Blackjack: Samsung SGH i600

I couldn’t resist and wait for that much anticipated Apple iPhone. Besides, the lack of 3G capability and the ability to manually change batteries is a huge turn-off. For a while now, I’ve been scouting for a PDA or a smartphone and I’ve actually considered the new but expensive Treo 750 and the updated Nokia E61i. Sadly, none of the cellphone or gadget blogs that I read didn’t really gave me good reviews about them. In fact, I relied mostly on gadget forums and tech sites to get feedback about these phones. I guess most gadget blogs aren’t a good source of product reviews since they don’t usually own (or even seen or touched) the devices they’re blogging about. That’s for another discussion altogether.

Moving forward, I was keen on getting myself that well-equipped and appropriately priced Nokia E61i but during my tour to the phone stores, I discovered the Samsung SGH i600 smartphone. It’s commonly known as Blackjack in some regions and was released last December 2006.

Samsung Smartphone

Using my old Nokia 6233, I Googled it for a quick review of the feature set and found that it came very close to the Treo and the E61i.

HSDPA(1.8Mbps) / UMTS / EDGE / GPRS
GSM / Tri-band (900/1800/1900 MHz)
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
1.3 Megapixel Camera with Auto Focus (2 x Digital Zoom)
65,536 Color TFT Screen (QVGA, 2.3″)
QWERTY Keyboard / Thumb-wheel
Memory: ROM 128MB RAM 64MB
External Memory (microSD)
Video Player (H.263, H.264, MPEG4, WMV )
Music Player (MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, WAV)
Bluetooth 2.0 (A2DP,AVRCP) / USB 1.1
WAP 2.0 / Active Sync ML
Mobile Printing (BPP, Pictbridge)
OS: Windows Media Player 5.0
Push e-mail: MS Direct Push
Outlook
Document Viewer
Speaker Phone
Web App.: MSN, RSS Reader. Pod Casting
Dimension: 113 x 59 x 11.8mm, 105g
Battery Time (1200mAh: 4hr 45min on GSM)

Samsung SGH i600

Been playing with it for a couple of days now and the only app I have downloaded into it is Opera Mini. Just love the scroll wheel that controls a Vista-like flipping window. Full review will be up on PTB later this afternoon/evening.

So far, I’m pretty happy with it. Just in case someone asks, it costs just under Php25k.

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

31 Comments

mr nice ash says:

18 years ago

They called it BlackJack, I guess to mimic BlackBerry.
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beeps says:

18 years ago

Abe, Have you tried using Blackberry? if what you are looking for is strictly for business purpose then i think a Blackberry 8707g would be perfect for you. :)
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karla says:

18 years ago

My Dad got the same phone too :D
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beeps says:

18 years ago

@karla

Which one ? the BlackJack or the BlackBerry ?
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beeps says:

18 years ago

abe, its been a while hope we could chit chat sometime. Ive been using Blackberry for quite sometime, so far so good. i have two units. 8700 and 8707g i was able to upgrade application from 4.1 to 4.2 and its quite better now. hehe, kinda weird topic is samsung and ive been discussing this Blackberry thingy here. :D
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Abe Olandres says:

18 years ago

What browser can it run? I’m using Opera Mobile pala and it works great for browsing. There’s also built-in RSS reader and podcast client. The 1.8Mbps HSDPA tops it all.
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beeps says:

18 years ago

Yes it also uses Opera as well. im not quite sure with RSS reader and podcast client. Good Evening Yugs :)
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Marcvill says:

18 years ago

Wow! It’s a lot cheaper than the Treo750. Slimmer too!
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tonti says:

17 years ago

hello.. how much did you get it for and where?
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Raine says:

17 years ago

Hey for those who are interested in buying the Samsung i600 you can call 7227777 or 1-800-10-SAMSUNG!!!!
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milipetals says:

17 years ago

Hi. I used to have a Nokia E61, but unfortunately, someone stole it. Now I’m looking for a replacement phone, and since I got so used to the qwerty keypad and the office, and wifi features of the E61, I was looking for a similar phone.

Now, my choices are the Motorola Q8 (not the Q9, because the Motorola sales lady says that it only has hasdpa and not wifi), This samsung i600, and the Nokia E61i.

I’m familiar with the Nokia E61i, obviously… it has virtually the same features as the E61.

My question is, I read on cnet, that the Samsung cannot open/edit Word, excel, and powerpoint files. Can it open? Can it edit? How about pdf files?

How about messaging? Do you think it’s possible to install some kind of instant messenger on the Samsung? Like maybe YM or MSN? Skype or Google Talk? And how many sms messages can it store in its inbox?

Sorry, this is so long, but last question: Is it idiot proof? hehe… I mean is it fairly easy to use and learn? I’m really not a fan of reading manuals. hehe…

Thanks
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G.A Moleofi says:

17 years ago

Send me more info. About Samsung i6oo as soon as possible via my email address
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Sym says:

16 years ago

Hi,

I would like to ask if any of you guys knows where to find an application for the Blackjack, where I could archive my old messages to my pc. My inbox contains more than 10,000 messages, and it’s kinda dragging my phone. Or at least if any of you knows how to create folders in it and sort the messages.

Thanks.
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pete says:

16 years ago

my samsung i600 doesnt want to work with red mobile, can you help me how to activate this with red mobile. does the i600 have 3g? help me please
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fabchic says:

16 years ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2Y7mfPEyiE&feature=related
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crazymedz says:

13 years ago

how can i download games for my samsung i600
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13 years ago

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12 years ago

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