I’ve had my Samsung Blackjack i600v for over 2 years and it has been an excellent mobile phone. In that time I haven’t treated the mobile phone with any special care, other than to make sure I don’t put my car keys in the same pocket and as a by product – it looks nearly as good as when I bought it.

It was the first mobile phone I’ve owned by Samsung and also the first with a ‘large screen’. While it certainly isn’t a large screen by today’s standards, it was definitely sizable at the time and coupled with great colour reproduction – has been very easy to use. I was really worried about the screen when I first bought the Blackjack and was overly cautious with it. For the first few days, I was so paranoid I was going to buy a case for the Samsung mobile phone, however opted against it in the end as I thought it went against the slimness of the design. After two years of ownership, I’m pleased with the decision not to go with the case as with limited ‘special care’ – the screen has lasted through more than two years and is still in good condition.

Features of the Samsung Blackjack I liked:

1. Windows Mobile 5
2. Clean, consistent and fast navigation
3. Predictive text
4. Battery life
5. Slim profile

The feature rich operating system on the Samsung Blackjack has been a joy to use, in this particular case it was Windows Mobile 5 – however I could upgraded to Windows Mobile 6 I think. The navigation throughout the phone is consistent and predictable, which I personally like and rate highly. All of the features that you use on a day to day basis are easy to get to and if you use some features of the phone that aren’t prominently placed in the navigation – you can setup shortcuts to make it as fast as factory fitted navigation.

Features of the Samsung Blackjack that I disliked or needed improvement:

1. Sporadic crashes in Windows Mobile
2. Unclear grouping of QUERTY keys into a standard mobile phone pad configuration
3. Camera quality

In typical Microsoft style though, the Windows Mobile 5 operating system isn’t without its hiccups and from time to time (maybe 2-3 times per year) – the operating system crashes and becomes completely unresponsive – even the power button doesn’t work. As soon as I take the battery out, immediately put it back in – the phone reboots and it functions exactly as you’d expect for another 4-6 months without turning it off.

When I first got the Samsung Blackjack, I was unsure how the keys were going to function with the grouping of more than one key to form the ‘traditional’ number pad interface. After using it for a little while it made complete sense but even I don’t think that it is clear enough as from time to time I still find myself scanning the keyboard interface and additional markings for the button in question.

While one of the features I really liked about the Blackjack was Windows Mobile, it also is the reason for a small criticism as well. Settings in the phone that you use sporadically, normally require me to go hunting for, as I can never remember exactly which section of the phone configuration that specific setting lives under. I think a lot of that is just labelling or grouping of different settings within the control panel. After using Windows on the desktop for so long, you kind of assume everything functions the same way and when it doesn’t – it is slightly irritating. While it sounds as though it is a  harsh criticism, it’d normally take no more than 15-20 seconds at worst to find the setting I was chasing – so I suppose it is hardly worth complaining about.

I have been very impressed with the Samsung Blackjack; it is slim, light, feature rich and has been a very robust mobile phone.