Peek: A Handheld E-Mail Machine That Text Messges Too

Peek is a $79 handheld gadget that is a dedicated device for doing one thing and one thing only -- email. Except now it also allows unlimited text messaging and image viewing as well. Peek costs $79 and the e-mail/text service is $20 per month.

When I first read about Peek a few months ago, I wasn't overly taken with the idea, but the more I read about it and think about the more impressed I've become. If you already have some sort of smartphone, this obviously isn't for you, but this may make sense for the rest of the population. I see it particularly useful for people who are already locked into cellphone contracts who would like to get e-mail on the fly, students (and others) who don't have cell phones and/or computers at home, people who don't want the complexity of a smartphone, etc. I have a friend who doesn't have a cell phone and uses Skype to keep in touch with everyone and another who doesn't have a computer at home. Something like this would be ideal for both of them.

One reviewer commented "the Kindle is for books, and the Peek is for e-mail." That seems to sum it up well. To give a feel for the size, it's about 30% thinner than the newest iPhone.

The other great thing about Peek is that it doesn't require any kind of service contract. That means you can start and stop service at any time.

For people who think Peek is pointless, you might want to consider people voted it the #1 gadget of the year in a recent Time Magazine poll and it made Gadling's top 25 technology products of 2008.

For the record, the Peek can do probably 2/3 of what I use my Treo for and I would find it far easier to live without cell phone connectivity (I'd just use Skype instead) than I could without text messaging and e-mail on the go. For someone looking to reign in their budget, the Peek just might be a good way to go.

Here are some reviews of the Peek:

• Gadling has a two part review.
• Walter Mossberg in The Wall Street Journal.
• David Pogue in The New York Times.
• Elizabeth Woyke in Forbes.
• Olga Kharif in Business Week.
• Danny Dumas in Wired.
• Todd Haselton in Laptop Magazine (including a video of the device).
  
• Fortune Magazine has a video review.

P.S. -- For any Skype users out there, here's a USB adapter that makes any Bluetooth headset look like headphone / mic combo to a PC or Mac.