AskAboutGadgets Archive

Portable Email Device

I have this gadget in my head, but I don't know if it exists anywhere. Here's what I'm thinking:

I've seen a few devices like the N800 series and the Sony Mylo, but they're either old or expensive or both. I saw the Peek device, but that's $300 if I don't want to pay them a monthly fee. The ZipIt Z2 looked wonderful, but they're charging a monthly fee for a wifi device, and there's no way I'll do that. The only real option I see at this point is to wait a few months for Apple to release the latest iteration of the iPod touch.

Does anyone know if a gadget like the one I describe exists?

Answer 892

I use an old smartphone for this. It has no SIM card inside, just using WiFi.

I guess you can get old smartphones or PDAs for a reasonable price, second-hand.

Answer 912

You state you want a physical keyboard, but that you want to wait for Apple to release a new iPod touch? Which is it? Personally I would go for a used smartphone, that has a keyboard, and a decent web-browser, so that means probably an android device like the HTC DREAM which has a real keyboard and a decent webkit based browser.

Answer 916

The Peek that you mentioned appears to be the only single purpose email device that has wifi and can be purchased without a monthly service fee.

Its not as inexpensive as you would like (in fact it cost a little more than the Peek without a service plan) but the Pandora has wifi, a querty keyboard, a small form factor (smaller than a netbook but a little larger than a Nintendo DS) and no monthly service fee. Its designed primarily as a gaming/entertainment device but can be used for general purpose computing as well. It has an app store although calling it a store is a bit of an exageration. All the apps I looked at were free. I didn't find an email client but there were both a desktop and mobile version of Firefox available so I'm sure Thunderbird isn't far behind. Being a hobbyist device based on Linux you could always port an email client if you have the skill (or know someone who does).

According to the website it costs 349 USD (without VAT) or approx. 330 EUR (including VAT).

The project has suffered from a number of delays in production but is now taking orders for a shipment that should go out in October. I certainly want one.

Another option is the Landel MailBug. It's a single purpose email device like you want. The initial out of pocket is close to what you want but it does have a small monthly service fee and no wifi so you'd be tied to a phone line.

Bottom line

Most single purpose email devices have not sold well so there isn't any incentive for manufacturers to continue making them.

You could try an older model Toshiba Libretto but none of the older models came with wifi built-in and only a few came with a pcmcia expansion slot.

Answer 971

Sounds like you want a Blackberry device (that incorporates WiFi). It can run SIM-less/service-less and shines with email and keyboard input. (I've used a plethora of smartphones and while I'm currently on a Droid, I miss the Blackberry's keyboard.) They appear to be quite cheap on eBay too, just be careful you don't purchase a dud or a device without WiFi.

You won't be able to utilize the built-in mail application, but loading a third-party one is a cinch. (LogicMail is a great alternative.)

Answer 1209

I recommend Nokia's line of Communicator smartphones because they have decent hardware keyboards, not touch-screen or Blackberry-style clicklets. If you need to write mails and not just read mails then you're going to appreciate having a decent keyboard!

There are several Communicator smartphones to choose from, and there's certainly a market for used devices. They all have WLAN. Some have greyscale LCD insetad of color screens, these have the benefit of a much longer battery life.

Here are two alternatives, but there are several others.

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