Letters to the Editor
-
Generation S
The Gen-S'ers I know do use voice mail, often not calling someone back unless a message is left, because "if they wanted me to call them back, they would have left a message saying so". Not a big deal, but a very different experience.
However, I agree with the sentiment that Gen-S'ers don't need or want all that crap on their phones like cameras, music players, web browsing, etc. Those that want cameras get cameras; those that want mp3 players get mp3 players; nobody uses those extra features on their phones past the first week they own them. Text messaging is an exception, because that can be very convenient. And like I said, in my experience people do still use voice mail, regardless of the fact that the phone tells you so-and-so called.
But basically this stripped-down phone could appeal to not just the old, but the young also. Maybe not to the yuppie consumerist masses, but to the counterculture culture (which is after all pretty popular itself).
-
Maybe, maybe
It sounded so great I went straight to Jitterbug. But they are skittish about guaranteeing coverage and, well, the whole deal is a tad expensive when you get into the details. Darn.
-
That's some hunk of change
For a no-frills phone. That thing should be $19.99. Unless of course that $149.99 includes 6 months of free service. Seriously. Not only is it overpriced in general, but it's WAY overpriced for its target consumer.
And Garry Owen... anyone over the age of 20 recognized what "Think Different" was alluding to. You should have quit while you were ahead when it was deleted, and contacted the writer privately with your insistent and clever "gotcha," instead of reposting it. You would have saved yourself a lot of embarrassment.
-
Bad Grammar
Your headline makes me cringe -- "Now that's a phone that thinks different." Basic principles of grammar should be observed by anyone who calls himself or herself a journalist. The word “different” modifies the verb “thinks” and is an adverb (not an adjective). “Different” is an adjective. “Differently” is the adverb form.
Therefore, the correct phrase is: “"Now that's a phone that thinks differently.” Please proofread your posts better or get someone familiar with basic grammar to do it for you.
-
Those Aren't "Slackers", RealName
They're assholes, and age has nothing to do with it. Anybody who refuses to call people back who have left them messages is, by definition, an asshole. Ditto those who don't respond to e-mail. And spare me the "I'm busy" shit. Nobody's that busy.
-
THINKING DIFFERENT
is a play on the Apple ad.
Obviously. Even more obviously when the author had to explain it.
Hey Farhad, how about explaining it AGAIN.
-
Farhad
Well thank you for being a gentleman about it.
But you see, there are many of us that missed the ad campaign "think different," and thus missed the intentional misuse. Not everybody hooks into the same media where they would be exposed to that.
I know there are a lot of people these days who should know better who are mimicking "The Cable Guy" and grunting out, "Git 'er dun!" To the many intelligent people who would never watch that Hee Haw type of comedian, when someone belches "Git 'er Dun" it just sounds like they are an ignorant cracker.
Waaay back in the '80s I knew a guy who watched too much Dana Carvey doing "The Church Lady" and he kept saying "Well, isn't that special" over and over until a burly warehouse guy jacked him up against a wall. The assailant never even heard of Saturday Night Live.
It's probably best not to use malapropisms in story headlines unless the reference is universally understood. Thanks for the STAR, I'm seriously trying to get my rating back up to at least 12 percent where I used to be before I started getting too cranky for Scott and Joan.
-
Jitterbug OneTouch
On their website. Even more zen-like in function:
Yes No
Operator
Tow
911
That's it.
I'm getting one, and will strive to live within those parameters.
-
Think Different....
... is only as "wrong" as Think Small or Think Pink, except the latter two probably didn't have so many grammar savants complaining about them.
And Poco, hang up and freakin' drive!
-
A few years ago
A Japanese company built a tiny hands free cell phone that was small enough to be worn like those chop stick looking things or a hair comb. What they discovered THEN is that people did not like to be seen talking to nothing, like crazy cat lady. Now of course we want to be crazy cat lady because crazy cat lady can afford a blue tooth ear bud and is clearly so important that calls can be taken while using the public restroom.
And trust me, I have no problem when I see people talk. None at all. I am not one of those insane people who go all Son of Sam when they see someone else talking on the phone. But it is kind of funny to see them force that image on us.
In today's America people wear camo to STAND OUT. Odd isn't it?
-
It makes calls, it receives calls ...
tomreedtoon had it right (way back one page 1 of the letters). Tracfone.
To supplement his info, you can get a tiny but decent Nokia Tracfone for $20 that comes with 120 minutes, shipped free. More minutes are 10 cents a minute.
Yeah, it has stupid games and useless features, but it's cheap, it's good, it can text-message, and -- unlike Jitterbug -- has no monthly service plan. God knows it is almost too small for my stubby fingers to operate and the screen is miniscule, but then again, Jitterbug wants to sell you a spare battery for $40. And I just bought a second Nokia phone, with battery and charger cable, for $20. And got 120 more minutes to boot.
*******
On another topic, fuck all of you smug young assholes who make fun of older people with lesser eyesight. Your eyes will weaken too when you get a little bit older - just like everybody else's.
And I hope you have to pay $400 for reading glasses that come with MP3 players, green tea dispensers and the X-Ray Specs feature.
-
I would like a phone that reproduces sound well without an earphone
What I would look for as a feature in a phone is one that has a good microphone and a good speaker (for where I hold my ear up to the phone) so that when I am speaking on the phone the voice of the person who is talking to me actually sounds like their voice, rather than something all tinny and scratchy coming through a 1950's transistor radio. I much prefer landlines for extedned conversations for this very reason.