Peek Review – The Simple & Cheap E-mail Device

The Peek is a new dedicated email device that isn’t revolutionary technologically, but it aims to be revolutionary in a different way. It’s the first wireless device to offer email on the go for a cheap pay as you go price that doesn’t require a complicated contract. The Peek runs on T-mobile’s network and can be used anywhere in the U.S. for just $19.99 a month. You can enter your credit card number directly from the Peek for billing. No credit check or sell your soul contract required.

Design:
The Peek is compact and pretty slim, it’s just a little thinner than my 1G iPhone, yet it is wider and shorter. The peek is lightweight at just 3.8 ounces and comfortable to hold in your hand. The front of the peek is covered in a rubbery finish which also covers the keys. There are no gaps between the keys and the devices, so you don’t have to worry about crumbs and dirt falling through, and it should probably be spill resistant to a certain extent as well. – That is something to keep in mind if you are going to be giving this device to a kid to use. The keyboard is comfortable to use and provides pretty good tactile feedback. It’s keys illuminate when pressed which is great when you’re using the peek in areas with dark lighting.

On the right side of the device is a scroll-wheel and back button. There is no doubt that the Peek’s designers took design cues from the older generation of BlackBerries. Unfortunately the scroll-wheel is a bit stiffer then we’d like it to be. The display on the Peek is bright and clear and as a result reading text is easy and Viewing image attachments is a pleasant experience. In the box you get an ac adapter which is nice and small and slim, so it will be great for traveling. A travel case designed by Timbuk2 is also included but we did not receive one.

Overall the design is nice, slim and simplistic. Personally we like the pink color the best, not because it’s girly, but because it’s got the most pop. However you can go for the more conservative Charcoal gray or the Aqua blue version. Either way we can’t help but compare the Peek to being the BlackBerry’s younger kid sibling. The Peek’s got the basic looks, does email well like his older brother but he has a lot left to grow up before he’ll be the BlackBerry feature-wise – but not that he wants too.

Set-up:
When you first turn on the Peek it greets you with simple instructions for setting up the device, which is really just that you have to wait for the device to acquire a signal and from there you are prompted to set up your email account by inputting your name, email and password. The device can hold up to 3 email accounts, and it currently supports AOL, Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo. I pulled in a Gmail and an AOL account – Yes, I still use AOL, and I’m not ashamed of it either. Overall the set-up process was dead simple.

Software/Interface:
The Peek’s software interface is very BlackBerry’esque. You use the side scrollwheel to open emails ad select menu options. The menus pop up in the upper right corner just like on a BlackBerry. Its display can fit 8 emails listed at a time on the screen. The Peek’s inbox collects all of your email account in to the same inbox, which according to your preference – can be a good thing or bad thing. Overall, the interface is very responsive and there is only a very minut lag when jumping between emails. Unfortunately the font size may be a bit small for some, we’d like to have an option to increase the size like you can on a BlackBerry. – Especially since the device will probably appeal to kids or older folks looking for a simple to use device like this one. I know from personal experience that my mother had me increase the font size on her BlackBerry to the maximum size available – the BlackBerry, which by the way, she constantly asks me how to use.

Features:
The Peek isn’t rich with features, it’s really just about the email. However it does support image attachments, and it also lets you create a contact list. The Peek also lets you set up sound & alerts. You get to choose between Vibrate, Ring – high, medium, low or silent. You can also set the display to standard battery saver in which the display dims after 15 seconds or battery hog in which the display turns dark after 60 seconds. Additionally, the Peek lets you choose from 3 themes with different color sets including Dusk, Tangerine and Spring.

E-mails came in about 5 minutes after they were received in my regular mailbox. Additionally you can use the send/receive button to have emails manually pushed to you.

Conclusion:
We love that the Peek is contract free. It’s cheap $99 price point works as well. However we still think that $19.99 a month is a bit much for just email. If that included access to IM like AIM and MSN, we’d say it’s the right price. But for just email we think it should be dropped to $15 a month (maybe $10?) and the device would fly off the shelves. Overall we imagine that this device would do well with kids or just someone looking for a cheap device that is just dedicated to email. We hate to make generalizations but it should appeal to senior citizens as well (the non-tech savvy ones), granted that they don’t have a problem with the font size. It’d be a great gift to give grandma to keep in touch with her grandkids before she heads off to Miami, while she is sunning herself on the beach. Or perhaps it’s for the senior citizen who isn’t quite ready for a full blown computer yet but again, wants to keep in touch with their family. The Peek goes on sale at Target as of Monday, September 15th.

The Good:
Great Minimalist Design, Easy to Set-up and Operate, Clean Interface, Affordable

The Bad:
The monthly charge of $19.99 to receive JUST e-mail is a bit high.