Letters to the Editor
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Why the Jitterbug is a great idea
Because it fills a void in the market. It would be great if I could have used my antique (early 2000s) Nokia forever, but the buttons stopped working and I switched providers. In looking for a new phone, nothing I could find was simple. Everything had a camera crammed onto it while still trying to be small, or was incredible small/sexy but felt like I might break it. They all had a zillion features I would never use even in the cheapest "free" models, and I'm 25 and hardly a technophobe.
I just don't need a crappy camera in my phone, or the ability to download games, or a crappy mp3 player, or access to the web on a thumb-sized screen, or a phone so small that an antenna has to stick out of it which means just one more thing to poke me besides my keys when I sit down, or a phone that "defines" me. If I did, I'd gladly pay for a blackberry or a sidekick or a treo. Most phones try to mimick having those high end phones' features, though, which usually just ends up working poorly.
It's like the emperor has no clothes here...no one wants to admit that they're not important enough to just need a phone. That, or they act all high and mighty because they've managed to get by with the cheapest models or keep their old phone working. Or maybe phone companies want to make sure their phones are catchalls that can be everything to everyone.
In a day and age where people are using cell phones as their main phone line (I haven't had a landline in 3 years, and when I did it was because my college rental house required it) there should be an option for a phone that is just, well, a phone. Here's hoping more companies follow suit and make simple, back to basics model phones.
Thanks Manjoo...I get your point and think that this was an excellent idea for a post.
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I have a RAZR
(which I call my Rah-zer, just to irritate the sales geeks at the phone store), and I hate it. It is the worst phone I have owned to date, and I have owned seven or eight (first contract was about ten years ago). The Razr is next to impossible to open quickly with one hand, and if you slip, and the cover closes, the call is closed too. The numbers are entirely flat, so you have to LOOK at the phone to dial it. They are so flat and compact that I have to use a fingernail to dial to avoid pressing the wrong button. The UI is poor at best. Battery life is low, and they sound horrible. My wife has the same model, and we constantly have to repeat ourselves when conversing. The front glass cracked the first time I dropped it (there are two kinds of Razr owners - those that have dropped their phone, and those that will).
BTW, has anyone noticed that pictures taken with a cell phone are CRAP? You want to take pictures? Get a camera. The cheapest ones on the market take better pictures than cell phones.
So why did I buy this thing? We were renewing our contract with Verison, and we made the mistake of having our two college age sons with us. "Get the cool ones, get the cool ones!" So now I can relate to the metrosexuals in the phone adds, but I will probably get killed trying to drive and dial this piece of junk.
It would appear that there is quite a backlash against the "toy phone" syndrome. There are now ruggedized phones, simplified phones, and even old design phones on the market. Most of them cheap or free.
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To Gary re "differently"
Hi Gary,
Sorry. I think an editor deleted your original letter because he or she wasn't sure the point you were making; "Geez, they pay you to be a writer" -- looks like a straight-up ad hominem. I guess I see what you mean now; I've undeleted it, so now you have two letters pointing out the error in "differently."
But that's an intentional error, Gary. It's a reference to a famous old Apple campaign. The Apple campaign was wrong, of course, but I can't refer to it otherwise. Just as if I were talking about the old Winston ads, I'd say, "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should." (You know that should be "as a cigarette should," I know that should be "as a cigarette should," but if we said "as," nobody would get the reference.)
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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.