Peek Pronto Adds More Email and Text Messaging Oomph

As a freelancer, I’m notorious for avoiding having to make or take phone calls as much as I can. It’s not that I’m cultivating my latent misanthropic tendencies, but rather it’s all about bookkeeping: I like to have a digital papertrail of my discussions (and their attendant to-dos, scheduling promises, etc.) that I can refer back to. I’d say that probably over 95 percent of the use of my iPhone is text-based–largely email but also some text messaging and keeping track of friends and contacts via Facebook.

If the iPhone didn’t exist (and that would be sad) or if I decided that I really needed to downsize and eliminate mobile voice monthly subscription costs, I’d be taking a serious gander at the recently released Peek Pronto, the next generation for this messaging-only gadget. The device itself hasn’t changed radically with its full QWERTY keyboard and 2.5-inch QVGA LCD screen. But the Pronto adds access to more email accounts (up to 5 from 2), support for push email via Microsoft Exchange (great for corporate users), ability to view PDF and Word documents, and unlimited receipt and sending of text messages–all for $19.95 per month. (For a comparison of how much this costs compared to unlimited texting and emailing from the Big 4 cellular carriers, check out Peekonomics 101.)

Nicole Lee in her review of the Peek at CNet explains how it manages the unlimited texting without being beholden to a cellular subscription:

It uses an e-mail-to-text gateway, so you basically send text messages like you would an e-mail address. For example, if you were sending an e-mail to someone on AT&T, the address would be 4155555555@txt.att.net. Different carriers have different e-mail addresses. Verizon addresses end with @vtext.net, Sprint addresses end with @messaging.sprintpcs.com, and T-Mobile addresses end with @tmomail.net.

And Rob Beschizza at Boing Boing Gadgets notes that the Peek Pronto can connect to more than just email and text messages:

Though some might rankle at being stuck with just one application, it’s fun to discover what’s possible with email and text messages alone: Twitter and Wordpress both let you post with it, while Ent will serve maps, local searches and movie times on demand. Fans maintain a list of useful text-based services at the Peek forums.

The Peek Pronto is currently shipping as an Amazon exclusive.

–Agen G.N. Schmitz