Scheduled for release in March 2012, the SpareOne phone, made by Powerskin, is a mobile device that runs on a single AA lithium battery. The phone comes equipped with an Energizer Lithium 91 battery, a battery that doesn't degrade when it's not being used. That single battery allows the phone to have a shelf-life of up to 15 years and 10 hours of talk time. It’s an affordable phone at $49.99. It has no screen and can only do one thing: make phone calls.
With moderm smartphones boasting specs like 5” screens and super AMOLED resolutions, the SpareOne phone may seem like a backward step advances in the mobile phone industry. However, the SpareOne was not made to be like a smart phone. It was made to be your phone's backup.
We live in a world that is extremely dependent on mobile devices for communication. As Turkle puts it in Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other, "Compassion is due to those of us--and there are many of us--who are so dependent on our devices that we cannot sit still for a funeral service or a lecture or a play." Our cellular devices are the primary tools that we use for everyday life nowadays, so it has become necessary to have some sort of backup for when your tool’s battery life gets drained from all the texting, calling, gaming, and web surfing. What do you do if the power goes out, your phone is dead, and there is no workable outlet? What do you do when your car breaks down in the middle of a deserted high way, and your phone is dead? Or if your phone is lost or stolen? A backup—just in case situations like this happen—might be needed.
The SpareOne phone’s primary use is for emergency situations. If a natural disaster occurs and assistance is needed, it might be smart to have a SpareOne phone lying around your house or in your car. And it doesn't need a SIM card to make emergency calls. Its long shelf-life means that you can put it in storage and know that it’s there for you when you need it. At only fifty dollars a phone, you can keep one in your car and in your home. It’s a good phone to have—just in case.
I find that I agree with this side and that the SpareOne is a great emergency back up. I feel that you make a strong argument for it's benefits as an emergency phone and our dependency on phones in general. I myself have felt compelled to check my phone when I'm bored. They have evolved so much further than communication devices, they've become entertainment and social hubs. I feel this may turn off people to the idea of a SpareOne as an emergency phone. Our generation and its successors have become so use to featured and smart phones that something simple and low tech would be tossed out for something more expensive and featured, even if it is for an emergencies only.
ReplyDeleteI thought that the Spare One phone would be a good phone for older people to have in case of emergencies. I know my grandparents hate the idea of having an actual cell phone because they wouldn't use it on a regular basis. However, during Hurricane Katrina they went without power for two weeks and no one from our family could contact them because even their land line had been destroyed. This simple phone would have been very helpful for them during this time.
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