Letters to the Editor
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Drew Barrymore is your idea of chaste?
She shakes her bare breasts in front of David Letterman, live on national TV, and you still call her chaste. God, what does a girl have to do to shake off the E.T. legacy?
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Not all that great.
I notice that this phone, the model of simplicity, comes with a 135 page manual.
It costs almost $150. (Apparently both simplicity and complexity cost money.)
It also ties you in with a single provider, Jitterbug, so your service will be as good as Jitterbug is, whatever that is.
And Jitterbug has no family plan that I could detect.
Of course, forget about text messaging and bluetooth headsets.
Personally, I'd rather spend $150 on a phone with too many features, with a service plan that I liked, and with a service provider that has some kind of track record. I guess this is a really good phone for someone whose bifocals don't work well, and whose cataract surgery has been scheduled for some time in the very distant future. I'm not there yet.
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I know who it's for
Simple-minded technophobe snobs.
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My Mum would like it
My mother, who is 87 years old, would be greatly appreciative, I think, if this phone was to be made available in Australia. Having recently stopped driving, but still living independently, my mother now has to call taxis from time to time to get around. She has no end of strife with the mobile phones my sister and I have obtained for her over the last few months, for all the predictable reasons - the digits are too small for her to read easily; the menus are confusing to her; the phone 'feels' funny ... and the like. The notion of making a big phone with easy to read numbers that is easy to make and receive calls on is one which I am certain will find a huge market among seniors like her. Bring it downunder! (apologies if the Australian 'Mum' grates on the eyes/ears of you North American folk and your Moms).
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It's deja vu all over again
The latest mobile phones remind me of those multifuctional wristwatches people had in the 1980s. At the time, people seemed oblivious to the fact that they didn't tell the time any better or tolerate much abuse, but now few people would want to be seen with one.
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Most. Annoying. Commericals.
I understand it's not aimed at me, so I don't care much about Jitterbug. But those lo-o-o-ng ads are so bad... the volume is turned way up (a hint at who these phones are targetiung, though why the ads are on during "Angel" repeats in the morning is a puzzler.) And cheery chorus - "Jitterbug! Jitterbug!!!" - makes me pull my headphones out of the jack (I'm at the gym, you see).
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Well...
My cellphone doesn't access the internet or take pictures either, and I got mine for free!
It sounds to me like this company is trying to trick people into paying a buttload of money for the same phone you get for free when you sign up for your wireless plan.
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different-ly, Farhead, different-LY!
Geez, they pay you to be a writer. You can't even grasp English 101.
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And kill Nextel
I get it, dude. You're a burly man's man who needs to contact the Special Forces HQ and you can only talk into your man-compact by holding the phone side ways, in front of your face. Yes I know the chirp noise is patented because how else would all your BFF's know you had one. Can you make fire with it? Can you kill an elk? Dial up some strippers?
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you can't patent big buttons...
given the plethora of models that the various cell phone companies offer, it seems inevitable that before long Moto or Nokia or one of any number of other manufacturers offers a competitor to the "Jitterbug" that you could get for a lot less than 150 bucks, with service from one of the more established wireless providers.
If all they have to offer is a simple interface with big buttons, Jitterbug has a doomed business model. It would be ironic if Samsung were prohibited by their contract from providing one of those competitors, as it's a matter of time before they start showing up in the market.
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That was a legit post you just deleted, whoever you are
"Thinking different" is incorrect. It's "Thinking differentLY." Any writer worth a damn who is over the age of 20 should know that.
For a premium on-line news and features magazine that holds itself out to be on the progressive side of things there's a butt-load of unnecessary censorship.
So sorry if I hurt your feelings manboob.
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Your cell phone was not free, stop the high horsery
Your cell phone was NOT free as many writers here have asserted. Your cell phone came with a service plan that, had you opted out of said service plan, would have meant you would have paid for your phone. Am I the only one who reads fine print? It's a sales gimmick, and if you cancel your service early, the typical cancellation fee is right around the cost of whatever phone you got, even if you bought the cheapest antique Nokia that people are bragging about. Go look it up, no phone is "free" just as nothing is. I would imagine that the Jitterbug will be given away for free or close to free when you sign up for the obligatory 2 year service. Manjoo was reporting well by pointing out the retail price.
As for being tied in to using Jitterbug...why not complain about being tied in to cingular when you buy a razr? Or TMobile when you buy a Sidekick (or get one for a large discount)? You people just want to complain. I'm going to write another letter regarding the article and how great this idea is.
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Wait, how much does it cost?
$150, are you kidding me? Verizon has like 20 phones less than that. Older consumers not only want simplicity, they want value. I just can't see this succeeding at this price point.
And while I'm at it, can people stop talking about iPhone like it's already a huge consumer success? It may end up being so, but it's like people who go on Amazon and review a book, giving it 5 stars three months before it's published. Please at least wait until people start using the thing before we start talking about it as revolutionary in the present tense.