Samsung Jack i637 Review

Introduction:

The Samsung Jack i637 has departed a bit from its predecessors, the Samsung BlackJack and BlackJack II, and perhaps that explains the use of the abbreviated name “Jack” rather than calling it the BlackJack III.  Not only is there some performance upgrades, the Jack has a whole new look.  Surprisingly, though, the new look looks a little deceptive.  Although the Jack sports a sleeker-looking body that the previous square-ish BackJacks, it is physically slightly bigger with a smaller battery.

The AT&T packaging is pretty much ho-hum; nothing flashy, rather minimalist, but does the job.  Inside the Jack’s box (ahem) you will find the following:

• Samsung Jack smart phone
• “Getting Started” CD with Windows Mobile 6.1 software
• “Getting Started” Guide
• Headphone adapter
• Charger
• USB cable

Noticeably absent is a set of headphones, but a headphone adapter is provided to make it easier to use your own headphones with the Jack.

Design:

The Samsung Jack i637 bears little resemblance to the previous BlackJacks. In fact, it reminds us a lot of a BlackBerry Curve in appearance, albeit a bit sleeker.  The most noticeable difference in the Jack are the rounded corners, the mirror-like finish of the display, and a QWERTY keyboard with keys that are more square-shaped and placed close together without any space between keys.  The keyboard feels a bit cramped but doesn’t present too much of a problem for a large-fingered person .  The keyboard feels responsive and compares well with most BlackBerry phones.



You can compare the Samsung Jack i637 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

The body of the Jack is plastic with a chrome-like bezel around the edges.   It has a band of the same chrome-looking material across the middle of the back bearing Samsung’s branding.  Hefting it in the hand, the Jack feels light, comfortable, and with a good build quality, albeit a little slippery.  The power button and volume rocker is on the upper left side of the phone, and the upper right side houses the charging/earphone port.  The Samsung Jack i637 uses a proprietary connector, which is a drawback.  We would rather see an industry- standard microUSB.   The port is recessed behind a plastic door - on one hand, it will be mostly free of dust and dirt, but on the other hand, accessing it by constantly opening the little plastic cover is annoying.  



Another design change that Samsung implemented was a square-shaped five-way navigation button.  On the back of the phone is a 3.2-megapixel camera, an upgrade from the previous model’s 2.0-megapixel camera.  Above the camera lens is a tiny mirror for self-portraits and above that, a tiny speaker. Unfortunately, the battery must be removed in order to insert or remove a microSD memory card.

The Jack’s screen is the same as the BlackJack II – 320 x 240 TFT display, 65,536 colors, and 2.4 inches.  It is a decent display, but lacks real crispness around the edges of text and images.  The resolution is obviously middle-of-the-road in quality.  As mentioned before, the physical size of the Samsung Jack is surprising in that it’s ever so slightly larger than the BlackJack II.  It is a little wider and slightly thicker than its predecessor, slightly heavier, and has a smaller battery.