Samsung Blackjack

I have now learned to work my new cell phone with my laptop and my computer.  This is important because I do not have Internet at home, so I was typing my blog while at work.  Often I did not have the books that I wanted to use to write, such as my Bible that has my notes in it or even my Precept study notes. Now I can type the deeper (meaning not just my coffee break thoughts), hopefully more meaningful blogs from my laptop and hopefully transfer them to be uploaded from work.  In fact, if you are reading this, it is because I have been successful.  Hahaha!

Now that I have had my phone for a week, I feel that I am now able to express my opinion about my phone.  I now am the proud owner of a Samsung BlackJackphone.  It became apparent during some of my travelling to take depositions or attend hearings that I needed to purchase a phone with e-mail capabilities.  I looked at what was available (and cheapest) when the time for my upgrade passed.  I asked Kory Browning, who has had both a Blackberry and a Blackjack, which he would suggest, and the Blackjack came highly recommended (thanks Kory!).  I placed my order, waited on the phone to arrive, and began playing with my new toy.

First, here are the things that I don't like.  The manual and online support that supposedly teach you how to use the phone were not written to teach you how to use the phone.  In fact, they don't teach you anything.  They are very poorly written, do not address most of the questions that a normal person (if I can be considered normal) would ask, do not explain important things, and are really disappointing.  I couldn't get the Internet to work, and there was no troubleshooting section on the Internet.  I couldn't find the music that I had put on there, but there was no section informing you where music that is transferred to the phone is automatically stored.  I wanted to lock the Internet and/or the keypad, but there wasn't a section telling you how to do that either (or at least that I found).  You get the picture.  Speaking of locking the Internet, it appears that it cannot be locked and it is easy to accidentally open the Internet, so that is another thing that I do not like.  Working with teenagers (both here and in NO), I like to lock the Internet because it costs so much when you go over my allotted usage each month.  I also don't like how complicated the phone is to learn to use (but that kind of goes along with the whole lack of a good manual thing).

Finally, here are the things I like.  My previous phone was a Motorola Razr, and I did not realize how unclear the Razr's calls are until I started using this phone.  I don't know if it is because the Blackjack has a better internal antenna or just because the volume is better on the Blackjack, but the call quality is definitely improved.  Although I thought I would not like it, I love the keyboard.  I do miss the one-touch ability to text where my words were completed on the Razr (although when the wrong word was chosen, it could be quite strange or hard to decipher),but I am learning to type almost as fast on the keyboard.  The keyboard is nice when typing long messages instead of having to mess with one-touch.  I just wish that it would give me an option on long words.  The contact list (although a pain in the rear to set up) is much better because all the numbers for the same person can be entered in one place.  I just don't like that it is organized by last name, then first, so my list has everyone's first and last names as their first.  I have looked up in the manual about how to change that, but that was one of the areas not addressed.  I am very pleased with the e-mail capabilities (once I got it set up, another manual issue) and love how the e-mail and text messages appear when reading them.  The camera is pretty good as is the video recorder.  The video is pretty grainy when you watch it on the computer, but that is to be expected.

I am grateful to Kory who has been answering my questions as they come up since the manual doesn't.  Overall, I am very pleased with my new phone.  I would highly recommend the Blackjack (so long as you have someone who can answer your questions because the manuals do not).