Peek handheld: $49.95 for "today only"
By Darren Murph 
posted Dec 3rd 2008 3:25PM
posted Dec 3rd 2008 3:25PM
Peek's kinda-sorta email-only handheld is one of the more polarizing devices to hit this year. On one hand, anyone who cares that much about email in their pocket probably already owns an email-capable handset; on the other, those satisfied with their pay-as-you-go phone may seriously be interested in adding this to their arsenal. Regardless of your take on things, we figured you should know that it's available for "today only" at $49.95, clearly setting the bar for a Cyber Wednesday in years to come. 'Course, that $19.95 per month data requirement isn't going anywhere, but half a Benjamin might be worth it just to crack this sucker open and test your hacking skills.
I'll wait...looks like every week it drops. who knows maybe the company will be sold for 99 in a month
April fools?
This is... useless.
about as useful as an inflatable dart board.
From someone who actually OWNS an inflatable dart board, that analogy is as useless as this handheld.
(The darts are magnetic, BTW)
I'd love to see you inflate metal.
*stiffles giggle*
I think the target market is something like the www.Jitterbug.com crowd.
I have t-Mobile and pay $15 a month for unlimited text messaging.
The Peek, if the monthly fee was a little less, might almost be worth it.
It would mean having to carry another device around though.
Does anyone know what the SMS is like on the Peek? Does it text message with a 10 digit number or do you have to send the message to the other phone's email address? That is, is the Peek assigned an SMS only 10 digit number?
If the service was for $5 or maybe $10 at the most. I would give it a very tiny amount of consideration, but for $20 it just doesn't seem feasible at all for any level tech junkie.
im still trying to figure out who the target market is....as per the engadget article...if your using pay as you go, why the heck would you need mobile email
You can get cellphone internet access for 20 or less on top of normal service and get the advantage of a browser with your email.
@From My Cube
I would guess one of the target people would be those who are still locked in the AT&T contract and who were foolish enough to get a cheap phone that can't handle emails properly. So until their 2-year contract is over they could use this email device.
Of course, the percentage of those people will be small, still...
Funny thing is, I saw a Peek in the box at Target on the clearance isle yesterday. Price? $24.99
I don't care about a one time cost for the hardware, its the service cost that will kill you.
Why would you get this over a much more functional Blackberry? Especially when you can get blackberries for nothing or *less* if you shop around (yes, you can make money on the deal). Same data cost, and it runs google maps, google talk, etc. So wtf?
Why is "today only" in quotes?
Quotes are being used incorrectly for emphasis.
For anyone with grammatical proficiency, it appears the quotes are being used to signal irony or altered-usage, and that the sale doesn't necessarily only occur today.
"Quotes are being used incorrectly for emphasis."
Or, you now, because it is an actual quote from the graphic... ;)
So is $49.95, but that wasn't in quotes.
The quotes are being used correctly; Engadget is showing that Peek says the sale is today only, but implying that the price will continue dropping.
I immediately took it to mean that Engadget was implying that it's -always- $49.95, and it was a marketing gimmick. I think the quotes are wrong. Let's hear from some self-proclaimed English majors.
Implications come from the reader - you generate those ideas in your head.
This - in legal terms - strictly English, indicates nothing more than a quote from Peek regarding the duration of the sale. THEY said it. It may or may not be taken cynically by YOU to indicate it may still be on tomorrow, but having read this site for quite some time, I'd say this is more or less Engadget covering their asses when it comes to who claims what. That's all.
i would pay $5/mo not 20
Yeah i would pay 10 a month but not much more
I saw em on clearance at Target the other day for $49.98. I laughed.
Are you walking us through your day? I'm eagerly awaiting the next exciting installment.
I played with one at target, it fell apart in my hands.
What I want to know is this company sponsoring Engadget or what? This device is absolutely useless yet Engadget seems to be cramming it down everyone's throat.
Could be because Peek took them out to dinner.
I think they may see that it has the potential to become better/more useful. If only the company would add a browser/media player and lower the service fee...
Could be because Engadget is a tech blog reporting on gadget news.
Is anyone else bothered by the expanding ad at the top of the home page?
Try Firefox with Adblock.. works like a charm..
I'm guessing tomorrow they'll be $49.99?
Agree with other posters, $5/mo for an email-only service seems reasonable. Adding blackberry data to an existing voice plan on T-mo is $19.95/mo so why wouldn't I do that if I really wanted email? I still don't understand the purpose of this device, is it for people who want mobile email but never want to have the option of making a phone call?
I saw 4-5 of them down at the (San Bruno, CA) Tanforan Target on clearance for about $25.
If this were $5-$10 a month and included a very simple text web browser and rss reader i'd consider it to supplement my $20 tracphone. I only pay $80 a YEAR for it, if you don't talk or text a lot it is a Godsend.
my adblock plus could not block this advertisement from engadget.
I hear they wont price match even within 30 days if you bought it from them
I can see two usage models.
1.) It is for all those people who buy those Franklin Electronic Dictionaries/Translators. You know the ones I'm talking about. The ones you see at every Office Product or Electronics store...but you never actually see anyone buy one.
2.) It'll be that gift grandma buys you for Christmas because what you told her you wanted and what she thinks she heard say you wanted = This Thing.
I think quite the opposite. I think this would be the perfect gift for ME to give GRANDMA. I mean, my grandmother wouldn't know what the heck to do with a real computer. But something like this would be perfect for her to e-mail the grand kids and stay in the loop.
If she lived in the US, I would definitely buy this for her.
I have one and love it. I don't want all the extras of a blacberry and if for people like me with slow credit, the deposit alone on an ATT/Sprint/ or just about any carrier would be at least $300 on top of the price of the phone and the monthly service. While the device does need some tweaking it does do what it is intended to do. Plus the customer service is second to none.
It seems like most Blackberry users are intimidated by this device because they are no longer the elite that can check thier email on the road.
Slow credit, intimidated Blackberry users, elite.
What you're saying is a bag of hurt.
Oh the best part about it is the OS called "Peekux" :)) Why would you even bother with somethng like this when you can get any phone with decent e-mailing plus more for around the same. Way to go on going backwards in evolution...
I think it is getting a bit much...the peek has potential but its target market is certainly not this blogs audience.
I actually own one of these things.
It does what it does and $20/month is worth it for me.
I have a phone with e-mail, but this is used when I would pay through the nose for roaming data.
I'd love this thing. I've owned a slew of pay as you go phones to avoid contracts. What I'd reeeally like though, is a data plan for my iTouch.
Someone...PLEASE HACK THIS!
Then I'll buy.
Seriously... If It had wifi (or a way to at WiFi to it) this could be interesting. Based on the "Embedded 104MHz ARM7 TI chipset" that they quote it as having, its probably OMAP which means it can run a 2.6 kernel no problem. Problem is that it doesn't seem to have any connectors except internally, which sorta makes this hacking thing a bummer.
Don't most cell phone companies offer a check 1 or 2 email accounts from your cell phone for like 5 or 10 bucks a month anyway? (ie. ATT Xpress mail)
Yep. I got an iPhone last year, and already being on AT&T I kept my plan and added unlimited data for $20. So my $20 gets me unlimited e-mail, and unlimited internet browsing. Does this thing even have a browser? $20 for e-mail only seem recockulously expensive.
Actually, I would pay up to $30 a month for this service, I mean just read what the website says about it: "Now shipping with new November software, including shortcuts!!!"
How is this not a steal at such a low monthly rate? dont you people like shortcuts?
Hey, the Peek does what it says it does. No more, no less. It's missing most of the refinements that we've come to expect from current-generation Blackberries--like offline access, for example--but it's also cheap and has no long-term contract issues. I second the idea that I'll save gobs of money using this device when my phone goes into roaming data mode, which happens a bit more often than I'd like.
My Target, by the way, didn't discount Peeks at all. They advertised them for $79.95 and had a whole display rack of Peeks, Peek cases, and chargers of various ilk. I was back in there yesterday (after the promotion ended) and saw that the entire Peek display was simply...gone. Nothing in closeout, not moved elsewhere in the store. Simply...gone. I find it very hard to believe that they sold out.
While I'm not sure this is a great device or that the service is worth $20/month there is something everyone is missing when saying that one ought to just use a blackberry/iphone/KRIF iphone knock off. For devices like those you a) generally pay at least $30/month (unless you're on t-mobile, but who really wants to use the web on edge? .... oh wait iphone buyers love edge) and b) you are often contractually obligated to keep your data package. There is no contract for the peek, there's the rub...
The only way this would work even if they raise the price of the gadget is if the monthly is $5.00 or less, it's pinching hard at $9.99 and a gut punch at $19.99
Until this thing gets some kind of hackability, I'd rather outlay the $ upfront and get a Kindle and get FREE email service plus a kick ass ebook reader for a one time price.
I'd pay the $100 original price if it could just pick up my mail from scavenged wifi on unsecured (or presecured) WAPs as I walk down the street. For free.
When will Peek become a beg of crap item in woot.com? I say soon.
Target in Fort Smith AR has the Peek on the clearance shelf for 24.98 as of 10:00 PM today.
If this thing had a good web browser, and faster data service than cell providers then it might almost be worth $20 a month. Almost.
But with just e-mail they're smoking some serious crack if they think anybody is going to pay $20 a month for e-mail and have to carry around 2 devices instead of one and not have internet. Seriously, which geniuses decided to go and ressurect the Blackberry circa 2000?
Email only just doesn't cut it, it needs pda functionality
$5-10/month, with a stripped down pda OS (stripped of it's phone features) like Access Linux or Palm OS (probably couldn't handle the Android os), would increase the appeal of the device.
Specifically, if you could cache your calender/contacts/notes on a service provider server then they wouldn't have to upgrade the hardware or memory spec.
At $25, I just wanna buy one just to see if it is ever hacked for more functionality.
What would also work is if you could pop in your own sim card, but then their revenue model wouldn't work, I reckon.
Why is everybody whining about $20? They are on T Mobile and have to have fees, plus this has went from an email only to full text messaging to. They are getting push email, then IM is being added. Soon, this thing will do like 4 or 5 things, and for $20 a month. People don't mind paying Verizon, AT&T, etc large amounts to JUST text message, so why gripe? $20 isn't much, take away twice times eating out and you have that. Plus many like no credit checks, no deposits and no contracts. Everybody loves the big cell companies till they want to jump ship and then SMACKED with that ETF. *sigh*
Peak teardown:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8728129@N05/2854419637/in/set-72157607274454694/