Samsung Blackjack 2 and T-Mobile

A user of my TripsnMiles mileage tracker software for Windows Mobile reported display issues on a Blackjack II phone running Windows Mobile 6.1. I was curious to see the problem myself and bought a used phone on Ebay. My application turned out to run just fine on it, so I could have re-sold the phone. Since I unlocked it and upgraded to WM 6.1, and the phone is in like-new condition, I could have probably made a few $. I really like the phone, though, and decided to keep it and to instead get rid of my T-Mobile Shadow.

Getting the Blackjack 2 ready for T-Mobile was not difficult, since I found a wealth of information on the web about the various configuration steps. So why write yet another post? Much of the information that I found was incomplete or incorrect. It makes sense to put it all in one place, in case I have to do it again.

Let’s get a very important limitation out of the way, before you look into configuring the phone. The Blackjack 2, or any other AT&T phone for that matter, will not get 3G service on the T-Mobile network. The reason is that the frequencies are different (I am quoting from this thread):

“ATT offers UMTS or 3G using 850mhz(the old TDMA band) and 1900mhz.
While T-mobile offers HSDPA (technically 3.5g part of the UMTS specification) using 1700MHz for uplink and 2100MHz downlink.”

Just good old Edge. See the Wikipedia article about T-Mobile for more context.

So, assuming that you have acquired a BlackJack 2 phone that is unlocked and has the original ROM version with Windows Mobile 6, you can follow my steps in the same order they are provided below.

Unlocking

To unlock the phone (i.e. enable it to use the T-Mobile SIM card), I recommend buying an unlock code on Ebay from a reputable seller with consistent feedback ratings. This will cost less than $3 and is a routine matter. Place the T-Mobile SIM into the phone, turn it on, and when prompted type in the unlock code. This worked without a problem for me. I spent hours searching for a utility that can generate unlock codes for my phone, and while I found several, none worked for the Samsung SGH-I617. I should have made better use of my time. The phone will remain unlocked even through the ROM upgrade that comes next, so it is ok to start with this step.

Upgrade to Windows 6.1

A word of caution: Before you run through the ROM upgrade, please google “Support code:86000107” and look at some of the discussion threads that you will find. There is a horrible bug in this version that has not been resolved in the ROM image that you will install (it is build 19208.1.0.1, or AKU 1.0.1), nor have Samsung or AT&T provided a fix. I immediately ran into this error, but it was too late. What I don’t get, though, is that this issue has been documented for over a year now, and the dorks at Samsung have not found it worth-while to put at least a warning on their download page? I am a light user of Outlook and don’t depend on the synchronization capabilities, so I may just decide to live with the limitation that I cannot sync to 2 computers without the manual workaround (unlinking and re-linking the device to Active Sync). If you have a calendar full of meetings and important appointments, stay away from the Windows Mobile 6.1. upgrade (or any new Windows Mobile 6.1 phone, for that matter, since most that are sold today have this issue as well).

Samsung published this upgrade for the AT&T Blackjack 2. It makes sense to upgrade before we make any other changes to the phone, since they would be lost in the process. Follow the instructions on the Samsung page. I had no problem upgrading, despite the fact that I had corrupted Windows folders due to experiments with “free” GPS utilities before the upgrade. The phone was actually shot, but the upgrade restored it to its full functionality. I still have a support request with Samsung pending, where I asked whether the upgrade would resolve my issues. I don’t think I will ever hear back from them.

With the phone unlocked and the upgrade complete, the phone will boot up and make and receive calls. Data connections are not possible, because the AT&T service configuration is still in place. Next, we will enable data connections.

GPRS Settings

On the phone, go to Start/All Programs/Settings/Connections. Three connections will show up with a lock symbol next to them. They can’t be changed or removed from here, but that’s fine since we can add new ones.  I added these two (select Menu/Add):

Description	t-mobile internet
Connects to	The Internet
Access point	internet2.voicestream.com
	leave the defaults for the remaining fields

and

Description	t-mobile mms
Connects to	WAP network
Access point	wap.voicestream.com
	leave the defaults for the remaining fields

Proxy Settings

In the Connections menu, right after GPRS there is an entry for proxy settings. Select Proxy and you will see the AT&T proxy definition, also locked. Let’s add the T-Mobile proxy settings (select Menu/Add):

Description	t-mobile proxy
Connects from	WAP network
Connects to	The Internet
Proxy	216.155.165.50:8080
	leave the defaults for the remaining fields

Now you should be able to browse the Internet. What I don’t remember is if I had to select the T-Mobile connections somewhere (I think not), or if they got selected automatically. This could be a step that is missing here.

MMS Profile

Next let’s fix the MMS (multimedia messaging) settings. Go to Start/App Programs/Messaging/Messages. Select Menu/Multimedia Msg. Options (scroll down to see this option)/Multimedia Msg. Profiles. Delete the AT&T profile that is there and create a new one with the following settings:

Profile Name	t-mobile mms
MMSC URL	http://216.155.174.84/servlets/mms
Proxy	check
Address	216.155.165.50
Port	8080
GPRS	t-mobile mms
	leave the defaults for the remaining fields

Now you are able to send and receive multimedia messages.

This concludes the basic configuration. I also looked into replacing the IM client with the T-Mobile version from the Shadow phone, which was only partially successful. I abandoned that, since the standard IM client generates SMS charges with every instant message sent or received. Instead, I installed Palringo, which supports more services and uses the Internet connection, so no SMS charges will occur.

I also installed the MoDaCo GPS Hack, although there are some reports that it is not needed. I cannot confirm those reports, since I did not try the GPS before installing the hack. Google Maps is able to pinpoint my location outside very accurately now, but it is extremely slow (takes minutes) and therefore hardly useful. I actually like Bing better, which is also something you should install (from http://m.bing.com/download/ on the phone – interestingly, this link brought up a French page on the phone’s browser, but the downloaded app was in English).

I remove the dead shortcuts in my Start menu for AT&T utilities that don’t work anyways, using ActiveSync/Explore Device.

Finally, I highly recommend browsing through the apps on http://www.myblackjack2.com. I love to play Doom, for instance, which works amazingly well. There are other tricks and hacks on this site, for instance for how to turn off the annoying AT&T swoosh sound during startup and shutdown (by setting the System sounds volume to 0 in the Sound Settings), and many more.