Word: phoning
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Smartphones here, smartphones there-how about a dumb phone? This week I tested the Jitterbug, a phone designed for the parents of baby boomers, a nice way of saying the only people who may not yet have cell phones. It?s the opposite of a so-called smartphone-far from push e-mail servers and multimedia text messages, this phone comes pre-loaded all the contacts you?ll ever need, and voicemail is optional. I said ?dumb? but in truth, this simple phone may be one of the smartest designs on the market...
...This Jitterbug has excellent pedigree: built by mighty Samsung, it was co-designed by Martin Cooper, the man who made the first cell-phone call in 1973, and his wife, Arlene Harris, herself a telecom pioneer. During the late 1990s, the couple created the SOS Phone for people who just wanted something around in case of emergencies. The SOS Phone evolved into the Jitterbug, the star of Cooper and Harris? new mobile operator, GreatCall...
...strategy is simple: give elderly people a phone that they can use, with larger buttons, fewer screen options and a padded, amplified earpiece that doesn?t interfere with hearing aids. Even the manual comes in large print, with excessive explanation (?Battery?Delivers power to make your phone function?). I looked at the Jitterbug Dial, so called because it has a numeric keypad. The other phone (also $147) is the Jitterbug OneTouch, which keeps the options simple with just three main dialing buttons. While ordering, you type in online or dictate to a salesperson the 10 preset names and numbers...
...When you open the phone, you hear the quaintly familiar dial tone, purely for effect. The screen says ?Voice Dial?? Tap the ?Yes? button, say the name of a person in your phone book, and the call goes through. It?s painless, and reliable thanks to voice recognition from the brainiacs at VoiceSignal. If you don?t want to voice dial, you can press the ?No? button, which leads you to the next option, a list of phone numbers. Press ?No? again, and you get a call history, followed by a prompt to listen to voicemail. A final ?No? takes...
...GreatCall?s final ace is its operator assistance. If a frustrated user calls, the operator will see his or her personal phone list in order to help. Operators will dial other numbers, too, or look people up like other types of directory assistance. Operator assistance is never free: this one takes five minutes out of your allowance, even if the call was super quick...