This Mobile Device Only Does Email — Perfectly

Not every gadget needs a carnival of features. Take the Peek, which tackles just a single task: mobile email. No phone, no browser, no camera—and no apologies. It won't satisfy convergence-rabid smartphone fetishists, but for the rest of the world (i.e., the majority of it), this one-trick pony is a godsend. In terms of looks, its slim profile stands up to the big boys. But the real treat is the interface. Instead of forcing you to wrestle with laborious setup menus, the Peek asks for a name, email address, and password. That's it. Message from your Comcast.net account? Done. Gmail, Hotmail, and other webmail accounts? No sweat. Peek has an army of techies behind the curtain to handle the digital diplomacy that makes their device work flawlessly with every major email purveyor — and quite a few minor ones. It runs on T-Mobile's massive cellular network, so even the most itinerant technophobe can use it on the go. —Terrence Russell

$100, plus $20/month