Podcast: Play in new window | Embed
Norma Jean asked: “I’m 64 and have never had a smartphone but I’m thinking of buying one. Can you tell me which would be the simplest one would be to use? I wonder what you know about the Jitterbug phone because they advertise that as being easy to use.”
Norma Jean, the Jitterbug Touch3 is probably about as easy as you can get when it comes to smartphones, but it’s also limited.
The Jitterbug is made for older users, and they don’t try to hide it, the phone comes with a reminder for your medicine and vitamins, an Urgent Care app to give you live access to doctors and nurses 24/7, and an app to talk to an emergency dispatcher.
Jitterbugs come with data plans that start at $2.50/month and they claim you don’t pay for anything you don’t use.
They are very limited phones, though. Any full Android phone and any iPhone will be capable of doing much more, and while those phones won’t be as health-centric, they will give you access to all the same services and features.
Smartphones in general are fairly easy to use devices, they’re less complex than computers, you’ll largely just have to tap what you want on the screen when you want to use it, and that’s about it.
While regular Android phones and iPhones won’t be as simple as the Jitterbug line, it’s mostly because they’re not as limited, so you may want to give them a look and see what you think. You’ll probably learn to use them very quickly.