[pct-l] Pocketmail RIP & Peek

[Trekker4 at aol.com]

Pmail won't recover from a total shutdown, as their  service was too 
expensive anyhow. I cringed every summer paying their 3-mo fee  of $60; this and 
the next 2-3 summers it would have been their 6-mo fee of $105.  For the same 
$300+ I got a Peek plus lifetime service and insurance, with a  Peek Pronto 
deductible on the latter without losing the lifetime  service.
    The Peek isn't nearly as versatile: 1. The  smaller keyboard makes it 
harder to use while walking.  2. There is no  address book, or email lists to 
make sending emails to groups easy.   3. There's only a 1-oz weight saving 
when one adds in the charger and  (possibly) an extra battery.  4. The other 
little things one could do on  a Pmail, such as memos etc, aren't on the 
Peek, but this can probably  be done on unsent emails.  5. So, overall it's 
not really an improvement,  to a backpacker to whom weight and available power 
matter, but it's the only  thing left. 
    A smartphone isn't an answer for me;  there would probably be a weight 
increase over a Pmail when the extras were  added in; there would be far 
more expense; and I have no use for Inet service,  just for hike emails, on my 
phone right now. I do carry a phone, so a  smartphone would eliminate that, 
but one just can't get inexpensive service  or service that can be started 
and stopped. Over a 5-year period, the cost of  smartphone service would buy 
a case of Peeks, or Pmails. 
 
Bob  "Trekker"
Big Bend Desert Denizen, and...
Naturalized Citizen - Republic  of Texas

"Government cripples you, then hands you a crutch and says,  'See, if it 
wasn't for us, you couldn't walk.' " -- Harry Browne

"If you  think health care is exensive now, wait until you see what it 
costs when its  free." -- P J O'Rourke