYTHMATIK

Which one should I take? Is the Blackberry 8800 really worth the wait when something that's possibly "better" is out right now?

It's your call. What's "better" for one person isn't better for everyone. Personally, stability is my top concern. Just pick based on your priorities (unless a popularity contest is your priority for some reason).

[bweppner]

BlackJack went back to cingular today. I would't call it a happy day, as there were
many features I really enjoyed:
- Form Factor/Size
- Rich display
- 3G Speed! Over 900K+ on dslreports.com
- Windows Media Player/Micro SD Slot
- Pocket IE
- RF. I almost always had a full 3G signal with the BlackJack. The reception was exceptional.

HOWEVER:
- Battery life was dismal at best. After 4hrs. of typical use (for me), the battery was at 20%. This would maybe cost me a bar of battery life on my 8700c.
- No typing shortcuts (besides T9). I really like the way my 8700c helps me quickly craft emails. For me, corporate email is my #1 priority in a mobile device and I still feel BlackBerry does it best.
- Goofy proprietary Samsung charging/syncing/headphone port.
- Too many steps to get to a particular application or screen.

I feel the BlackJack is a great Pro-Sumer device. Not quite ready for the stresses that 100+ emails a day, phone calls, etc. when I'm mobile. Great device to link your personal email account to, take photos, surf the web, play WMAs, etc.

So, where's the darn 8800?

[CarlGalgano]

I think the poor battery performance is the biggest problem. I dont mind charging every night, but the Blackjack and even the Q are horrible with battery life. There are some days I am pretty close to the end of my battery on my 7130, so I am sure I would go thru 2 or more batteries on a blackjack. Who wants to carry extra chargers, cables, batteries.......

[gadgetman]

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[gadgetman]

I used the 8700c for a year and LOVED it and I still think it's a GREAT phone. Then I got my hands on a Blackjack and haven't looked back. Now with the Blackjack I have:

1. A gorgeous screen with superb colors, nice than the 8700c.

2. Websites look like they are supposed to look, with backgrounds etc. and the correct fonts.

3. 3.5g, blazing fast. Speeds over 700 on DSL reports and sometimes 800.

3. A great 1.3 camera, better than I have seen on any other phone including 2.0.

4. A great video recorder.

5. Streaming TV and radio.

6. T9 which is superb because it learns my words and competes them.

7. A built-in RSS Feed reader which is just fantastic and which has no acceptable equivalent for a Blackberry. I have tried ALL of the third party RSS feed options on Handango, and a couple that aren't on Handango, and they were all amateurish and horrible. When you try the Blackberry RSS feed programs, it makes you realize that Blackberry really is a DOS type program.

8. Reception and sound on the earpiece which puts the 8700c to shame. It's very close to landline quality. I have been all over the San Francisco Bay Area with the phone and not once have I seen less than 4 bars out of 4 anywhere.

9. I installed voice command on the BJ. Not only do I use it to bring up programs and contacts ("show browser" "show Fred Smith" "dial Mike Jones"), but it reads email to me when they arrive! It reads the name of the sender and the subject line. It also tells me the name of the caller if it's in my contacts.

10. There is a quick launcher that allows you to access any program fast. Press the trackwheel for 2 seconds. Shortcuts on the BJ are great.

11. The BJ has a voice recorder.

12. Very good battery life. I got the extended 1800 mAh battery from Samsung and I can use the phone all day making multiple calls and well into the next day. Lasts longer than the 8700c. The extended battery costs $30 on Amazon and with the battery door the phone is only thickened to the existing level of the camera hump. It's ridiculous to complain about battery life when you can get the extended battery. (Ask me if you need some tricks to extend battery life even further.)

I receive INSTANT push email like the Blackberry (because I use 4smartphone.net which costs less than $4 per month).

The BJ has a trackwheel and escape button on the right, like the 8700c.

What are the disadvantages of the BJ over the 8700c?

1. No cutting and pasting.

2. Typing is easier on the 8700c, but not by much. There is a program available to enable typing on the BJ to emulate the 8700c but I haven't tried it yet. However, the t9 word leaning and word completion on the BJ actually makes it faster to type on the BJ.

3. Larger screen on the 8700c (but not as nice as the BJ). I just don't notice the difference in screen size and the smaller screen means higher resolution (240 x 320).

When the 8800 or 8900 (whatever!) comes out, that will be worth looking at and I may return to the Blackberry fold if it's something great. But for now, the BJ is my phone of choice.

[BMWLotAttendant]

Originally Posted by gadgetman

When the 8800 or 8900 (whatever!) comes out, that will be worth looking at and I may return to the Blackberry fold if it's something great. But for now, the BJ is my phone of choice.

Good for you.

[untjoker]

Originally Posted by ARHYTHMATIK

So here's the dilema, Blackjack has 3G and Slingbox capability (your home tv in the palm of your hand), but is Windows Mobile and is somewhat a dog to type on. Blackberry 8800 supposedly will have wifi, but no Slingbox capability, yet has the ever-so-stable blackberry OS.

Which one should I take? Is the Blackberry 8800 really worth the wait when something that's possibly "better" is out right now?

If the Blackjack had anywhere decent battery life with 3G I'd say go for it. I live in Tulsa where there is full 3G coverage, however the battery doesn't last even a 1/2 day with medium usage. Even with two batteries it's totally not worth it. So unless you buy an extended battery for the Blackjack, stick with the Blackberry. Such a shame because the Blackjack is really a sweet phone with awesome features, but the manufacturers have yet to fine tune device's features to not suck 3g battery life.....

[junior1790]

i bought a blackjack specifically to watch sling box but would never give up my berry. sling box is cool for what it does and it actually does it better than most wm phones I've seen but it's still slow, buggy and just overall not suitable for my needs out of the office.... 2 big phones for now...

[gadgetman]

It's amazing to me that people reject the Blackjack because of battery life when an excellent extended 1800 mAh Samsung battery is available for $30. It's a great phone. It's no big deal to spend $30 when you have already invested a couple of hundred bucks buying the phone.

[bweppner]

Originally Posted by gadgetman

It's amazing to me that people reject the Blackjack because of battery life when an excellent extended 1800 mAh Samsung battery is available for $30. It's a great phone. It's no big deal to spend $30 when you have already invested a couple of hundred bucks buying the phone.

Why is that so amazing? I didn't have to buy an extended battery for my BlackBerry 7290 or 8700c and both were $200 at the time. I didn't have to buy a proprietary headset for them either. Instead of providing you with two batteries on the BlackJack, how about they provided one that lasted for more than six hours?

[gadgetman]

You are right. No one can force you to pay $30 for an extended battery. Exercise your freedom of choice I say.

[bweppner]

Looks like Samsung/cingular may have realized the error of their ways. Some folks over at Howard Forums are reporting that they have recently received a BlackJack from cingular Premier with one standard and one extended battery. The original release contained two standard batteries and a battery case + charger...

[pinhead]

The Blackjack has excellent battery life folks...it really does. However, 3g robs battery power just like Wifi, maybe even worse, so factor that in when talking about how it lasts. If you want the Blackjack to last like the 8700g does you need to turn off the 3g. You will still have EDGE/GPRS (like the BB's you all are comparing it with) and all of the other advantages of Windows Mobile 5.

It is pretty ignorant of people, mostly people who haven't learned how to use the phones, to say that Windows Mobile is unstable. Unlike my BB 8700 which reset on a few occasions, like when looking up a number while on a phone call and when I got in the car and the bluetooth somehow failed on the 8700g, yet my TyTN has never had that type of issue and nor did the Blackjack. There is no doubt that for email I rank the Blackberry as the absolute best choice. While MS push has equaled it in terms of usability, speed, and reliability, it only allows ONE email account to be pushed in this way. The 8700g for example allows me to have several pushed immediately. But, when I know that I'll need a good calendar, web browser, navigator, Office document access, and many other great things in addition to (ONLY) one push email account and a few pop/imap accounts then Windows Mobile is the only choice. Plus, the bluetooth doesn't fail, freeze the device, and cause an automatic reset!

[gadgetman]

I have the extended 1800 mAh battery on the BJ. I keep 3G turned on all the time. I turn off Bluetooth with the Fn/b toggle when I'm not in the car. I have the screen on setting 2 which is really bright and have turned off beam receive. I use it as my main business phone so I am making phone calls on it all day long. I also browse a lot and am constantly checking RSS feeds and have push e-mail. I receive about 70-100 mails a day including spam. If there was ever a "power user," then it's me. By about 11:00 p.m, it's still on 50% power. Yes, I have to charge it every night but I had to charge my 8700c every night too, so what's the difference?

A year ago I laughed at the Windows Smartphone because I thought it was rubbish. At that time it was. But things have changed dramatically. The BJ is a major advance and more than a match for the Blackberry. Right now I have a still camera, video camera, brilliant RSS Feed reader, great browser that shows pages as they are meant to be, word completion, HSDPA 3.5g, streaming radio and TV and push mail. Exactly what am I missing by not using the 8700c? Oh yes, I remember now, the "Crackberry experience."