Customer Reviews

Peek Mobile E-mail Device (Gray)

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

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.

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.

The Peek is sensational. If all you want is email on the go without the expense, this is the device for you. It's better than a blackberry because it costs so much less, the battery lasts longer and there are no contracts.

I have a pre-paid cell plan and only spend about $8 a month for the 80 minutes of calls I make. To add a data plan for email would cost a couple hundred bucks for the device, plus a bigger bucket of minute plan plus the data plan for email for a total of more than $65 a month.

The Peek is only $20 a month for UNLIMITED EMAIL (with no contract) and the battery lasts about 5 days per charge. Smartphones last a day...if you're lucky.

Also of note is the Peek's fabulous tech support. I've called twice and got a human on the first ring...a human on a landline in the US...which meant I could hear what they said. 877-677-PEEK (7335)

Lastly, because this is an email device you technically can't text cell phones with it, but actually there is a work-around.

All cell phones have an email address which is the phone number + the carrier. For example 8185551212@vtext.com for Verizon.

So all you have to do is use the email address of the cellphone you want to text. Then all you have to do is set up an email address with your phone number. For example you set-up 4085556711@gmail.com. Just tell your friends to add the Gmail part or respond to one of your messages. In other words, not much extra work for them.

The Peek checks email about every 5-15 minutes, but if you are looking for an immediate response you can use the send/check mail option and it will check it for new email/messages instantly...making it a text messaging alternative.

The device itself is solid. The keys are raised making them easy to type on and the screen is bright enough for my forty-plus eyes. The font is a little on the small size but they plan an update to make it bigger, if you want it. According to their tech support, the update will be sent to existing Peek phones automatically so you can buy one now and still get the update.

Best tech purchase I've made in ages.

My girlfriend uses her Peek with GMail and she loves it. She already has a phone and doesn't need all the extra bells and whistles that most people don't use anyway. The setup is super easy; just put in your email address and password and that's it! It's super slim and stylish and does email in a snap. If you are not techie and want email on the go this is the gizmo for you.

The Peek just came out, and being a new unique device it has had a couple of problems, but nothing ever too serious or too long-lasting.
It's a great product, it's much faster than going through trying to access your email through most phones, and it's very easy to send and receive text messages on it. Full on text-messaging is supposed to be better implemented over the next few weeks, and it looks like it's going to get faster as it continues to go along.
It's a great deal too, only $80 right now (you'll get a $10 gift card if you buy it at Target, dropping it down to $70), and $20 a month for unlimited email and text-messaging.
I absolutely love this device, and I recommend it to nearly everyone.

I have had my peek for about 3 weeks now. I got it because we are blocked from checking our personal email at work. I have found that it is so much more useful then just checking my email at work. I use it all the time. I no longer use my computer at all to check my email. It is so easy to use, and it works perfectly.

And then there is the customer service. I called with a general question, and I was switched over to a live person immediately, who answered my questions right there on the spot. Everyone is so nice, and friendly, it is a total breath of fresh air to finally find a company who understands that I pay for a service, and not for headaches.

I really can't give this little device enough praise, it is just simply perfect, it does exactly what it says it does, with zero hassle.

Oh, one last thing....there are all kinds of short cuts, and ways to move the curser around. I of course didn't read the manual, or even keep it. But no matter, I can email my guy at the company and ask direct questions, or simply wait for their wonderful "email tips"

Fulmer Duckworth, Brooklyn NY

This is SUCH a cool new invention. It really could not be simpler or more convenient for staying in touch with your emails. I was wowed at first by the price being so low, and nervous that it would not perform as well as similar devices out there, but I have been pleasantly surprised. At just $20 a month for the service- you can't beat it! I highly recommend it.

Almost every "professional" review I read about the Peek completely missed the point of it. Reviewers go on-and-on about it being for grandmothers (or the tech.-averse) and over-priced "for what it is") glibly referencing comparable data plans from Sprint, Verizon and others). Hello, have you actually PRICED a data plan from a major carrier lately?!? I think all these iPhone- and Blackberry-loving yo-yos simply feed off the corporate plan. Do any of them actually pay for their plan themselves?!?

Five minutes' research indicates you can't beat Peek's $19.95/month for love or money. It's just that simple. I don't WANNA pay $60/70/80+ month for my service! THAT'S INSANE!

Would I prefer an iPhone or Blackberry? Whatever. I like paying that $19.95 bill, though, along with my $9 cellphone bill, $19 unlimited Vonage VOIP, and cheap streamed movies from Netflix!

That said, the Peek as a device is totally Gen-1. Screen/keyboard are okay, but:
1) It is indeed quite pokey. Cursor sometimes unresponsive
2) No security whatsoever. That's unconscionable!
3) Primitive navigation
4) Text on some incoming messages sometimes "invisible"
5) Battery life is mediocre
6) No third-party batteries available
7) Micro-USB port is "okay," but should certainly include a USB charging cable

...Etc.

It's great for what it is: inexpensive mobile e-mail. But it's not a great device

Family members love using their Peek. It allows them to access emails all day and not just when they are in front of the computer. My mom does not know the first thing when it comes to electronics (she calls me to help fix the tv when she hits the TV/Video Button by accident) but she was able to set up the Peek on her own and she uses it all the time.