Do you like staying in touch with people? Are you constantly checking your email? Have you yet to buy a smartphone because the complexity and cost of data services ($30-$50 per month) sounded too daunting?
Let me introduce you to a nifty little device called the Peek Pronto. It is about the size of a pack of Dentyne gum, but gives you push email with No Monthly Fee! Yes, you read that right, once you buy the device, you get your email delivered to you for the life of the device! How sweet is that?! And, to top it off, the Peek Pronto can also be used to send text messages. In other words, you can remove the “unlimited text” option from your kids cell phone lines and simply give them this handy little email/texting device. As a bonus, Peek claims the battery life as “days”, versus the usual “hours” of a smartphone.
As you can tell from earlier posts, I am a huge proponent of smartphones but I realize that they aren’t a fit for everyone. They’re pricey, and for some folks can be a bit overwhelming and complicated. I think the Peek Pronto easily fills the niche for a portable, go-anywhere email device (without the bulk of a netbook or cost of a smartphone). While I agree the Peek has a hefty up-front pricetag ($300), consider this:
- The data plan on your average 2 year contract is (at least) $30/month.
- That’s $720 in data charges (not counting SMS Texting) over the life of your FIRST 2-year agreement.
- The Peek Pronto can save you over $400 during its first two years of use, with the savings continued over the life of the device. That adds up to a LOT of money back in your pocket!
Personally, I see this device as something great for relatives (particularly the older ones) that are retired and travel often. They can easily keep in touch with the family on their own time, without the expensive phone calls or difficult-to-understand computers.
What are your thoughts? Can you think of a great use for the Peek within your own group of friends/family?
Related posts:
It is more like $100 a month for a smartphone. Not $30-$50.
Reply
MW2ML Technology Reply:
November 19th, 2009 at 1:53 am
John,
You make a good point! I was looking at Peek as a replacement of the smartphone “functionality”, thinking that folks would still want to Pay the $50 or so per month for their cell phone. Yet, if you don’t really make that many calls, you could easily go with a “Pay-as-you-go” cellular plan and rely solely on the Peek for SMS texting and email. In that case, I could definitely agree with you that folks could save up to $100 per month!
Reply