Pages

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Peek Handheld Device--GIVEAWAY!

Raise your hand if you are pretty much addicted to constantly keeping tabs on your online "life." Yeah, my hand is raised, too. Well, I have a fun product this week that promises to help us stay up-to-date, while being budget friendly as well.

Let me introduce you to the Peek handheld device. This baby is sleek, cute, and "ridiculously affordable" (their description). It enables you to check and send email from wherever you are, as well as send and receive text messages. And all of this with no contract and a flat monthly fee of $19.95. So you can imagine that I was more than happy to try out this gadget and give you my take on it.

I have been using my Peek for a month and here are the pluses and minuses as I see them.

Pluses:



  • Compact, light, sleek, overall great looking device. It comes in three colors, mine is dark grey, but you could also get red or blue.

  • Easy to type text messages or short emails. The keyboard is very easy to use, and has a dedicated row for numbers. My hubby's smartphone requires you to push "Alt" before typing a number, so the Peek's keyboard is easier. Plus, when you send an email, it adds a tag saying you sent the email from your Peek. Very cute.

  • Great for checking emails on the go. The only time I had any difficulty getting a signal was on a bench inside a movie theatre. But in a different spot in the theatre, the signal was again fine.

  • Also great for texts. My husband has a text message plan on his cell, but I don't (I don't send many texts. Actually I almost never text). So it was kind of fun to be able to bother text him all day with my Peek.

  • When emails are received by the Peek, the device vibrates silently. This is nice so as not to bother others, but I kind of wish that you could change the setting in case your Peek is in your bag where the vibrating cannot be felt.

  • The Peek can receive emails from several different addresses. Great for bloggers who also have a personal email account!

  • Service is cheaper than Blackberry service and there is no annual contract.

Minuses:



  • My only complaint with the keyboard was that the shift key seemed a bit "sticky." This might just be my unit, or it might loosen up with more use. Not a huge deal.

  • I use Yahoo! mail, and the Peek was unable to receive emails that were filtered into folders other than "Inbox." This became a problem because my blog email address is linked to my personal account. Emails from my Occupation: Mommy account automatically go into a folder in my personal account, so I never was able to read them on the Peek. I think the only way to fix this would be to have all my emails go directly to my Inbox, which I am not willing to do.

  • The protective pouch that comes with the Peek has no clip on the back, so I was not able to clip it onto my waistband or pocket like many cell phones. Thus, I could not feel the vibrating signal to let me know I had just received an email.

Bottom line: The Peek is a lot of fun to use. If you are used to a smart phone, the Peek may not have enough features (can't browse the Internet, etc.). But as an alternative to a more expensive smart phone, I think it is a great gadget!

And I have one to give away! If you would like to enter, please leave me a comment below. Your comment must include your email address if it is not linked to your Blogger profile (so I can get in touch with the winner). This contest will run through July 17. US addresses only.


*Disclosure: Peek and Six Apart sent me a Peek device to review and another to give away. My opinions are my own and are not influenced by either company.

11 comments:

Madonna Cramer said...

I would love to try the Peek, thanks for the chance.

Unknown said...

this sounds like a fun device to try out...

melanie(dot)myatt(at)gmail(dot)com

Anonymous said...

Can I win twice in a row? OH Well, I am going to try because I would love to try this device! I am also addicted to email.

I blogged about this giveaway, to drive some traffic your way!

Thanks for the chance to win!

The House of Sprout said...

I would love to have this - with three kids its so hard to get a minute in front of the computer!

Katie said...

This sounds awesome!
katiekarr at gmail dot com

DawnS said...

I would love to try this - it might help me from having to deal with so many emails every time I get home from being out for awhile!

Sweeter the berry said...

i want to try this out. It will be real nice to win it though.
letessha@yahoo.com

Jennifer said...

My friend has one of these.....I REALLY want one!

beth said...

I would LOVE one of these1

coleminer77(at)gmail (dot) com

Anonymous said...

I have been wanting one of these.
Like you I don't have text messaging by my fiance does.
Would be fun to do that and check email anywhere!

palmersf(at)bellsouth.net

Cindy B.of Montana said...

I would so love to have a PEEK! We travel quite a bit and it would be wonderful to be able to check e-mail quickly and easily! Thanks for the chance to win!