|
|
||
Chubby Blitz will keep your wallet plump, too Date published: 12/27/2008
PERHAPS the days For years, consumers have paid big, fat prices for the skinniest new phones available. The trend of tech-fashion heroin chic was parodied in the 2005 film "Zoolander," in which Ben Stiller's prominent-cheekboned supermodel character did a lot of profiling sporting a thumbnail-sized fashion phone. Now comes a phone that can help us all have a more positive body image. The only thing that's thin about the short and chubby--but cute--Verizon Wireless Blitz is its price: a minuscule $66. It should be a hit with teens and college students, in part because of that tiny price, but also because it's a great messaging and media phone with a nice, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a vibrant display and good call quality. Great for typing, yet very affordable, it's being called "a BlackBerry for the rest of us." Even though it's not a smart phone in the BlackBerry sense, it's certainly a smart phone in terms of practicality. The squat form--sure to turn heads and produce smiles--stems from the fact that the keyboard slides in when not messaging. The Blitz is 3.5 inches long by 2.6 inches wide by 0.7 inch thick. It also may be a trend-setter in terms of pricing, as sales of consumer electronics items, which were expected to remain relatively solid, even in a bleak economy, took a double-digit hit in holiday shopping. That means that simple but functional and inexpensive devices like the Blitz could begin to dominate the market The Blitz lacks an EV-DO high-speed data connection, so you can't download songs from Verizon's V Cast Music over the air. You have to tether the Blitz to your PC to download songs with a USB cable, but that's a more affordable way of doing that, anyway, so it makes sense for those who want an economical phone.
If many consumers-- like me after packing on pounds during Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners and parties--are pairing the words "cute" and "chubby," it should be very effective marketing. The Blitz is a fat little phone that will keep your wallet from becoming anorexic. Michael Zitz: 540/846-5163
1. Be respectful. No personal attacks.
|
|
|||||||||||||
