Product Description

Peek is a super thin and stylish device that lets you take your email with you and stay connected when and where you want it. Designed for and dedicated to your personal mobile email, Peek is packaged in a lightweight, slim design with a color display, full keypad and simple menus to make email on the go a breeze.

Get unlimited email and text messaging for a flat, low monthly rate of $19.95. Monthly service is billed to directly to your credit card, so no need to worry about bills, late fees or penalties. And best of all, there are NO CONTRACTS EVER.

Peek is compatible with most major email providers including Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, Hotmail, AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, Roadrunner, BellSouth, SBCGlobal, Earthlink, Cox, Charter, Cablevision, NetZero, Mac, Optonline and many others. Plus, it is super simple to set-up -- enter your email address and password and that's it. You'll start receiving emails in less than 2 minutes!

Peek works on a high-speed wireless data network with nationwide coverage so it will work almost anywhere.

Critics have been raving about Peek. The New York Times says Peek is "simple" and "elegant." The Wall Street Journal says its "stylish and simple" and Time and Wired magazines have named Peek the Best Gadget of 2008!

What's in the box: Peek mobile email device, AC charger, Rechargeable lithium ion battery, Quick start guide

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18622 in Consumer Electronics
• Color: Gray
• Brand: Peek
• Model: AB01GR
• Released on: 2008-09-02
• Dimensions: .40" h x 2.70" w x 4.00" l, .24 pounds

Features

• Unlimited email for a flat monthly rate -- compatible with most major email providers including Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail, and AOL
• Hassle-free -- No contracts, no credit checks, no activation fees ever!
• Large, high-contrast full-color screen makes it easy to read emails and full keyboard allows for quick and comfortable typing
• Long battery life - 4-5 days under typical usage; fully recharges in under 2 hours
• Works throughout the U.S. with full nationwide coverage

From the Manufacturer
Peek Classic is the simple and affordable solution for anyone who needs email on-the-go. It's a clever gadget that sends & receives unlimited email from anywhere in the US for a super affordable monthly fee (as low as $14.99/month). Best of all, you don't have to sign up for a contract or pay outrageous activation fees with Peek's hassle free pay-as-you-go monthly service.

Love it or hate it, email is the most popular way to keep in touch these days. Friends, family and work all expect you to be checking email 24/7. If you don't stay chained to your PC, you miss out on lots of important emails. But, you don't necessarily want a complicated "smartphone" and you refuse to sign up for the expensive 2-year contract that comes with it.

With Peek Classic, you get exactly the features you need without all of the bells and whistles that make traditional mobile plans expensive. You'll never miss another email with Peek in your pocket.

• Award-winning email device
• Compatible with major email providers including Hotmail, Yahoo!, Gmail, and AOL
• Unlimited nationwide coverage as low as $14.99/month
• No contracts or hidden fees
• Works anywhere in the US. No WiFi signal necessary
• Connect up to 2 email accounts
• Full QWERTY keyboard, large color screen, click scroll wheel
• View JPG image attachments
• Long battery life lasts up to 4 days
• 30-day money back guarantee
• 1-year manufacturers warranty

Exclusive to Amazon: Peek also available in Pronto model with 1-year or Lifetime Plan for extra savings. Peek Pronto model includes same features as Peek Classic, plus unlimited text messaging service and more features.

Raves for Peek include WIRED & Time Magazine "Gadget of the Year," Oprah's favorite list, and International Design Magazine's top product design distinction:

"Gadget of the Year"

"Gotta-have gadget"

"Stylish and simple"

"Peek Makes the O List!"

"Refreshingly uncomplicated"

"An easy, cheap way to keep in email contact"

"We're quite taken with the Peek"

"Go out and buy it. You won't be disappointed."

Fits Your Lifestyle Whether you're a busy mom, dad, working professional, or student, you can rely on Peek to keep you connected to your email no matter where you are. Moms & dads love the affordability, business people appreciate Peek's sleek looks, and teens enjoy the freedom of unlimited emailing. You'll never miss another email with Peek in your pocket.

It's Easy to Set Up

Easy to Use Quickly read and compose email on the large color screen. Menus are a snap to navigate with the handy click scroll wheel and back button. Typing is a breeze on Peek's full QWERTY keyboard with raised and illuminated rubber keys.

*Based on unlimited email & texting plan with 2-yr contract

Saves You $100's You get Peek service for an amazingly low monthly fee of $19.95, which includes unlimited nationwide email service. When compared with the major wireless providers, Peek can save you $900 over the course of 2 years! Looking to save money on text messaging, too? Get the Peek Pronto, which includes unlimited text messaging on top of email for the same low monthly price. Based on comparable unlimited email & texting plan with 2-year contract, Peek blows all of the major carriers out of the water:

Peek Value Plans Take advantage of even more savings, when you sign up for Peek Value Plans. Simply choose to be billed on a quarterly or annual basis to receive extra savings! Or, never ever worry about monthly bills when you buy the Peek Pronto with Lifetime Service Plan.

No Contracts. No Hassles. Unlike cell phone companies, Peek never ever locks you into a contract or charges you hidden fees. It's as simple as that. Plus, our 30-day money back guarantee means you can try out Peek risk free.

Multiple Email Accounts Peek works with all of the major email providers including Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, Roadrunner, BellSouth, SBCGlobal, Earthlink, Cox, Charter, Cablevision, NetZero, Mac, Optonline and many others. You can keep up with work & personal email accounts at the same time.

View Attachments See attached pictures and images right on your Peek. Peek Classic is compatible with JPEG files.

Stellar Customer Service Peek's friendly customer care gurus are available around the clock by phone, email, Facebook, Twitter and more!

Nationwide Coverage You don't need to seek out a Wifi signal to make Peek work. Peek operates on its own national wireless network, so you can email from anywhere you are -- whether you're on the beach in Hawaii or shopping at your local grocery store.

Blinking, Ringing and Vibrating Alerts Know the instant you receive email by setting your Peek to any combination of alerts.

Stylish and Thin Award-winning design is a mere 0.4 inches thick and lightweight at less than 4 ounces.

Connect with other Peeksters As a Peek owner, you'll join an active community of "Peeksters" across the country, who swap trips & tricks on live discussion boards and vote on new features they want added to the Peek.

Customer Reviews

Nice concept, not ready for prime time as yet
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
-------------------------
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.

Better Than Expected
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.

Discontinuing service after five months -- product just not ready for prime time
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.