Samsung Jitterbug J ReviewBig Button Cell Phone
This Samsung Jitterbug J review will walk you through how to set up and use this cool new big button cell phone from Great Call. Along the way you'll find comprehensive, unbiased, hands-on information about this new and re-designed Jitterbug cell phone.
You'll see the the entire process from taking it out of the box to making your first call and then going online to administer the phone from your web browser (if you want to do that). You can use the link to the right to get it. OK. Let's start with actually getting the phone. Ordering the Jitterbug JThe Jitterbug J costs $99. You can order the phone online to get a free car charger. Ordering the phone is a quick four-step process.You choose
Update for California UsersThe California Technology Access Program has started a Jitterbug Wireless Technology Pilot Program which provides a free phone for qualified California residents. The phone is provided free, but you have to pay for the calling plan. If anyone has used the phone under this program, please drop me a line or add a review at the bottom of this page. Thanks.White or GraphiteYou can choose a white or graphite color. Both look pretty good.Monthly PlanYou can choose from a wide array of monthly plans starting from the Simply 14 plan where you get 50 minutes a month for $14.99 a month plus taxes, or you can spend as much as 79.99 a plan for quite a bit more minutes.For the purpose of reviewing this phone, I chose the Simply 14 plan. However, if you will be using the phone for everyday use, you should choose the 29.99 a month plan which gives you 200 daytime and 500 night and weekend minutes per month. Later, if you need more minutes, you can change your plan. Another option is to choose the cheapest plan and buy additional minutes as you need them. If you go this route, it's best to buy 1000 additional minutes at a time good for a whole year for $120. This gives you a cheaper per-minute cost compared to the smaller additional minute packages. Either way, there's no contract, so you can always cancel or switch plans. It you cancel and re-activate, you will have to pay the $35 activation fee again. Additional ServicesYou can choose additional services which do cost a few extra dollars a month. Among the more interesting are the Roadside Assistance and Live Nurse services.Roadside AssistanceWith Roadside Assistance, you get to call directly from your Jitterbug J and a live operator will get in touch with whoever is needed. Basically, it's like a faster AAA service.LiveNurseWith LiveNurse you have 24-hour access to call a real nurse whenever to need one.You can combine these two services with a handset replacement service for $9 a month. Not bad. Emergency Service - Coming SoonA Jitterbug emergency service is coming soon, as well.AccessoriesThere is a wide range of accessories available for your Jitterbug phone. In addition to the car charger and regular charger, you might want to consider a Bluetooth headset or a decorative beaded lanyard.Activation FeeFinally, there's a $35 activation fee that you have to pay when you order. When you receive the phone, it is already set up with a phone number and is ready to use.One downside is that they do not seem to offer to port your existing number. That's the price you pay for receiving a phone that's already been activated for you and ready to be used. ShippingYou can pay extra for overnight shipping if you really want a ready-to-use phone the next day. Otherwise, standard shipping should be fine.Getting the Phone The phone and car charger come in one box but are packaged separately.Once you open the box with the Jitterbug J, you simply insert the battery into the back of the phone and press the ON/OFF button for a couple of seconds to turn it on. Your phone number is clearly displayed at the top of the screen. This is great because it makes it so easy give out your new phone number to everyone you want. And since the phone is already set up, it's easy to . . . Make a Call To make a call on your Jitterbug J, simply dial the number starting with the area code, which you have to include. The phone number display is nice and large. You'll like it! Now that you know how simple it is to make your calls, we can start checking out the rest of the phone. Okay let's do the full review. (There's even a story behind this review. While checking the features, I thought I found a significant flaw in the Jitterbug J phone, but I resolved it after calling Jitterbug's customer support.) Big Button Cell Phone
Easy to Press ButtonsThe Samsung Jitterbug J is definitely a big button cell phone. Here's another pic this time next to the Motorola W175. The J's button's are clearly bigger.Readable ScreenThe screen is also bigger. The solid colors combined with black and white letters also make it easily readable.When you open the phone, you can choose between Phone Info, Phone Settings, and Phone Book. Phone InfoOpen your Jitterbug J phone and scroll through your menu and select Phone Info.There you'll see you phone number again, how much battery charge is left, how strong your signal is, and (roughly) how many minutes you have used. It's all pretty straight-forward except for the minutes used. Minutes Used The display of the number of minutes used can be a little misleading because it counts all calls, even those that don't pick up on the other end. To test the phone when I first got it, I called my home phone to see that it was working fine. My home phone rang, and then I ended the call. When I checked my Phone Info, I saw that it said "Min Used: 1"! This got me quite annoyed, and I immediately called . . . Customer ServicePhone NumberYou can call Jitterbug Customer Service at1-800-733-6632. So I called and waited for about four or five minutes, steaming all the while. After all, if I was going to be charged a minute for every unanswered call, my 50 monthly minutes were going to disappear fast. All's Well that Ends WellI spoke to a nice lady who informed me that that one minute was NOT counted against my monthly airtime. So how, I asked, do you know how many minutes you've actually used up? Well, you have to either call up Jitterbug's customer service or sign up for an online account and check your usage online. You don't have to worry about calling customer service from your Jitterbug J, because those calls are free. Calls to "MyOperator" however are NOT free.Whew! With that settled let's go back to checking out the J's settings. And you're thinking, is this the "flaw" I mentioned earlier. Nope, it isn't. Keep reading! Phone Settings
Through the Phone Settings menu you can
RingtonesYou can select from a small but varied set of ringtones ranging from the Jitterbug (yes, the actual Jitterbug dance music), to a music box, and, ironically, a rotary phone's ring. Personally, I like the ringtone called Espresso. Speaking of sounds . . .JingleThe Jingle is the musical flourish that greets you when you turn your phone on or off. You can silence that Jingle here. If you usually leave your phone on, you won't hear it that often anyway.Similarly, you may not care, but you can adjust the . . . Colors You can choose the color scheme for your Jitterbug J's display. The default is red, but you can change it to blue, black, green, or gray. BluetoothIf you are going to use a Bluetooth headset, you can set it up here. First you have to turn Bluetooth "on". The default setting is off. Next you have to "pair" your headset with the phone so that they work together. Later, if you switch headsets, you have to "unpair" them and "pair" the new one.Phone BookIt's easy to select who to call in you phone book by clicking the up and down arrows to scroll through the people in your phone book. The display of the name and number is nice and clear. The advantage that you only have one name on the screen at a time can turn into a slight disadvantage. If you have lots of people in your phone book, it can take a while to scroll through everyone. There doesn't appear to be a shortcut where you can enter the first letter of someone's name and jump to all the names starting with that letter.Adding NamesYou add people to your phone book by clicking "Add" and then entering the name and phone number in the usual tedious way. But it's not the only way. You can do it online!MyCalendar
You can keep track of your birthdays and appointments with the Jitterbug phone calendar service. You can enter one-time appointments like an unscheduled visit to the doctor or recurring ones such as birthdays and or visits to the salon.You enter appointments online at not cost or through the Jitterbug MyOperator, which does cost you airtime. My JitterbugYou, or your children, can set up an online Jitterbug account. Using the account, you can add people to your phone book, add events to your calendar, check how many minutes you have really used, and see a copy of your latest bill.Sign Up
Go to http://www.myjitterbug.com to be directed to the online account page. Click on the Register link. Then you just have to enter your Jitterbug J cell phone number, an email address and a password. Secret Question
Next, you have to choose a security question. And you're done.You can now go to your . . .
Online Phone Book
Click on the Phone Book to see the people currently in your phone. You can easily add people to your phone book, and you even get to choose a ringtone for each person in your phone book. This feature is also great if you are buying this phone for someone else who doesn't want to spend the time configuring their phone book. You can create your online account and create the phone book for them so it'll alway be easy for them to call their friends and family. You could the also check if they have enough minutes and whether you need to get them some more by looking at . . . Extras (Or How I resolved the Flaw?)So you've seen two different ways to set up your Jitterbug J's phone book and how easy it is to press the big buttons on this cell phone, but you may be thinking, "What if I don't want to press any buttons at all? What about just using . . . "Voice-Activated DialingYeah. What about voice-activated dialing? I looked through the menu of the Jitterbug J and couldn't find any mention of it. Oh No! They didn't leave that out, did they?Customer Service AgainSo I called up Customer Service just to confirm the bad news. This time I was on hold for barely a minute. You don't have to wait for bad news, I thought.A nice Service Rep. named Tameka cheerfully told me that sure they could add Voice-Activated Dialing to my Phone. She told me that, when using it, you have to say the name exactly as it appears in your Phone Book. It was a free service from Jitterbug. I just had to make sure my phone was on so that they could activate it. Good Job Jitterbug!
So I hung up. After about fifteen minutes I flipped open my Jitterbug J and there it was, a new menu option, Voice Dial!So there wasn't a flaw at all. Good job Jitterbug! All right, let's get back to more mundane matters regarding the MyJitterbug account. Voicemail and Call HistoryVoicemail and Call History are two more extras that are not initially available. However, you can add them to your Jitterbug J by calling customer support. Adding your call history feature is free, but voicemail costs an extra $3 a month. It's worth it though.Usage
The Usage section shows you how many minutes you've used and how many minutes you have left for the month. BillYou can see a copy of the last few bills in the MyBill section. Unfortunately, at this time, you cannot pay your bill online. You have to mail them a check.Good PhoneOverall, I found only a couple of complaints with the Jitterbug phone. All in all, the Samsung Jitterbug J is a really good phone that makes calling really simple and allows anyone to easily keep in touch with their family and friend.If you decide to get the phone, you can make use of this: LIMITED TIME OFFER: FREE gift with your purchase of a NEW Jitterbug J cell phone. Easy to use. No contracts. Learn more... Learn even more?You can check out Jitterbug cell phone ratings, questions and reviews submitted by visitors to this site. I also found a nice forum discussion about Jitterbug that gives you a range of opinions about this phone service.Return to the Best Prepaid Cell Phone Plans home page.
|
The phone turns on with a musical flourish (the Jingle) along with a "Welcome Jitterbug" message on the screen. The battery has already been charged to about 70% of full strength so you're ready to use the phone.
