TIME magazine’s Gadget of the Year: Peek Email Device
Email is one of the most used communication application throughout the day along with voice and text.
But if receiving and sending email is what really important to you and nothing else. This nifty thin and stylish QWERTY device called Peek may fit your requirements.
Recently, TIME magazine voted Peek as the gadget of the year, way ahead of some heavy hitters such the Macbook, iPod Touch, Wii Fit, T-Mobile G1, etc…
The device costs $99.95 (this week you can get it at Target stores for $79.99), you pay $19.95 / mo. for Peek (email) service (automatic payment with credit card) without contract nor bill ever!
The device is very easy to set up and works with most Web based email accounts such: Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, Gmail, AOL, etc…You just need to provide an user id and password and you start using email everywhere. For POP/IMAP mail account, you have to contact Peek support to set up.
The device is riding T-Mobile network in the background. There is no instant push mail. The unit wakes up and automatically check for your incoming email every 5 minutes and notify you with light and vibrating buzz.. Simplicity is the key here, don’t expect graphic or fancy attachment…The focus is with text The battery life is promised to go few days depending on your email volume. You can choose from black, burgundy or blue with silver/gray backing.
You can get Peek online HERE or at the Target stores near you.
Personally, I think this is highly overrated. $19.99 a month for email?
I pay $10 for FULL INTERNET on my HTC Touch and most people have a cell phone anyways, so it’s $19.99 + whatever you are paying for your cell… doesn’t make sense to me.
Twitter: solsie
November 3, 2008
Eric, the targeted audience would be just non-techie people who just want a simple device and a separate dump phone.
But non-techie people usually don’t need access to email “on the go”… and to pay $19.99 a month for the service? I’m still scratching my head on this.
Twitter: solsie
November 3, 2008
I agree about the pricing. This could be more appealing if the device is free and subscriber only pays for the monthly service or bring it down to let say $50 and $5/month.
The developer promises to support attachment viewing, HTML mail, Calendar…in future firmware releases
$5/ month would be more reasonable, but I’m convinced the “Gadget of the Year” award shouldn’t have been given to this device.
The award was given by Time magazine, I wouldn’t put too much clout into what they say.