This device is a great concept that's poorly executed. I was looking to move away from BlackBerry to a separate phone and email device and this seemed like the perfect solution. I used it for a few months but the shortcomings were too much for me to justify the monthly service charge and initial investment.
Positive aspects
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Email only device: just what I was looking for, an email only device that does not tie down my phone when I don't need email. This way I can throw it in my briefcase or coat when needed and leave it back at other times
Keyboard: this device has the best keyboard of any mobile device I've used (which aren't too many). It's certainly better than the one on either the iPhone or BlackBerry. It's a full keyboard and you don't need to use the shift key for the most commonly used keys and numbers.
Screen is bright and clear even outdoors. Font and layout is good as well. Much more soothing to the eyes than comparable devices.
Can automatically download your address book from your online email service! (a first?)
Neutral aspects
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Only allows you to download email from 3 email accounts (vs 10 for BlackBerry)
Setting up a custom email server to download cannot be done automatically, you have to call customer service. I have not tried this, but bothered not to after finding out.
Negative aspects
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Polling speed, 10 60 minutes: coming from a BlackBerry I was used to instantaneous email notification, if you haven't used one, it's true, the email may show up on the device even before it's in your email client on the PC! I was willing to compromise on the polling speed but the peek gets nowhere near this. Their official line is 'gmail is updated every 5 minutes and the rest every 15 min' the best times I got was 10 min and worst ranged upto a few hours (combined with the next issue below).
Unreliable signal: service for Peek is offered on the T-Mobile network, I would get unreliable signals on the device (i.e. the device could not connect to peek servers) even in areas where other T-Mobile devices worked just fine. At times the device would be offline for hours especially after getting out of a NYC subway (which almost always required a reboot to get any sort of signal). This combined with the above issue meant not seeing your emails for hours in some cases. These first two issues were deal-breakers for me!
Slow device: the processor (or OS) on this device is slower that most new cell phones. While checking, deleting email it would just become unresponsive. The processor is not the fastest, but it may also be a firmware issue with the device. Anyway, if I am paying the asking price for this device, I would like it to be responsive. When you buy a BlackBerry or iPhone you're getting you money's worth. With the Peek you're overpaying for a very underpowered piece of hardware.
Service cost: Monthly service charge is too high for just 3 (unreliable) email accounts and no internet access
Offline use: device does come with built in memory that should be enough to download and store 100's of emails, but this does not seem to be used optimally. If you happen to be off the network (eg: in a NYC subway) you won't be able to read long emails, only the first few screens a downloaded, the rest are accessed when to scroll to them. BlackBerry has a setting to download entire emails, also if you've already read an email, it will store the full content on our device. The peek has neither option. Particularly annoying is an email you've fully read will get truncated in the subway as there is no network. All of this with an email traffic of less than 50/day for all my accounts.
Recommendation
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For me, the negative aspects far outweigh the positive ones. I would not recommend this to anyone considering the long delays, unreliable network connectivity and sluggish device, not even to a casual user. If you must try the device, then buy from Amazon, Target or getpeek.com they all have at least a 30 day refund policy so you only stand to lose the first month's service charge in case you are not satisfied.
Alternatives
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Email only: considering everyone has a mobile phone these days, adding email is as simple as getting a blackberry from your service provider. T-Mobile (who also provides this service) will add BlackBerry email to your plan for half of what the peek will cost you on the monthly basis. If you want usable email this is the best option. The only downside is paying up a little more for a BlackBerry device. If you don't want to sign a contact, just buy a used BlackBerry on eBay or craigslist for not much more than this.
Email+Web: there are too many options out there that don't cost much more than what you'll pay for Peek. iPhone, Google Android or full BlackBerry service come to mind. Any one of these would be a better option.
As of my review date, there are 26 reviews of this device for the 3 different colors it's available in, as you may notice all feedback before mine is 5-stars! This is very unusual especially considering my experience with the device and the fact that they are available used on eBay for half the list price here (my guess is from other unsatisfied users). It looks like many of these stellar '5-star' reviews are by employees of the firm itself; you can also confirm by looking them up at getpeek.com.
Got mine through other than Amazon, but mainly as a potential salesperson for future orders, not necessarily to keep; however, I will keep my sample (sorry, I'm not selling them -the markup isn't worth the effort).
Extremely easy to use. Turn it on, enter your email addresses (up to 3) and it does the rest. Uses a thumbwheel like most of the Blackberrys and some smart phones to scroll through emails. Press the wheel and it brings up a submenu that offers to reply, delete or forward the email in question. Make a mistake? Just push the back button and go back to the beginning.
It's so simple I had it operating without using the owner's manual.
On the plus side, it seems to last forever on a battery charge and the signal always seems to be strong to moderately strong, even in the usual weak areas.
As for the bad points, it does have a couple. First, the power connector appears to be a mini usb but it's not. It's a "mini-mini" usb that I have no been able to find accessories for yet. I imagine that's coming.
Also, deleted email does NOT delete it from your server, just the Peek itself. I don't mind but some may.
I can guess that the $20 monthly fee (actually $19.95) will eventually go down as more people sign up.
Great device for those like me who don't want to pay for a data plan that costs $30 or more per month and is slower than molasses on many phones.
Buy Peek Mobile Email Device - Gray Now
DO NOT BUY A PEEK. Copied below is my original review. The product never worked well, and from what I can tell the company has effectively left behind the business of selling the standalone Peek device and moved on to other things (their "genius cloud" idea). Read the reviews carefully and go to Peek's web site -looks to me like this is a discontinued and largely unsupported product at this point (June 2012).
My original review from a few years ago:
I purchased a Peek last year based on a favorable review in the Wall Street Journal. I was looking for a mobile email solution to replace my Blackberry (which was provided by my company and stayed behind when I changed jobs). I liked several aspects of the Peek, relative to a Blackberry or other smartphones. In a nutshell:
+ The device does not require a service contract. If you don't like it, you can discontinue the service. You can also reactivate the service later if you choose to. Peek service offers an unprecedented level of flexibility.
+ Having a separate device for email, rather than a single smartphone for both voice and email, appealed to me. I carry my cell phone all the time, but don't always need email. The Peek allowed me to carry a very small cell phone all the time and a larger email device only when I needed it.
+ The full keyboard on the Peek, which reminds me of the original Blackberry, is much more efficient than trying to tap out messages on a cell phone keypad.
+ Peek email service is relatively cheap, at $20 per month.
+ The Peek allowed me to synch up with three separate email accounts and did not require forwarding copies of messages to the device like some solutions do.
That was the promise. I would still love the Peek if the device had lived up to that promise. In reality, unfortunately, the value of the device was undercut badly by a series of serious reliability and quality problems. Specifically:
The device very often cannot get a radio signal. This is obviously a huge issue. As another reviewer pointed out, coverage is very spotty.
The Peek routinely stops receiving messages, but it provides no indication that this has happened. As a result, you don't know whether you haven't received any messages, or whether people have been sending you messages but the Peek just doesn't know it. On multiple occasions, I missed important messages because the Peek looked like it was active but in fact had stopped receiving messages. An email message from the Peek CEO to all users said that best way to make sure you had received all messages was to turn the device off and back on, but rebooting the device all throughout the day just isn't practical. This reliability issue was a real show stopper for me.
There can be a significant delay (even when the device is working) between when messages are sent and when they arrive on the Peek.
The device itself, while slim and with a nice bright screen, has significant quality issues. The cursor wheel that controls the device suffers from a noticeable lag -you have to spin it and spin it before the cursor starts to move. In addition to being an annoyance (in this day and age, we expect electronics devices to respond without a lag), it can cause real problems. For example, on multiple occasions I unintentionally deleted or sent messages because I clicked the cursor wheel a second time, thinking that I hadn't clicked it all the way the first time. To get an idea of what it's like trying to use the Peek cursor wheel (which is key to using the Peek), imagine how hard it would be to use your computer if clicking on an object on screen with your mouse sometimes did what you wanted, sometimes didn't, and sometimes did but with a three-second delay. It can cause real problems day to day.
The Peeksters (as the employees at Peek call themselves) are wonderful folks who mean well, but they don't seem to have the capacity to follow up on problems effectively. In trying to solve the reliability problems, I had multiple individuals at Peek offer to do something then drop the ball and not follow through.
After five months of using the device and hoping that things would get better, I finally decided to cut my losses and discontinue the service. I hope Peek solves these quality problems. They seem like great folks and the Peek is a neat concept, but the problems are serious enough that Peek email just isn't worth the price at this point.
P.S. Given my troubles with the Peek, I was surprised by the number of five-star ratings. Several of these reviews are from reviewers who have reviewed no other products, and one of those reviews is from a person with the same first and last names as a person at Peek customer support. I would suggest that you check out the reviewers, not just the reviews, so you can weed out any reviews that are actually guerrilla marketing by the company.
Read Best Reviews of Peek Mobile Email Device - Gray Here
USELESS! There is no longer an service available for this device. So there is no reason to buy it.
This information was not promoted on Peeks site and took 2 weeks to get Peek customer service to respond to my request for help in activating the device only to be told:
Peek Care, Feb 03 12:43 pm (EST):
Dear Peekster,
We have been winding down the service on Peek devices in the US for some time now, and doing our best to extend the life of the Peeks out there in people's hands. Back in 2010, we did a mass replacement of thousands of Peeks at our own expense -every Peek sold before then went dark. After maintaining the network through 2011 for the relatively small group of remaining users, we have decommissioned the service at the end of January 2012.
Want Peek Mobile Email Device - Gray Discount?
You might as well buy a brick. Peek stopped selling service for these devices they won't do anything anymore. The company does not even honor the contract of those who paid for lifetime service. The devices simply stopped working with no warning at the end of January 2012.
