Some thoughts on the Blackjack phone, a week into ownership/rental: The phone quality is very good, equal to the Q and far superior to my old Treos. The screen size is noticeably smaller than the Q–I have to hold it closer to read text at times (mostly when I’m scanning for typos in my e-mails due to small keys).
Which brings up the small keys. I think they are ultimately acceptable, but only just barely so, and I can’t imagine someone like my dad using the device. The keyboard keys are about the same size as those on the Q, but closer together due to the reduced width of the device. The four-way pad and other buttons at the top lack adequate demarcation between each button, such that I’ll often hit the dial button (brings up recent call list) when I mean to hit the left soft button, or I will hit the right soft button when I mean to hit right on the four-way pad. There should be a raised edge around the four-way pad and between the buttons, if they are to work well in such a small space.
Two final notes, related to GoodLink on the device: First, sending and receiving e-mails is super fast on the device, about equal to actually using Outlook. On the Q/Verizon, you could go a half hour without the Q updating itself to match your inbox–very annoying. Especially annoying given that my two Treos on Sprint were as fast as the Blackjack/Cingular combo is now, so really the Blackjack is a return to past performance after the unpleasant Q/Verizon interlude. I am inclined to think that the issue is with the Verizon network based on these limited data points.
Second final note: there is a glitch in the GoodLink software we are using (v.4.9 something, I think). If you try to drill down through your contact list using the keyboard (e.g., type “m ho” in any relevant Good field, such as To: in a new e-mail, the search field in the Contacts page, or to bring up a phone number from the home screen), it defaults to assuming that you are dialing a phone number and not typing a name. So typing “m ho” actually yields “9″ (which quicly turns to a Z for some reason–half-assed number to text functionality?), then “5–>G”, etc. (Also, the Blackjack interprets the keys immediately to the right of each number key as equal to the number key, presumably to help with inaccurate button presses, hence why the M key is seen as a 9, which rests on the N key.) If you hit a key not associated with a number (such as Q), this switches the Blackjack/Good over to the proper behavior; you just delete the Q and type what you originally wanted. If you don’t use the Q-then-delete workaround, there is literally no way to type in someone’s name to compose an e-mail or search for their contact information you have to pretend you are typing the name in using a standard phone keypad, not a QWERTY keyboard (i.e., “Hopp” equals “4677″). I say glitch because I have searched all the arcane and poorly organized settings found within Good and for Windows Mobile and can’t figure out how to change this behavior; also, the Q performed in line with my expectations. I’m going to talk to our IT to see if they know a workaround or setting to change, but odds are this is just a glitch to be (hopefully) fixed in the next GoodLink release. Not a dealbreaker, but pretty annoying.