We get a quick peek at the Samsung Sangria, a QWERTY slider in the vein of AT&T's recently-refreshed BlackJack phone. Is this what the BlackJack 2 should have been?
The Samsung SGH-i620 is an interesting design alternative to the BlackJack design with which we're so familiar (perhaps since it resembles every other QWERTY slab on the market). We definitely liked the slick white slider we got a few minutes with at Microsoft's Mobius conference in Amsterdam. It was slim enough to fit in a pants pocket, and just as wide as the previous BlackJack, so it didn't sacrifice room in the keyboard, though we would have liked larger keys.
Still, we would stop short of calling for this phone to replace the BlackJack 2 as the successor to the BlackJack. We aren't in love with touch keys, we don't think the technology is ready for prime time just yet. Especially on a business phone, hardware keys provide a more no-nonsense feel that lets you know your press will be registered every time. In our few moments with the touch buttons on the Samsung i620, the phone missed our taps a couple of times, which is a couple too many.
The phone has a scroll wheel for navigation, just like the BlackJack 2. Unlike the new BlackJack, the i620 includes Wi-Fi, but with HSDPA and GPS, we think the BlackJack 2 is better off without another drain on its battery. The i620 also features a 2-megapixel camera around back, and a front-facing camera to make video calls on Vodafone's European network, a sure sign this phone won't make it stateside in its current form.
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