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Wow. How refreshing. After two years of incessant harangues and angry emails, it’s nice to see people smiling when they think of CrunchGear. As you recall, I have a pink BlackJack II from Samsung to give away to a female who can plead convincingly on camera. The resulting photos, which ranged from kind-hearted to downright nasty (Looking at you, Molly O), amused us all to no end. But there can only be one BlackJack II winner and she is…

Charming Krystle and her glimmer sign. The winner was picked at random but I think anyone who made a CrunchGear logo out of glitter is alright in our book. Thanks for playing and keep reading.

I have a new AT&T BlackJack II just burning a hole on my desk. Unfortunately, it’s the pink model so I figured someone out there might enjoy it. Your mission is to take a quick pic of a female pleading – even wistfully – for the phone with something identifying CrunchGear in the frame – a sign, perhaps the website itself. Note: You cannot go to the Interweb, find a picture, and scratch the word CrunchGear on it. Email the photo to contest@crunchgear.com with the subject “BLACKJACK” and we’ll pick one entrant at random and create a slideshow of the entries. We’ll close up the contest next Tuesday, October 21, at noon Eastern. You don’t have to be Ansel Adams, here, people, so feel free to have fun. Multiple entries are allowed as long as they’re of different people.

Windows Mobile 6 users on certain devices may have noticed that their homescreen calendars didn’t automatically sync up with that pesky extra day at the end of last month, leap year being as it is, we had 29 days in February.

There’s a patch out, so if you’re an ACE, or BlackJack, or BlackJack II user, you’ll want to download it now.

This only affects a handful of devices, and only the homescreen; the actually calendar is fine.

FIX: Samsung BlackJack, BlackJack II and ACE Leap-Year Calendar patch available [The Unwired]

The phone runs Windows Mobile 6 and has a 2.3-inch color screen and QWERTY keyboard. Interestingly enough, during testing in Barcelona we discovered that the ACE can’t text using the SIM chip, something Sprint is probably scrambling to fix right now. To prevent you from jumping off Sprint’s network while you travel, the company supplies an “unlocked” SIM card for use in the phone:

A Sprint-provided SIM card is provided pre-installed in the device for
customers who wish to utilize Sprint International Roaming Services (special activation
required) while traveling abroad. Customers may also take advantage of the unlocked SIM
which allows the device to accept an in-market international carrier’s SIM for voice and data
services.

Sly devils. It also runs Sprint TV and On-Demand and includes a 1.3-megapixel camcorder. Finally, you can connect the phone to your PC as a wireless modem. Why is it called the Ace and not the Blackjack Sprintino? It seems AT&T has the corner on the Blackjack market which precludes others from using the name.

[photopress:Sprint_SPH_i325_side1.jpg,thumb,pp_image][photopress:Sprint_SPH_i325_back.jpg,thumb,pp_image][photopress:Sprint_SPH_i325_front.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

Time to upgrade that dinosaur of an OS on your Samsung BlackJack to a less than tolerable version 6. That’s right, today at 5PM EST you’ll be able download the official upgrade, but don’t go there now because it still has version 5. Wait until 5PM EST, k?

Don’t do it until 5

Sammy, the “internal Samsung mascot,” enlists two lovely ladies to help him unbox the Blackjack II, available from AT&T. Coup de craw!

Attention, Blackjack owners: If your favorite smartphone (the Blackjack, natch) has been experiencing odd dropped calls for no apparent reason, and you’ve been cursing up a storm to AT&T, your anger may be misguided.

According to the nice people at Samsung, a few Blackjacks made from November 2006 to February 2007 might have a manufacturing glitch that hangs up when you don’t want it to. While there’s no official recall, Samsung, through AT&T, is offering a free exchange program for certain owners of the popular smartphone.

Check the date on the sticker behind the battery. It’ll be in a yy.mm format, so 06.11 for November of 2006. If it’s 06.11 through 07.02, dial 1-800-801-1101 and tell them what’s going on to initiate a replacement.

Most customers won’t be affected by the defect, and Blackjacks made after February had a corrected manufacturing process, so they won’t have the problem.

Make sure to back your stuff up first.

A FAQ, from Samsung:

Q: What is the nature of the product advisory issued by ATT and Samsung
regarding the SGH-i607 BlackJack?

A: First, there is no recall of product. Some customers who purchased
the Samsung BlackJack i607 which was manufactured during the months of
November 2006 – February 2007 may find they are experiencing dropped
calls or poor signal reception.

Q: What should I do if I am experiencing these issues with my BlackJack
phone?

A: If you are experiencing these issues, contact AT&T’s Exchange by
Mail (XBM) program at 1-800-801-1101. The XBM representative will assist
customers with devices built in the timeframe by exchanging their device
for another.

Q: How can I tell when my phone was manufactured?

A: The date will be located on the lower right hand side of the
identification sticker in the battery compartment. It is in the format
of yy.mm.

Q: What has Samsung done to correct the issue?

A: Samsung has implemented some design changes to fix these issues and
there have been no issues with call performance with all new hardware
manufactured from and after March 2007.

It may surprise some of you to read this, especially from me, but I must say it: Not everyone is going to need an iPhone. Sure, I’m stoked as anyone to get my hands on one, but I’m not sold that it’s the do-all some people are hyping it up to be (not Apple, btw). Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s an industry-changing device the likes of which we haven’t seen since the StarTAC, but is it right for everyone? And, more to the point, is it right for me? The jury’s still out. Until I’ve had the chance to play with one, to work it over, to caress it gently in my rough hands, I won’t know for sure. What I do know, though, is that despite the hype, the iPhone (no, I won’t be calling it “Jesus Phone”) isn’t the only game in town. And like it or not, you’re ready for a real smartphone.

That’s the focus of today’s Help-Key: How to get your smartphone on, the non-Apple way.

For those of you who are still using old-fashioned cellphones instead of feature-rich fancy smartphones, I’d like to help you along with our Smartphones Now! as a primer. It’s a nice batch of pieces that breakdown in detail the rank and file of smartphones with pros and cons for each kind there is, down to certain models. But we’re not just talking about a generic group of handsets here, we’re talking iPhone competitors, which means touchscreens, connectivity options and usability beyond your Blackberry. We’re going to look at a few such devices, and see if we can’t out iPhone the iPhone.

The problem is, there are a lot of handsets that could conceivably go toe-to-toe with the iPhone, so we’ve broken a few down for you, starting with the popular Blackjack from iPhone’s own AT&T (the old Cingular). The Blackjack is sort of a yardstick for what a smartphone is. It features 3G connectivity, so Wi-Fi, as the iPhone has, isn’t really necessary. No touchscreen, but instead you get a full QWERTY keypad, something the iPhone loses to make way for a slick design. Personally, we’re not stoked on the iPhone’s lack of true keyboard and this might be the device’s Achille’s heel.

The iPhone’s 2-megapixel camera is better than the Blackjack’s 1.3-megapixel, and neither feature the much-envied flash. Also, the Blackjack runs the maligned Window Mobile 5 OS (at least at this time) instead of the iPhone’s slick OS X interface. But here’s the rub: There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of installable apps for the Blackjack and other Windows Mobile devices, whereas Apple’s not letting anyone into the iPhone without going through the Safari entrance. We see this as another problem with the iPhone that others have solved already.

If you’re looking for something a little more powerful, but just as slim, you’d be wise to check out the Wing from T-Mobile. While it doesn’t feature the uber-fast 3G the Blackjack does, it’s got Wi-Fi, so if you’re in a wireless-friendly metro area, you can get your Web on even faster. Also, it has a decent touchscreen, much like the iPhone. And a pull-out QWERTY keypad that’s actually quite nice. The Wing, like the Blackjack, runs Windows Mobile, not the greatest OS, but it can be tricked out nicely (more on this in an up-coming Help-Key).

But let’s say you’re more interested in the iPod aspect of the iPhone. We’ve got you covered there, too. Music-playing cellphones are nothing new and Apple itself has even dabbled in the market some. That being said, none have really taken off like they could have. The handset makers have compromised enough that they tend to be neither great music devices or phones, and the carriers have marked them up enough that they’re just unattractive all-around. There is hope on the horizon, though, in the form of the forthcoming Nokia 5700, though.

While not officialized with any carrier in the U.S. yet, the 5700 has all the makings of a decent music phone and smartphone in one. Running Nokia’s S60 flavor of the Symbian OS, the phone has thousands of installable apps and a swivel keypad with music controls on the back. The 2-megapixel camera matches that of the iPhone for half the price. Truly a handset to keep your eye on.

If your media requirements go beyond music, you’re going to want a screen that kicks ass. While the iPhone does give us the widescreen iPod we’ve been asking His Steveness for for months, it’s still, well, tiny. Enter the Archos 704-WiFi. Not a phone by any means, the 704 is a PMP for serious media fiends. With a 7-inch touchscreen, built-in Wi-Fi and Opera’s latest browser, this guy does everything but make phone calls. Pair it with your favorite slim phone and realize convergence isn’t always the way to go. Sure, it’s not for everyone, but again, neither is iPhone.

For those wanting a more portable option, think of Bluetooth pairing your favorite handset with the Nokia N800 tablet. The small Internet device is a media powerhouse in its own right and has roughly the same form factor as the iPhone, with more features, like built-in video conferencing. Sure, you’ll need a handset with a data plan for Web access, but the same holds true for the iPhone (or so we’re led to believe). When our own editor John Biggs groped the N800, he fell in love and he’s a Taurus, so that’s saying something.

But if you’re looking for a little bit of everything above in a small package, think about the Palm OS-based Treo line from Palm. Easy to use with touchscreens like the iPhones (well, they’re touchscreens at least), a surfeit of readily downloadable applications for easy customization, full QWERTY keypads, media playback, Internet connectivity options and Bluetooth make them do-alls that honestly deserve a second look. The apps most people need are built in and add-ons are easy to download and install. There are reasons why Treo users are so into their handsets and if you haven’t tried one out lately, maybe you should. Chances are very good that you can get one today, no matter what carrier you have. That’s a nice advantage over the AT&T/Apple iPhone right there, friend.

All in all, I’m excited as everyone else is about the iPhone. I think the iPhone is going to affect not just the smartphone industry, but the wireless phone industry as a whole (I know, not really going out on a limb there). Since the machine itself places usability over shininess (not that it discounts shininess outright), it’s setting a bar that others will have to try to reach. In addition, the synergy between AT&T and Apple over how they’re co-marketing the device is significant in its own way; the rumored rate plans for voice and data could well send huge ripples throughout the wireless world, meaning better service and prices for everyone, iPhone users or not.

Hopefully this guide will help you understand a little more about the environment the iPhone is landing in, and, by extension, will also help you figure out if you’re one of the ones the iPhone is right for or one that can resist the hype and still do things your way.

I’ve already installed 6 here at CG labs — my basement — so expect a full report this week. Otherwise, Blackjack users stay vigilant. Or maybe find some hacked WinMo 6 out there and install it yourself.

BlackJack WM6 Update: Q3 at best [WMExperts via BGR]

UBiQUiO 503G Windows Mobile 6 3G Smartphone [MobileWhack]

Product Page [via Mobility Today]

Take heart, casual smartphone wannabe, as we’ve uncovered a deal for you. Right now, if you purchase the BlackJack with a 3G unlimited data plan, and also sign up for AT&T’s DSL service for home in-store, then the conglamorate will load you up with mail-in rebates, bringing the final price of the phone to $99.

If a smartphone isn’t quite your thing, the same combination of services will net you a Samsung SYNC or an LG CU500, both fantastic phones, for free. If you’re looking at changing your wireless provider or your home Internet provider, these deals are very worth it.

Consumer Benefits from AT&T-BellSouth Merger Continue with 3G Wireless Phone Offers [Mobile Burn]

Has anyone else had this experience?

(Thanks Zack!)

Got some hands-on time with the SCH i760, the Blackjack Deux, with an external keypad and fold out QWERTY keyboard. It’s probably coming out on Verizon, although the kids at Samsung weren’t talking. More as we get it.

Because it looks like they plastered Grey’s star Katherine Heigl with a Blackjack all over the place. Not that it’s a bad thing.

…and yes, I love me some Grey’s Anatomy.

SlingMedia let drop today SlingPlayer Mobile for Smartphones (v1.0.5) and for PocketPC (v1.1). In addition to several bug fixes and tweaksm the smartphone edition features support for the Samsung Blackjack and the T-mo Dash. You can try it out for free for 30 days and after that it’ll cost you $30.

Download [via Zatz via Gizmodo]

If you’ll recall, the battery was the only real drawback I could find with the Blackjack. Samsung includes two battery and an external charger with the device, but it’s a bit of a hassle.

The new battery adds some meat to the body, but I’d reckon it’s irrelevant. If it redeems the one shortcoming of the Blackjack, I’m definitely on-board. Dunno the details on where to get it, but I expect we’ll see it circulating soon.

Flickr Photo Set [via Mobility Today]

You have until 5PM EST.

Oh and if you enjoy CrunchGear, please be sure to favorite us on Technorati: http://technorati.com/blogs/http://crunchgear.com.

I’ve got 11 winners for you here. Jon, who won on the day 01, graciously gave up his copy because he didn’t have an iPod or a PSP. Anyway, make the jump to learn if you’ve won:

Thanks for participating everyone. I’ll be contacting you all soon.

And don’t forget, we’ve still got 80 more copies to give away. So if you want to win, just keep on commenting and be sure to plug your email address into the form. Plus one lucky commenter this week will win the grand prize, a brand new Samsung Blackjack.