vB Easy Archive - Which to get between BlackJack & E62 (3G, data and camera aren't factors)

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Which to get between BlackJack & E62 (3G, data and camera aren't factors)
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Posted by: john_7711

My girlfriend needs a new phone. She'd like a PDA-style phone because she has tons of things (calendar wise) she needs to keep track of, plus the QWERTY keyboard would be good for her since she's a heavy texter (is that even a word?). She won't be using the device for web browsing. She's on a computer all day so she doesn't want that on her phone. Therefor, 3G and other data-related benifits of either phone are moot. She does want to have good contact and calendar synchronization between her work PC and home laptop. She's got stuff going on all the time and she'd like to have easier access to everything when not near a computer.

We went to the Cingular store today and she narrowed down her likes to the Blackjack and the E62. She's not crazy about the size of the E62 compared to the BJ, but she likes the size of the screen and the layout of the buttons a little better on it. What she mainly wants to know is which is better when it comes to:

1.) Reception
2.) Voice Quality
3.) Battery Life
4.) User Friendliness
5.) Ease of Synchronization with a PC

Thanks in advance for any input!

**EDIT** She's had many different phones, but she's never had a QWERTY phone, a Windows Mobile phone, or a Symbian phone. I know many WM devices have stability issues, but I don't know how stable (or un-stable) the Blackjack is.

Posted by: maevro

I had both. If you don't care about a crappy camera and 3G (Although I don't know how someone could not care about 3G), go with the Nokia e62. I loved that phone as it had great battery life, the coolest web browser and no camera. The call reception was very good too, much better then the BJ. The BJ has poor battery life but I am a fan of Windows phones.

Posted by: grdella

Definetely e62 for me. I had both and e62 was great. I prefer symbian over wm anyday

Posted by: markcobra

Between the BJ and E62 I would have to say go with the E62.

I bought the BJ the first day it came out in Novemeber thinking it would be my ultimate phone for at least a few years, but it just does not get good reception where my nokias and wifes treo 680 and razr get full reception. I've really noticed this since april that I was getting voicemails and never getting calls as well the phone always displayin no service. I even had the BJ locked to Edge. It would get decent reception in other places but never as good as my other phones, so I'm going to be ebaying the blackjack very soon and wait for the N75s to go down in price or go refurb.

I get the display on the blackjack saying no service at my work. When I use my e62, 6620 and wifes razr and treo they get full reception. The blackjack does have decent music player and 3g is good if its in your area. E62 has no camera and little wide but thin.

I bought a refurbed E62 last week on cingular.com for 29.99 and I think its awesome. It's very solid. The OS is a little slow between apps but its not really that slow for me. The browser is awesome and fast. I'm on a fringe area so 3G is spotty.

How about a treo 680, my wife loves hers. Simple os great reception.

Posted by: cjmedina

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (SymbianOS/9.1; U; en-us) AppleWebKit/413 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/413 UP.Link/6.3.1.17.0)

Another vote for the e62 better battery life, better screen

Posted by: john_7711

Well, it certainly seems like the E62 is the better device, overall. She'd like to have a camera, but for as little as she uses it, she said that's not as important as the rest of the device working as well as possible.

Maevro, as far as not caring about having 3G, I said that because like I said in my original post, she's not going to be using the new phone to browse the web or tethering. It's just going to be used as a phone and for texting. She just wants the PDA-style features the Blackjack and E62 offer for convenience reasons.

MarcCobra, the reason she's not considering the Treo is mainly due to the price, and more importantly, the touch screen. I have a Treo 650 and even with the key guard on and everything, I'd still have issues with the phone either calling people or doing other wierd stuff when I had it in an inside pocket of a coat or in one of the side pockets of my cargo pants. She witnessed my aggrivation with that, along with the constant and unexplainable resets the device liked to perform, and ruled out a Treo. I do appreciate the suggestion though.

If anyone else has any more thoughts on the topic, please share.

Posted by: markcobra

Quote:

Originally Posted by john_7711

MarcCobra, the reason she's not considering the Treo is mainly due to the price, and more importantly, the touch screen. I have a Treo 650 and even with the key guard on and everything, I'd still have issues with the phone either calling people or doing other wierd stuff when I had it in an inside pocket of a coat or in one of the side pockets of my cargo pants. She witnessed my aggrivation with that, along with the constant and unexplainable resets the device liked to perform, and ruled out a Treo. I do appreciate the suggestion though.

If anyone else has any more thoughts on the topic, please share.

John, I hear you about the price of the treos plus you would have to get a data plan to get rebate.

Refurbed E62 just like new on Cingular.com. All you have to do is upgrade 2 more years. The price is 29.99 no data plan needed (unless you want one) no activation fee or shipping cost. I ordered mine last Sat. got it on Tues. The screen is huge the browser is fast. I already like it more than the BJ. Plus being a fan of Nokias the symbian is easier to use an navigate then the Wm in my opinion.

Posted by: DoubleSh0t

Go with the E62. The Symbian OS is simpler to use in comparison to WM5. My only complaint about the E62 (a friend has one) is that it can be slow especially when opening up the messaging application. That may be a factor for her if she plans on texting a lot.

Posted by: rjl2001

Well all five areas you mentioned I feel are better on the E62, having used both phones. The reception and sound/voice quality are great, plus the battery life is drastically better than the blackjack. The ease of learning the phone is a lot easier on the E62, and generally more pleasant. The only other phone I could think of to recommend is maybe a blackberry pearl or the new blackberry curve coming out soon. The pearl is small, has good PDA/Organizer functions, and I found the sure type keyboard pretty easy to use for text.

Posted by: Perceptions

John, the size plays a big factor after using the device for a while so she has to make sure she can live with the girth of the E62. That being said I too would recommend the E62 for the better keyboard and display but be warned that the OS speed is much slower compared to the BlackJack and even normal phones. If she can live with the size and slower OS (which drove me crazy) then definitely go with the E62.

The safer bet would be to go with the BlackJack as it is smaller, more pocketable, faster OS speed, easier PIM synchronization to other platforms, and above average reception and battery life when 3G is turned off. The smaller screen size will not be an issue for browsing contacts and appointments as well as texting. The smaller screen issue might come into play with web surfing but you have already established she will not be doing that.

Posted by: steph280

I have a blackjack and I just purchased a E62 for my wife. wife prefers the E62 for the large display and "Nokia elegance." Comparing the two is like comparing a Mac with MS Windows. The built quality and speaker fidility on the E62 is excellent, both for ringtone and speaker phone. But for geeks like me, WM offers more flexibility.

I'd suggest your girlfriend go with what she like when she held the phone in her hand. Both are excellent phones, but they feel completely different both physically and software wise. Plus if she regrets her choice, she has 30 days to change her mind.

Posted by: john_7711

Well, after reading everyone's input, she decided on giving the E62 a try. We ordered it tonight through the Premier site for free (refurb) and it should be here Wednesday.

Thanks to everyone who has given their opinion on this topic and as mentioned above, if the Nokia doesn't work out too well, she can (and will) exchange it for the Blackjack.

Posted by: juiceppc

Looks like I chimed in a little too late. Click my signature and I have a review of both. IMHO the BlackJack is better. Much smaller and the OS responds quicker. And if you are even remotely familiar with a Windows computer you might feel more comfortable with it over the Symbian OS. IMHO. The E62 is a good phone however and it does have an exceptional screen. The BlackJack does have a decent camera though. And it's screen isn't too shabby either it's just a bit smaller.

As far as reception and voice quality I've not yet had a better phone than the BlackJack. The earpiece is loud and clear. I though my Wizard earpiece quality was good but once I started using the BlackJack I could tell instantly the quality in the BlackJack earpiece. Very nice. Also the battery life on the BlackJack WITH the extended battery is good. I get 2 days of moderate to heavy usage quite easily.