Well, would you have a gander at this spectacle. Some "Dan" character over at Peek has gone and stolen our thunder, completely dashing our hopes of hosting up a "
How would you change" article on the outfit's
e-mail only handheld. All (nonexistent) personal beef aside, we'd wager that this scenario is actually far more beneficial for end users, particularly since you know the company is all ears. Over at the
Peek blog, the outfit pleads with users and spectators to chime in on how the handheld could be tweaked (in "minor" ways, mind you) in order to be superior. Additionally, it's looking to open up a set of APIs for the public in order to facilitate the hacking of Peek for its own betterment. We always said this thing would be way more appealing with Opera Mini loaded on there alongside a VoIP application, and lookie here, the price has
stooped to $80 with no contracts attached. Consider our interest finally piqued. Ugh, that was awful.
[Thanks, Jacob]
posted November 16th 2008 6:06PM
I have seen this discounted at my local Target for 50 Dollars. It was on clearance, was going to pick it up but it is still new to tell how functional it will be.
1. A trackball or one of those new samsung optical sensors.
2. This might require better hardware causing the price to go up, but android.
3. This a so so but a camera (2 mp with good optics)
(is darren murph the only poster today?)
sorry i meant only engadget mobile poster.
why was i low ranked? im not iEye in another name!
quit whining like a girl... be a real man... no one likes those trackball that gets stuck easily due to dust or those samsung optical mouse that worsens over time. just look at the Pearl. and nobody wants to jack the perfect price more....
IM, texting, and maybe Facebook access (possible through text messages). That would be worth $20 to me.
i read somewhere that you already send/receive text on the text.... READ.... you can update your facebook status through e-mail... i do it all the time on my Razr 2 V8, it's called http://PING.FM
You can, but even though its officially a service, it still works kind of like a hack, you email a message to a certain email address w/ number, and it sends texts back through it, some native support in the interface would be nice, and even though facebook is manageaable through text messages/email, but having the mobile IM on that, along with a nicely integrated interface in general/photo support, would be a killer app.
the update is coming soon according to their Twitter http://twitter.com/peekinc that I just saw.
Add this:
1. Exchange Support
2. Texting to all wireless carriers
3. IM
4. real html web browsing
5. GPS
and I can see it being a hug hit with:
1. corps trying to save money compared to blackberrys
2. Kids (most kids don't really need a cell phone) and would love something that offered unlimited txting, email
you can do 2. Texting to all wireless carriers already... the higher up comments say the same thing too.
i just want IM!
Maybe also add the ability to make phone calls? ;)
it is either the camera angle or the screen is offcenter... how i hate offcenter screens!
the screen's not off centered... it's your eyes.... clearly they haven't been tuned for any angled photos....
the mod/hack to make this better.......... is called a BLACKBERRY !
if they make it into a BlackBerry...
the browser and selling price would suck too...
worst... forever locked into Research in Motion (but no innovation) proprietary system as well
I'd rather not want that to happen
that was easy, you're my hero!
I ~!#$ing hate BlackBerry's closed proprietary email system, like without BIS, i can't even get my own Gmail on it.
F~@# RIM...
nick
i guess 10 million are getting their email / gmail on bb but not you?
what are you using an iphone or treo?
I saw the Peek remaindered at Target for $49 yesterday.
Hmmm... don't know much about these, but can they open up pic attachments or pdf attachments?
they can open pic attachments with no problem i'm sure
i can confirm. can open pic attachments
I did a blog post on this a while back. It's at http://sujeet.net/blog/?p=303
Maybe I don't have all the facts, but how would VoIP work without a microphone and earpiece/speaker?
^^^^^^^^^
I think you meant both CJ and SPOKE....
now hush..... BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.
yo vicent, you pulled the words out of my mouth... you are the truth yo!
I didn't realize this thing has unlimited Text Messaging, none of the reviews mention that. That brings the value of this device up significantly. Unlimited text costs ten bucks per month alone on a cell phone plan.
It still doesn't make any sense for an Engadget reader, since most of us have smartphones (or high-end feature phones) already, but for a person who isn't interested in all that this would be a good way to wire yourself up.
Come to think of it, I've got a tech-illiterate brother who drives a truck for a living and generally has no email access. He can receive text messages on his phone, but has no patience for T9 text entry so he never replies. I may grab one of these for him for Christmas.
If you MUST use a throwback thing like email you should include PGP (or GPG I guess), and a very sturdy opt-in filter.
You know who used to have an email only device? RIM... like 10 years ago. I guess It's still nice to have a variety of devices to get your everyday life done. I know I have a smartphone with a camera and a stand alone digicam but at the same time to lug around a phone, a digicam, an "Email" device and an mp3 player give you choice in devices but withers your wallet down.
Save your time and energy. Get an all in one mobile device. MAYBE a digi cam on the side. and save your pocket space for all of the money you're saving!
The only thing that can save PEEK is if Obama uses one, whilst walking across water....
Seriously, the processor is so weak, it won't be able to have a browser, or put an WM or Blackberry OS in it. I think the best option is to jam a Palm OS or Access OS into it.
That way a world of applications - plain jane apps, but apps no less can be used on this device - AT MINIMAL COST.
It worked for many companies to reduce functionality in trade for simplicity.
Plus this thread of comments shows there's a noticeable interest.
I'd not buy one either though, not even when it had a free email subscriptions, and that makes me think, why doesn't google buy the company and supply the thing tied to a gmail address for a 1 time payment? (perhaps that's exactly what the founders hoped would happen eh).
I think, based on the target audience, that Peek should go for some VERY simple apps that make use of the data. A browser would be too clumsy with a device like this, and the typical user for the peek is not really going to be looking for a browser. A lot of the more popular network-enabled iphone apps duplicate functionality you can get on the web, but they do it better. Yelp, urbanspoon, Now Playing, etc. I find myself using those apps far more than comparable websites, becuase it's simply faster and more efficient to keep the UI on the phone and only download the data. On top of that, they're all location-aware.
I only have a 1g iphone, so all the location-based stuff I use is done off of cell / wifi positioning... and for these type of apps, it's more than adequate. If I'm looking for a restaurant or a movie theater, being within a few miles is fine.
So, I would say- yellow pages, movie times, restaurant reviews, all location-aware. That would be sweet.
Further to my point, without the subscription to email services, this PEEK unit is useless, apparently. I guess that is the major turnoff to most techy users. They will never get a strong base selling to the discount store crowd.
A Palm or Access or even Symbian (if it has the power) emulator, can make this more than the sum of it's parts...
You're totally missing the point of this thing. If they hacked a smartphone OS onto it, it would just become a smartphone without a phone.
This is for people who will never, ever buy a smartphone because they perceive them as being too complicated. They're not trying to sell this thing to people who are willing to learn how to use Symbian, they're selling it to people who aren't willing to learn anything.
There are literally three screens on this entire device: inbox, view message, and preferences. If you attempt to give it an email address from your local ISP that isn't preprogrammed into it, it tells you to call tech support so they can remotely set up the account for you. It doesn't even give you the option of entering your SMTP server info. If you've even heard of the term "SMTP" before, you're WAY outside of the target market.
Not a Smartphone OS per se, but a stripped down PDA OS version.
Before Palm OS was a smartphone OS, it was a PDA OS and a darn good one at that. Sony Clie PDA's had the Palm OS and they were darn useful. (I think that the scroll wheel was a design element inspired by the NX/NR Clie design)
If you go to the geekypeek blog, people are requesting a calender and notes function.
I would really like to see Exchange Support to further this 'email only' device's ability to process email.
This think is a curiosity at most. It's way easier and cheaper to just buy a cheap used laptop or a netbook for $250. You can check email using free wifi at any of the thousands of free coffee, sandwich, etc locations across the US.
Second, I think this device as it is, will go the way of those Microsoft watches that receive news via the old pager network. MS thought they could charge $5-10 a month for a subscription to receive news, stock quotes, etc to a wristwatch! Cool idea, but poor execution and now where is it?