What's Not Cool about the SpareOne cell phone

      The Spare One, like every other product, has its drawbacks. The cell phone claims to have a fifteen year battery life, but that number is actually very relative. Fifteen years only describes the shelf life of the battery, but does not take into account the usage. The battery life of the phone while being used is only ten hours. Also, the company only claims fifteen years if you are using a specific battery, the Energizer ultimate lithium battery. 

      According to Danah Boyd, our ever-present messaging systems and devices mean that we “never really have to disconnect.” (The Shallows, page 86). Thanks to the Spare One, even in emergencies where there is no power or electricity, we don’t have to disconnect. The fact that there is a market open for these “emergency cell phones” shows that our society is becoming extremely dependent on technology. In past time periods, when there was some emergency, one could always go to neighbors for help with a problem. Now, since our community is communicating more and more through technology, and less and less in person, emergency situations in which technology have failed have become more of a problem. 

     Also, you need a cell phone plan for the phone to work. For most people, that only entails placing your current SIM card to the Spare One, but to other people, it could be more difficult and even expensive to create a cell phone plan. Another drawback is that the Spare One sacrifices a display on the device for battery life. The lack of a screen makes calling difficult. Also, there is no way to save contact lists, and many people don’t memorize phone numbers anymore because we don’t have to. 

      The Spare One is $50.00. That is a lot for a backup cell phone that you may never get a chance to use. The Spare One is definitely not a perfect product. It is very good at what it does, but for many people, it will not justify the cost of the product.

New Technologies - What's Cool about the SpareOne phone

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.