A friend of mine refers to traveling with children as “luggage with luggage.” Well here’s an accessory with an accessory: see that little rectangular dongle on the handbag above? It’s the Trellie, and its purpose is not for mere show. It’s a Bluetooth-enabled device with LED lights that illuminate when your phone is ringing.
When I initially read about the Trellie, my first thought was, why would I need this? And I don’t mean that in a scoffing, oh-you-silly-gadget-you kind of way. I thought that simply because no one ever calls me. Really. I know that sounds sad, but don’t cry for me, Argentina. It’s just the truth. Almost everyone in my life, outside of people I’m interviewing for stories of course, either emails me, texts me or contacts me via social media. And if we need to discuss something using our actual voices (how novel!), nine times out of 10, we make plans via the aforementioned methods and then talk in person. As I thought about this more, I scrolled back mentally over the non-work-related calls I’ve received randomly recently, and I was about to totally dismiss this one as a product that might work for other people, but not me.
And then I thought about the vet, who is supposed to call me today with test results for my dog. And I thought about my son’s daycare, which once tried to call me when he was sick, but, um, didn’t reach me because my phone was…wait for it…buried in my bag. And it was only after my husband started simultaneously Skyping and texting me that I clued into the fact that someone important was trying to reach me. So, yeah, it seems I might be the exact person the Trellie is trying to target: moms with big, cavernous handbags and numerous creatures whose care and feeding and well-being go so much the better when said mom actually answers her phone, usually trapped somewhere between a wallet, a crumpled up granola bar, a diaper and other purse detritus and sufficiently muffled.
Or you might just be someone with a lot of friends and family members who actually use the phone to, you know, call you and chat about stuff.
Or you might just want to keep your phone on silent in your handbag and still know when it’s ringing.
Whatever your particular phone-answering challenge, the Trellie is available for pre-order through its Kickstarter campaign for $30. Delivery (if the campaign is funded) is expected in May.
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