I own a Samsung Blackjack i607. I got it because it was “on sale” for half price at the time. I’d have to say the main reason for getting it was access to email. It runs Windows software and syncs up with Windows applications. I don’t run Windows applications on my computer, so there’s nothing to sync with on the computer. The software they give you with the phone (Microsoft ActiveSync) installs on the computer and it loads with every boot. You can’t even disable it, it’s always running. Uhm, stupid. But regardless, it’s a necessity for doing the things I have recently done with the phone.
The phone came originally from Cingular branded with all AT&T stuff. I was originally an AT&T customer, then they changed their name to Cingular and hey whadiya know, now we’re back to AT&T. It seems this longevity of my loyalty has paid off in that I apparently have a good plan in that I have all sorts of minutes and bennies. Regardless, upgrading to the Blackjack required a PDA plan and it was just more money for the unlimited Internet and PDA stuff. It came loaded with Windows Media 5.0. I could text, get email and browse the web just fine after tweaks here and there for minimal issues that would arise every once in a while.
Why I upgraded the phone to Windows Media 6.0 I don’t actually recall. I don’t remember if I was searching the web for something in particular or if I just saw a topic about it and decided that ‘hey, I should get this cause it’s newer’. So I called Cingular/AT&T and asked them if doing the upgrade I would be able to plug in my SIM card and everything would be great again. They transfered me to Samsung and blah de blee dah they said all would be well. The upgrade would blow away anything on the phone and they recommend you remove the SIM card while you go through this process that’s documented on the web.
Again, I don’t remember if I was having a particular issue with the phone or if I just wanted the latest WM6.0. I can tell you that after the upgrade, that’s when issues did start. Most notably calls would fade away. I would be talking to someone and then periods of silence would happen where I would stop hearing them, and then the ‘hello? … hello?’ would start and it wouldn’t work right until you booted the phone. So after the “official” upgrade, my phone reported the following:
PDA version: i607UCHA1 Phone version: i607UCHA1 Windows Mobile(r) 6 Standard CE OS 5.2.1437 (Build 17944.0.3.1) Radio Version i607UCHA1 RIL Version 2.002 (c) 2007 Microsoft Corporation All rights reserved.
… and this was the version that gave me problems. I thought it might fix itself, but it didn’t. I then started searching the web for a solution and happened on a WM6.1 “unofficial” upgrade for the Blackjack. So I installed that and while some nifty new features became available for the phone, the fading phone calls still happened. The site that offered the unofficial upgrade also offered me options for the phone as well so I downgraded the phone’s “radio” to the prior version and lo and behold, I now have WM6.1 on the Blackjack with no more fading calls from the official release/upgrade.
There are some bugs to the beta unofficial WM6.1 release and the biggest of those that affect me is the inability to save videos, but I hardly use the phone as a video camera. The pluses far outweigh this tidbit and I trust if I keep checking back for an update, there eventually will be one.
Again, the online community supported me far more than the suits.