March 5, 2026
#538
Gentle reader,
Size and Camera Lens comparison of the Lively Jitterbug Smart3 vs Smart4
I, like many humans, do not like changes. I've lived in eight decades and am in my 70th year of life. Also, I learned early on that I have an addictive personality. Fortunately, I also have strong will power. Therefore, I have been able to avoid: Tobacco products, alcoholic beverages and never, ever, tried illegal drugs. There is another, worldwide addiction: Smart Phones. Just stop and look around you when you are outside or in a store or especially a restaurant. What do you see?
No one is talking. Oh, one might show their neighbor what they are watching. But, no one is TALKING with the very people they got together with!
Nancy and I were both relatively poor when we met and a couple years later wed in early 1996. Thus, as cellular phones shrank in size and price, we still hesitated to get some. We both got pagers. Medical Doctors in hospitals still use them. Ours were simpler than the ones seen below, with just a small screen on the top to show the telephone number of the caller. You didn't even have to unclip it from your belt to see who paged you.
Image of pagers courtesy of media.cybernews.com
I worked for the Washington, D.C. subway authority working on their subway cars, starting in 1982. Calling Maryland or Virginia then was a long distance call. Therefore, a quarter (1/4 dollar) coin was not going to work. What is a "long distance call?" you may be thinking.
Wikipedia defines it as thus: Long-distance phone calls are telephone calls made to a location outside a defined local calling area, typically charged at a higher rate than local calls. They can be either national (within the same country) or international (between different countries) and were historically more complex and costly to connect than local calls.
The key word in that paragraph is "costly". When all the world had was "landline" telephones, and cell phones (and the Internet) did not exist, there were three ways to communicate with other people from least expensive to most: Writing letters, sending a Telegram or via Telephone calls. Within the confines of your neighborhood town or city, calling each other was free. Try to call the city fifty or more miles away and it was a Long Distance Call and the telephone company charged that per minute.
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You may live in an area where all power and other services are underground.
Above is an drawing of typical rural or urban/suburban utility poles. "Cable" refers to cable television line. Telephone is self explanatory. We still have a landline telephone with an "unlisted" number, but since everyone we know has our cell phone number, the only calls are from spam people intent upon stealing our money. So much for having and unlisted number. Finally, I un plugged the phone. End of problem.Okay, hopefully, you know have a better understanding of how people around the world communicated over distances for well more than a hundred years ago. We can now move onto the reason for this article.Because I worried about Nancy's car breaking down or other situations, I suggested that she get a cell phone. All there were then were phones. No one could get on the Internet then except with a computer. Over time I too had a flip phone. I had a "military grade" model similar to the one above. It proved to be my last. I grew frustrated when texting with someone who had talk-to-text and I was trying to keep up with my flip phone. Nancy surprised me a couple Christmas's ago with this:That is the Lively Jitterbug Smart3 cell phone for Seniors. I balked at first, but once I tried talk-to-text (something Nancy still does not do) I was happy. Still, 98% of the time, it sits in my pocket. I tend to forget it's there. I have an extensive contacts list since I am involved in many activities since I retired. But, I mostly use it for talking or texting.
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Since Verizon.net (FiOS supplier) uses AOL (yes, it still exists!) for their e-mail and my "geezer" phone could not figure that out I still have to use a PC of some kind to e-mail. Which is fine. I still say, "I got on the Internet." I removed Email and Maps & Directions from the home page. However, if I opened something like Camera & Photos, the phone would sneak Email and Maps & Directions back onto the home page. "Look, sir, you are a geezer, therefore let me take care of you." it seemed to be telling me.
Anyway, the phone is slow to load things and the camera is not very good either. When I saw that this:
The Jitterbug Smart4 was out and Best Buy had it on sale for $47.99. Yes, LESS than fifty bucks! I went to the local store and got one. They transferred everything from my old phone onto the new one.
There are a few differences such as the texting interface, but otherwise it works the same by WAY better! Everything loads much quicker. The camera is much better with three lenses and a larger sensor for more crisp photos and video.
Unlike the majority of the world's population, I still have and use, digital cameras. While cell phone cameras can and do produce stunning images and video, I am old school.
My Nikon D300 and lenses from 8mm fisheye to 400mm telephoto and everything in between. I also have two different Panasonic Lumix cameras both of which have Leica lenses.
I have yet to make any photos or videos with the Smart4 phone. I hope it will be much better than the Smart3.
With the case on, the Smart4 is substantially larger, heavier and easier to handle than the Smart3 with it's case on.
Here is the real difference. Note how smooth the Smart3 is compared to the thicker and textured edges of the Smart4. Now, the differences:
Note the retail prices. I truly do not understand why folks have to have the "Latest and Greatest!" of things. Advertising is so effective that so many homes, especially here in the United States if they have a garage, it looks like this:
Why? Because SO many people believe advertisements. I am not a competitive person. I have never felt that I had to be "better" than anyone else. Sadly, so many people have SO much stuff, they start filling their vehicles up with it:
Now, obviously people who do this never intended it to get this bad. They likely have a mental illness. I once did a favor to a neighbor. The inside of their house was so filled with stuff, a lot of it NEW, that there was only a narrow passage through each room. And, they had children. Part of the reason is ADVERTISING.
Okay, I have gone off on a tangent. My advice to you is this: Don't be like everyone else. Be yourself. I am and I am very happy.
AND, instead of getting a cell phone that takes you YEARS to pay for, getting a Jitterbug Smart4 for fifty dollars and give it a try. Oh, and try watching your videos on your television. That way, you can enjoy them together.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article. I do this for free. No one and no organization pays me to write. Please share this article with your friends and family and try discussing it, face to face. Or do you want to end up like the people in Wall-e?
If you have not seen the film, it realistically shows where people and planet Earth could be headed: Having to leave the planet because we did not CARE about it or our future on it.
Scott Robb
March 5, 2026
