Peek e-mail device gains unlimited texts, image viewing
I’ve held off on a full review of the Peek handheld I have on loan but I need to get on it. Up to now, it was a little barebones for my usage. I’ll have to get on the review soon but before I do, I can share some good news for the Peeksters out there. There was a service upgrade last night from the company and it adds two key features that make the Peek more usable by a larger audience.
First up is the ability to send text messages from the up-to-now e-mail only device. Just enter the 10 digit cell number of your recipient in the To: field. Next up is the ability to view image attachments on the handheld. That was killing me in my usage so this is a nice add-on. The device supports .JPG, .GIF, .PNG and .BMP file formats when you click the "View Image" option. I’ve found the Peek to be useful, but in a very limited sort of fashion for my usage patterns. These two new features help and for some, basic e-mail at $20 a month is good enough. Add unlimited texting in there and it becomes a little more compelling of a purchase. Especially now that the price dropped from $99 to $79 for the hardware.
Kevin, Who do you think this device was built for? Basically it’s a cell phone without voice capabilities but one heck of a data/text messaging plan now.
Posted by: Brian Kirk | November 18, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Brian, it’s definitely not for anyone who owns a phone that has a good e-mail app. For folks that own lower-end feature phones where the e-mail experience is lacking: these folks could benefit from the Peek.
Posted by: Kevin C. Tofel | November 18, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Man I want this device. I never liked my high cell phone bill when everyone just texts me.
Posted by: Alslayer | November 18, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Melissa pays $20 extra a month for Blackberry service on a Curve which cost her like $100. Basically the same as the Peek, but she doesn’t need to mess with another device. And if she can use and enjoy the Blackberry, all sorts of non-techies can.
Posted by: Dave Zatz | November 18, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Kevin– does the password lock button work yet? It bugs me that it didn’t work out of the box. That and the fact that you have to mail the device back to Peek to get a firmware update.
Posted by: Ron | November 18, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Ron, the lock button on the device I’m using is still the same. Hold it to lock. Hold it to unlock… it’s more of a way to prevent keypresses when the device is in your pocket than to actually “lock” the device. Then again, I’m running v.1.04 of the firmware so it’s possible that this was upgraded in v.1.07. You still have to send the device in for an upgrade, which is unacceptable for a device that connects to a cellular network IMO. Having said that, the new texting and image viewing services apparently don’t require the newest firmware according to the product forums & blog.
Posted by: Kevin C. Tofel | November 19, 2008 at 10:48 am
Target has the blue colored version of the Peek *ON CLEARANCE FOR $49.00!*. I bought one last week.
I asked the store rep why this model was on clearance, but the other four colors weren’t. He simply stated that the color just wasn’t a popular pick amongst the customers.
Good luck
Posted by: Jay | November 20, 2008 at 12:42 pm