Letters to the Editor
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a hip new phone for the AARP generation!
"Don't be afraid of me," Jitterbug says. "I'm just like the phones you're used to. Look, I even have a dial tone! My buttons are easy to read and press! I'm not so small that your arthritic hands would struggle with holding me. I'm a cell phone you can love, grandma. Love me. Looooooove me."
And really, what's wrong with that? I think it's great that they've come up with something that my grandparents would feel comfortable using. Truly brilliant design and marketing that knows its demographic inside and out. The only thing missing on this is a dial instead of buttons. Or maybe a crank on the side. ;-)
But if you really want to sing the praises of a bare bones phone, there are tons more out there that accomplish what this does and still meet the usual requirements of most mobile phone users -- size, convenience, reliability, and price. Jitterbug is a niche product (and for its niche it sounds like a great one), not any kind of response to this column's apparent archenemy, the iPhone.
I personally use Virgin Mobile, and have their Slice model phone. Currently going for 40 bucks, and it fits comfortably and nearly invisibly in my front jeans pocket. The phone is basic enough -- no camera, I don't bother with internet access (so I don't pay for it), and I can get and receive text messages from those friends of mine that like to use that feature. There's no contract, and because my wife and I don't use our mobile phones a heckuva lot the prepaid plan ends up costing us about $20/month for both of us, if not less. It's far from perfect (it uses the Sprint network, which sucks only slightly more than others in my area), but it's easily the best phone I've owned for what I need from a mobile phone, which ain't much. Of course, your mileage may vary.