Not long ago, Time Magazine named the Peek mobile email device its Gadget of the Year.  Now, that is a pretty strong endorsement, and one which was met with a bit of controversy.  Our own Peter Murphy disputed this endorsement, stating:

I find this quite alarming, the Peek itself made an appearance, when it was released and conveniently disappeared.  A device like this is more Zune than the Zune, and less Oprah than the Kindle. I suppose you would have to say it’s a great idea if this was 1988. The fact that the iPod touch came third in this list, makes me wonder why striking two stones together to create a spark to light a fire, isn’t on the list.

After reading Peter’s thoughts, I decided that we owed it to our readers to take a much more in depth PEEK at this device.  I am never one to rely on other people’s thoughts or words, and I wanted to test out whether it really deserved Time Magazine’s mantle of Gadget of the Year.  Fortunately, the folks at Peek were kind enough to loan me a unit to test.  So, read on to find out whether this really is the must have gadget of 2008, or whether 2009 will have us peeking in another direction.

Let’s start by taking a look at what exactly is the Peek. Because it really does represent a bold move. In this age of convergence and all in one devices, this is a device which does one thing: email. And presumably it does that well.

Everything you will need to check you email on the go (except your email acct and password) is included in the box. And it ain’t much. In addition to the Peek, there is a power cord which you can use to charge the battery, the usual assorted manuals and documentation, and a pouch style case. That’s it. Noticeably absent here is a sync cable. There is no way to connect the Peek to your computer and to be honest, there is no need to do so.

The device itself is also pretty minimalistic, containing only the bare essential controls.  To get started, we’ll need to turn to the top of the device, where we find the power button.  Just hit that to activate the device and get started.

Look at that, it is waking up.  The first time you activate the device, you will be prompted to enter your email information.  Unlike most devices, which require you to know a lot of complicated settings, all you need here is your email address and password.  Peek will configure everything else for you.

The folks at Peek obviously know that the average consumer does not know their SMTP from their IMAP4, let alone SSL, POP3, and a whole host of other acronyms that not even the government could have dreamed up.  They have done some great work here, allowing the Peek to do all of the heavy setup lifting for you.  Which does beg the question, why do other devices require such complicated information rather than handling things automatically like the Peek.

I entered three email accounts, which is the maximum.  I was not really sure why they capped it at three accounts, though I can guess it had something to do with bandwidth and memory.  Hopefully this will be increased in the future.

While we are on the subject of entering information, let’s take a look at the keyboard.  The Peek utilizes a chiclet style, front-facing keyboard, which resembles a Blackberry or Palm Treo.  I found these keys to be a bit small for my taste, but it was otherwise very easy to use.  The keys were responsive and gave a nice tactile feedback when pushed.  The whole thing is rubberized, which makes it comfortable in your hand.  Once I got the hang of it, I found my thumbs practically danced across keys, with very few mistakes or typos.

All right, well that brings us to what you are going to see on the screen when you fire up the Peek.  The interface is purposefully simple and minimalistic, like the rest of this device.  Turn it on and you will find a list of all of your emails.  I was a bit disappointed to find that there was no way to separate emails from different  accounts into their own folders.  That is my personal preference, I just don’t like inter-mingling of my inboxes.

Use the scroll wheel on the side to scan through your inbox and select the message you wish to read.  As with most scroll wheels, push it to make your selection.  Oddly, however, selecting a message will not open it.  Instead, it will open a pull down menu.

From here, you can choose to open the selected message, start a new message, or choose from a number of additional options.  This meant it would typically take two clicks of the scroll wheel to open your message.  You can also push the enter button on the keyboard, but I still thought these menus and controls could have been designed a bit more intuitively.

The Peek will automatically check your email on an ongoing basis (the flashing blue light means you have new mail), or you can scroll through to the bottom of the menu to select send/receive to manually check your messages.  While this worked fine, it was buried way too far down the menu.  It should have been easier to manually download your messages.  I would have liked a button on the keyboard which would trigger the send/receive command.

All of this brings us to the obvious question which is should you run out and buy a Peek.  And, to be honest, for most of you reading this, the answer will be no.  What, you were expecting something different?  Well, let’s be honest, most of our readers are pretty technologically savvy.  Heck, even the Peek folks themselves admit that this is not for hardcore techies.  So, why are we bothering to review it then?

Well, even though this may not be for you, I would be willing to bet that someone on your holiday shopping list is perfect for this device.  So…who is going to be perfect for this device?  Well, take someone like my friend Jack the Lawyer.  Jack is an avid cell phone user.  he talks on the phone all the time.  He checks email all the time.  But he rarely connects while mobile.  His phone is pretty much (gasp) just a phone.  Jack the Lawyer would like to be able to check his email while mobile, but he is not interested in complicated data plans, or PDA phones like Windows Mobile.  This is the primary audience for the Peek, and I am sure that Jack the Lawyer (or someone just like him) is on most of your lists as well.

In fact, someone just like Jack the Lawyer was on Amol Sarva’s holiday shopping list.  Amol just happens to be the founder and inventor of the Peek.  His wife was apparently a bit of an email junkie, and…well, I’ll let Amol take it from here.  This was his response when I asked him how he came up with the idea of an email only device:

The idea for Peek was actually born over the course of months of long walks in Central Park with my wife who was pregnant at the time.  My wife couldn’t sit still and found comfort in taking long walks – only problem was she often became uneasy during these walks being away from her computer and email (a condition we affectionately refer to as Inbox Anxiety around the Peek offices…).

Being a good tech geek, I had long been using smartphones for mobile email. I gave her an old smartphone I was no longer using, describing the many features: email, texting, voice calling, Internet, etc. But the bells and whistles are exactly what turned her off. She didn’t want a complicated smartphone with extras she didn’t need.  What she really wanted was a simple, nifty device that would let her do email on the go since email was how everyone she knew made plans, caught up, and shared news.

I thought a simple, fun, and attractive mobile email device had to exist. I asked my contacts at the cell phone companies, but they were dismissive. Nobody wants “simple”, they want “more”, they said.  Thus the idea for Peek: create an elegant personal mobile email device that’s simple and easy-to-use and not burdened by a ton of unnecessary features and functionality.

So, let’s be honest, I am sure there is someone just like Jack the Lawyer or Amol’s wife.  someone who would love to untether themselves from the computer, and check email during long walks in the park, the playland at McDonald’s, or just about anywhere in between.  This is who you should be thinking about when you toss the Peek into your cart during your next visit to Target.

Overall, I really liked this device.  It was easy to setup, minimized the controls and interface to make things as easy as possible, and put all of your emails into the palm of your hand.  The problem I had with this one was the value for your buck.  While the $80 you will pay for the device was not bad, I thought $20 per month was a bit steep for email only.  I think this is a fantastic concept for a standalone device, but there is still quite a lot of room for growth available.  For example, while it allows you to read text emails, you cannot view html emails (they will be converted to plain text) or attachments.

Likewise, I think there is a lot of potential for the Peek to grow into a full mobile Cloud device.  In addition to email, I would love see the folks at Peek add a task manager – something that could sync with programs like Toodledo or Remember The Milk.  Likewise, the ability to sync with a program like Google Calendar in order to track your full itinerary.  Imagine, the whole Cloud, all of that power, right in the palm of your hand without all of the complication of Windows Mobile, or even the iPhone.  All of that might just change my opinion about the $20 per month.

On the other hand, there have already been some significant improvements to the Peek, including the inclusion of your email contacts and, most recently, text messaging.  And the folks at Peek tell me the 2009 will see plenty more exciting announcement.  I can’t wait to get a peek at what’s next for this handy little device!

Of course, the best part of the Peek is not what it does, but what it represents.  The Peek is unique.  Along with Amazon’s Kindle, it is one of the few devices which offers access to a data plan without marrying itself to a specific (or even any) telephone carrier.  Let me say that again: data without a specific carrier.  Now, to some of our European cousins may not find this to be interesting at all.  Here in the United States, however, this concept is nothing short of revolutionary.  I always thought it was a bit strange that you had to tie yourself to a cell phone carrier in order to check your email or surf the Internet, and I am thrilled to find data devices which are willing to fight this trend.  Whether this is an isolated event, or the beginning of a new mobile data paradigm, I am really fascinated by the potential the Peek brings us for divorcing our devices from phone carriers.  Now that is something I can certainly endorse!

What I Liked:

• Fantastic design
• Comfortable and easy to use keyboard
• Easy setup
• Data plan which is independent from a specific carrier
• Contacts
• Text messaging

What Needs Improvement:

• Monthly fee is too high for email only
• No advanced email features (such as HTML email or attachments)
• This only scratches the surface of what a device like this could do (tasks, appointments, calendar, The Cloud…)

Where to Buy: Peek

Target

Price: $99.95 (plus $19.99/month)

Be Sociable, Share!

•