When looking to buy a new cell phone, you usually ask friends and read online reviews.  But it may be worth considering what the inventor of the modern cell phone, Marty Cooper, uses on a daily basis.  C-SPAN recently interviewed Cooper, and among other topics, he discussed the best cell phones currently on the market, in his humble opinion of course.  He did own an iPhone recently, but gave it to his grandson, purportedly because he’s heard such great things about the Android and wanted to get more experience using it on a daily basis.

Cooper also told C-SPAN that he uses a Jitterbug on a daily basis, simply for the purpose of making calls.  For those of you unfamiliar with the Jitterbug, it is actually a mobile network operator founded by Cooper, although he gives all the credit to his wife.  It was launched in 2006 and it is an extremely basic and no frills cell phone that caters to baby boomers and older Americans.  While the company received a number of industry awards during its initial years on the market, including being selected for the New York Times Top 10 Brilliant Ideas of 2006, it has recently come under criticism for its expensive prepaid plans.  The phones themselves are between $100 and $200, and there is also a $35 activation fee, which is rare for prepaid phones.

It was interesting that Cooper did not plug Jitterbug more during his interview, or even admit to the fact that he uses a Droid or iPhone, but after Jitterbug was bought up by Verizon maybe Cooper doesn’t feel the need to relentlessly market his product.  Although you would think the C-SPAN demographic would be perfect for the Jitterbug target?  Either way, if the Droid is good enough for the “Godfather of the Cell Phone” – it’s good enough for me.

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