Juat a Phone, Day One

Well, the Jitterbug just a phone has landed. Graphite in color it is, just like the one pictured in the last post. I’ll not publish the pic again here; scroll down if you’re interested.

I ordered an AC charger with the phone. I need not have done that; the purchase price included the AC charger, a car charger(unheard of in most cellphone circles), the phone itself, and a battery. The extra AC charger will come in handy later, I’m sure.

As it goes with all new electronics, step one was to install the battery and charge the device. There is no cutesy little slide-off battery door with the Jitterbug; the battery has an integral plastic cover that forms the back of the phone. One piece, impossible to install wrong; no muss, no fuss. The handset is no dainty little item; it dwarfs my current Verizon cell phone. In spite of that, it’s light, and when opened, fits well in the hand, and has the feel and balance of a traditional telephone handset. Nice, indeed. While the charging process rolled on, I went to the My Jitterbug website, signed up, and poked around a bit. The phone can store 50 names and numbers; input via the web is easy, and they sync up when the device is powered on. Again, cool. No selecting text input mode, and mashing a bunch of teensy keys multiple times.

Just before bedtime last night, I called the tbbs home number, which dutifully rang. Back onto the charger for the overnight, and on to today.

I took both phones to work today; the first acid test for the Jitterbug was would it get a signal in my cubicle? My Verizon phone has never accomplished that little feat. I made a quick call to the Jitterbug from my office phone. Riiiing! Jitterbug 1, Verizon 0.

I left both on as I lurched from perceived crisis to perceived crisis today. Just another day at the office. When I left tonight, I called MLB on the Geez-a-Phone¹, which still proudly claimed 50% battery life left. The Verizon had beaten the stuffing out of a fully-charged battery during the workday, trying in vain to acquire a signal that just couldn’t be had. Jitterbug 2, Verizon 0.

After day one, it’s looking like the G-a-P is gonna be a keeper. We’ll take it on the first Search for America Tour next week, and see how it goes. Like I’ve said before, all I’m looking for is a subsistence plan. Today, I subsisted well.

-k-

Jitterbug