I picked up both handsets and I just returned the Blackjack. It was a tough decision, especially considering the BJ has the superior voice quality. But, and you know there would be a but, the BJ had a number of inconsistancies that I couldnt deal with. The navigation layout is pretty bad. I always hit the hang up key when i wanted to push right on the d-pad. i know that simply hitting the back key would bring me back to where i was, but i was hitting the wrong keys enough that it was driving me insane.
when in the messages app, typing out emails or text messages would result in lost key strokes. Ive been using qwerty phones for sometime now (former blackberry addict) so I dont know if it was because i was too fast or if the phone just wouldnt keep up, but that drove me crazy as well. the 8525 has yet to miss a beat. I also couldnt deal with the smaller screen as well. it was a nice screen, but it was smaller than some feature phones!! even my old n73 had a bigger screen! but thats just nitpicking, because the screen was very good on the BJ.
I also couldnt deal with the crappy battery and having to swap. I didnt get it so that i could force it into EDGE to preserve battery and put it back into 3G when i wanted to surf or use CV. I use direct push and could NEVER go back to PULLING my email. Its push or nothing, but thats me being spoiled by my old blackberry. On my 8525 I pull all day and use the phone and text and surf and i have enough to get me home at 10pm so i can put it on my charger. on the BJ, doing the same thing I was swapping out at 3pm! and for some of you thats cool, but the BJ doesnt have a battery cover that has a push in button to release it, its purely a slide on and slide off (like the dash) and I felt like doing that two or three times a day for the life of the handset would drive me crazy and wear out the cover...maybe thats me being paranoid but at almost 500 bucks, it wasnt a chance i wanted to see or take.
The BJ was more phone like, which i miss more than i though i would, but the 8525 makes up for it alittle with the addition of the jog wheel and the big number buttons the dialer screen.
some days i wake up and hate the touch screen and some days its all i use. with the 8525 theres enough software out there that you can make everything just really big buttons on the screen and not feel out of place. I even tried to tap the screen on the BJ a few times just out of habit. All in all, the BJ is a very good smartphone and I probably would have kept that if i would have gotten it first. But i purchased the 8525 first and I has sort of grown on me. It's the first phone I actually use most of the features for, watching movies on it is a very nice first for me and the phone is powerful enough to handle even high bit rate movies. When I get my slingbox (xmas woo hoo) I don't even know how im gonna get any work done. try that on your little BJ screen. (sorry i couldnt help it)
sorry about the long and scrambled post, its my first and i didnt feel like follow the english rules of punctuation and grammer...maybe on my second post.
Hope any of this helps...
Smartphone vs Cingular 8525
Linear Mode
