I have the Best Husband Ever (BHE). He is not a runner, but he supports my running habit. Since he is an engineer, support sometimes takes the form of technology. I like technology but I’m a slow adopter, so BHE gets all the credit for my running tech knowledge. One of the best Christmas presents I’ve received was the smallest smartphone on the market.
I do not like to deal with carrying my everyday phone with me when I run, and I have never found an armband or belt that was comfortable. This phone is about the size of a Gu packet. Any pocket In my various running shorts or tights that can handle a Gu will also handle this phone. It’s light enough that I don’t really notice it’s in my pocket.
I like to have a phone with me when I run for several reasons, and those reasons have changed over the years. I used to listen to music on runs, but I’ve given that up in favor of being aware of people, cars, birds, and frogs. I like to have a phone with me in case of emergencies. About twice a year I have to call BHE and ask him to come pick me up. I once went out on a two hour run feeling great, and after an hour had to admit my stomach would not allow me to finish. I once miscalculated when I should turn back home, ran the distance I wanted to, realized I was a mile from home and could not face running another step. Temps were in the 20s and I was soaking wet, so I called for a ride home.
During races, my husband becomes the best support team ever. He cheers for me and has an entire armory of cow bells. Seeing him during a race always gives me a huge lift in spirits, and I love seeing him multiple times. He has a finely honed method to see me multiple times during a course of a race. He tracks my location with the phone that I am carrying. He’s not a big fan of the available packaged apps to track runners, so he created his own methods.
The phone that I originally received as a gift was the Posh Mobile Micro X. I went through a couple of these. I’ve had the newer version, the Jelly Pro, for about a year. The Jelly Pro is pretty durable, and noticeably less fragile than the Posh. I had to exercise the warranty for the Posh a couple of times, and I only use it when I run (I did drop it once). I’ve had no problems with the Jelly Pro. The battery is pretty good. I run about a four hour marathon and it has made it through a couple of those with some juice left at the end. As I said, the great appeal of this phone is that it’s really small. The obstacle is that it’s hard to use the screen, and the pop up keyboard is tiny. We’ve set up the apps I want to use so that they launch on start-up. I added a shortcut for Google Hangouts so that if I need to call my husband I don’t have to dial. This is not the kind of phone you want to use to surf the Internet.
If you are curious how a particular app would function on the Jelly Pro, how it would behave on a run, or how the battery would handle it, just drop me a line at info@hackyourrun.com and I’ll try to test it out.
This phone is unlocked by default. You can use any SIM card for your normal cell phone carrier. We use Google Fi, and they will provide you with a data only SIM card you can use for any device. This is also why I use Google Hangouts for calls on this phone. I also love that Google Fi only charges you for data you use, and it is seamless to use when you are out of the U.S. If you are interested in Google Fi, feel free to use my referral code to save $20 (I would also get a credit). Note; in my experience Google Fi is not ideal for service in Alaska.
You can purchase the Jelly Pro from Unihertz (the maker) for $124.99. The company also sells the phone on Ebay.
Unihertz has another model, the Atom, that is marketed to have a rugged case and other fun features. It is available on the Unihertz website and Amazon for $259.99. I haven’t used this phone so I can’t recommend it, if you have tried it please let me know!