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Tags : About MY Gear, Mobile Phones

I’m Adding a New Phone To My Deck

Posted on 17 March 2008 by


It’s been a long time, but I finally feel like I’m coming home! In the last few months I have had the pleasure of trying several fabulous devices from HTC, Nokia and Sony Ericsson but none of them could match my favourite form-factor: the one of the BlackJack. I love its thin design, excellent thumboard and beautiful screen. Combine that with HSDPA and Windows Mobile and it was pretty much the perfect phone for me. Alas it was short lived, as it went back to the shop for repair and never returned.

It wasn’t until today when I needed to respond to a bunch of emails while on the road, with no laptop, that I realised I need it back. I just can’t stand T9 for emailing. So tonight, with Judie’s ever helpfulness in considering gadget purchases, I clicked “Buy Now” on an new unlocked Samsung BlackJack II. Faster, more memory, bigger screen and much improved battery life, the new one looks to update and fix the original, in the same design and compact package as before.

samsung_i617k_att_z1.jpg

As Judie will attest I have long wanted a HTC Tytn II, but alas it just didn’t fall into my price range at the moment, but hopefully the BlackJack II will serve me well for a while to come.

I paid for express shipping, so it should arrive this week (with first impressions to follow shortly after). If not I’ll have to wait over the long weekend, gah!

This post was written by:

- who has written 208 posts on Gear Diary.

Mitchell Oke is a 22 year old Bachelor of Creative Technology (Digital Video Production) from Sydney, Australia. He's previously worked for News Ltd as a Multimedia Producer, and currently works as a freelance editor and videographer. He has a great love for gadgets and cars, always wanting to have the latest and greatest phones, notebooks and other electronic toys. He is a huge fan of Star Trek, Top Gear and Seinfeld, citing them as his favourite TV shows. In December 2006 he became a Mac convert, having used Windows since he was 5.

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  • runningman

    Will be interested to see if you like the exterior coating on this one as well as the original. The first iteration has worked very well for me, and still looks new – which is amazing as I am hard on phones (and use this one daily for work). I have a 3 month old RAZR2 for personal use that I put in a case recently as it is already getting banged up. I have a colleague who has a II and am wondering if it will hold up. Guess you’ll be the test case!

    Bill

  • http://www.geardiary.com Mitchell Oke

    Yeah I am a bit disappointed about that, I wish they had kept the original rubberised coating, my BJ never scratched. The N95 8GB I have been using is glossy plastic, and it has a few scuffs, whilst the rubberised back has none :P

  • Wayne Schulz

    Funny how “helpful” Judie is when spending other people’s money… :lol:

  • http://www.geardiary.com Judie Lipsett

    Yeah, but then – you all are just as “helpful” with mine. ;-)

  • http://www.geardiary.com Mitchell Oke

    Yeah, it’s called payback :razz: Hehe.

  • TrvlngDrew

    Go Mitchell! Sounds great, curious to see if you like it as well as its predecessor. I’m driving a Motorola Q9 in AU and a Motorola Q9h in the US. Very different beasts, sort of like the differences in the first Blackjack in different locations.

    Looking forward to your review! :grin:

  • http://www.geardiary.com Mitchell Oke

    I hope I do. I mean almost the same dimensions, but with a HUGE 1700mAh battery!!

    USPS has marked it as having been dispatched to Australia, should be here tomorrow!