It looks like I am going to keep the Samsung BlackJack. It’s not perfect, but it is the best option I have found to date.
So, now I need a case for it, and a second charger (I always keep a second one in my laptop bag). All of my local Cingular stores have sold out of the BlackJack case, and very few have the travel charger. And worse, they are charging $27 for the former and $30 for the latter. You are better off buying these from the Samsung Accessories site’s BlackJack page directly, you’ll spend $15 for a leather case or a plastic holster, and $20 for that second charger. And shipping is free.
Oh, and if you get a Samsung Bluetooth WEP200 headset, it comes with a charger, too. And both the phone and the headset share the same charger, so that can be your second charger if needed.
Don't Buy Samsung BlackJack Accessories From Cingular
11 responses to “Don't Buy Samsung BlackJack Accessories From Cingular”
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Ben:
I am pretty rough on my devices and I tend to break even the best made accessories all the time. So what I ended up doing is checking eBay for cheap knock-off accessories. For every device I own: PocketPC phone, smartphone, Creative Zen Vision:M, and many others I usually end up buying an accessory bundle on eBay with a car charger, home charger, case, data cables, headset, etc. They are MUCH cheaper made than the real accessories, but since I end up breaking them all anyway, I figure this works out better for me.
Keep up the blog posts! I am interested to see how you feel about this device a month from now! -
Ben, I picked up a Blackjack a few nights ago. You’re right, it’s not perfect, but it’s a damn nice device. I’m still trying to figure out some of the details, but overall I’m pretty impressed. Thanks for the accessories like. I had orginally bought the Cingular bundle with a travel charger, case, and samsung bluetooth headset. I’m not sure I’d use the case, the car charger was nice, but the headset was HORRIBLY uncomfortable. So back it went.
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Re-reading your comment … I bought the WEP200 and the charger tip on it and the phone are completely different, no??
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I bought the Cingular 3125. Boy what a mistake that was.
It dropped a lot of calls and because they stuck so many big buttons on the side of the device I was frequently hitting the wrong buttons. It just seemed like a bad interface design.
Thanks for the tips on the accessories. I did a search in google and boy was I surprised to find this tip from THE ColdFusion guru himself. 😉
– Ben Fitts
Just a CF guy, not a guru -
Jake, I agree with you… I have the WEP200 and the Blackjack – TOTALLY different chargers. There’s no way you could convince one to work with the other.
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Yep, the chargers are indeed different. I called Samsung about this, as when I ordered it they told me it was the same, and it appears that Samsung phones use two type of chargers. Some use a little round one, like the WEP200 does, and others use the flat one that BlackJack uses. So no go, I am returning it.
— Ben -
hi Ben
thanks for the tip on cases for the blackjack. i have not had a chance to review it yet but like you i like the device overall. for me the worst omission is a regular port for either mini usb, 2.5mm or 3.5mm. i listen to music on my windows mobile devices so samsung’s use of a proprietary port pisses me off to no end. after 18 months with a single all in one device the blackkack has forced me back to an ipod for music. at least wirh my past utc devices i could use an adapter to plug my regular wired headphones into. -
hi Ben
thanks for the tip on cases for the blackjack. i have not had a chance to review it yet but like you i like the device overall. for me the worst omission is a regular port for either mini usb, 2.5mm or 3.5mm. i listen to music on my windows mobile devices so samsung’s use of a proprietary port pisses me off to no end. after 18 months with a single all in one device the blackkack has forced me back to an ipod for music. at least wirh my past utc devices i could use an adapter to plug my regular wired headphones into. -
Hi Ben,
I found your site while searching the web. Thanks for the heads up on the cases. i also received my Blackjack within the last week. I personally love it! I know is not perfect but it is easy to use. The phone part works better than my last one and for me the keys are the right size. My husband likes it the device too but he has thick fingers, so he has trobles with the keys, however he still uses it. I work with Deaf people so I tend to email and text more than most people and so far I have been very pleased. This phone is the right size for my hands and it has all I need. I had sliders and side kicks and I still prefer this one.
Lyssette -
Thanks for the post – I just bought a $30 case from Cingular that I’ll be returning now & getting the better one from Samsung for 1/2 the price.
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I’m pretty happy with my BJ, until I found out they were making a BJ2 with a much better designed keypad and button size. I figured since I got this style phone, I might as well use it’s features, so I got a 2gb SD card, installed Core’s video player and DivX and put on a movie. DAMN it looks good for such a small screen. Now I just needed to be able to plug in my nice $100 earbuds (Shure brand), so I found one on Amazon. Didn’t buy it right away and happened to look again on Christmas Eve. It was ONE CENT! So naturally I bought it! Fell apart as soon as I put it into my phone. Once I rigged it not to fall apart on insertion, I was able to listen to some music and that phone has damn good audio playback. Well I still needed a working audio converter and I got the 2.5mm one from the AT&T store, and got a 2.5 to 3.5 converter from Radio Shack. Stupid 2.5mm is MONO -_- The search continues, and I’m scared to buy the 3.5mm from anywhere else on the web since they have no brand to them and I fear they’re all made by the same place.
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