The recently revealed Samsung SGH-i617 appears destined to become the AT&T BlackJack II. Or is it? Unconfirmed specifications indicate that it will be a dual-band GSM and dual-band WCDMA (using the 850/1900 bands) device, marking it as a North American model. Some digging by the::unwired appears to have found a second Samsung smartphone called the SGH-i616, which appears to be based on the same platform. The Bluetooth SIG shows that the SGH-i616 is intended for North America whereas the SGH-i617 will be available in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America.
Presumably then, the i616 would only need dual-band connectivity whereas the i617 would need quad-band support. Or perhaps the latter would then not include North American bands. Could the i616 be the future AT&T BlackJack II for North America while the i617 will get distribution across the rest of the world?
It looks like we could see a BlackJack II outside of North America fairly soon…