Pocketmail

[Carol]

Have any of you folks ever seen these or used one? Any comments?

http://www.pocketmail.com/

I have nothing to do with the company. I was wondering if they are reliable enough to give one to an elderly person with no computer experience.

 

[mikea]

Have any of you folks ever seen these or used one? Any comments?

http://www.pocketmail.com/

I have nothing to do with the company. I was wondering if they are reliable enough to give one to an elderly person with no computer experience.

I would think that tiny keyboard would be a problem for an elderly person. It is also likely tied to one dial-up ISP for service so you have to throw it out if they go out of business.

There have been many attempts at an easy to use internet and/or email appliance, most of which can be had for almost nothing after the venture capital money dried up.

You might want to consider WebTV or an Audrey, http://www.audreyhacking.com/
http://www.webtv.com/pc

or an older Windows CE PDA, which is what that is:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1242214&Sku=P34-1000
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1163978&Sku=J162-1000

Just about anything with a modem will likely work for dial-up networking and has an email client. With those you can shop for a dial-up ISP account at a better rate separately. Just don't listen when they say they don't' support the device. Unless you go with an outfit that requires you run Windows, (to show you ads, as with Juno or NetZero) you should be able to connect just fine using an idea called Internet standards. The way to tell is if they mention they will work with exotic stuff like Macs or Linux.

 

[gismo]

Have any of you folks ever seen these or used one? Any comments?

http://www.pocketmail.com/

I have nothing to do with the company. I was wondering if they are reliable enough to give one to an elderly person with no computer experience.

That keyboard looks way too small for anyone let alone an "elderly person". I can't imagine why such a person as you describe would want something so portable either.

 

[Carol]

Thanks, guys.

Excellent points. Toss that idea into the trash.

 

[Dean]

My mom used to use mymailstation, she is in her 70's and has never had a computer. It is a keyboard and monitor together and was selling for around $100.00. I am not sure if they are still in business though.

 

[silver-eagle]

I'd just byte the bullet and get them a PC. Buy a cheap dialup for around $10, something with a POP server. Set it up once and away you go. Most dialup systems can be set to connect as needed. The user only needs a phone line.
Cable or DSL is good too. Always ready. The downside is the cost.

 

[mikea]

I'd just byte the bullet and get them a PC. Buy a cheap dialup for around $10, something with a POP server. Set it up once and away you go. Most dialup systems can be set to connect as needed. The user only needs a phone line.
Cable or DSL is good too. Always ready. The downside is the cost.

If you want to be brave you can get one of sub $500 Linspire or Xandros Linux PCs at Wal-Mart. They can run Firefox for web surfing and Thunderbird for email. Free!
http://www.walmart.com/search/brows...0.500592+125875.253368&path=0:3944:3951:41937
You need a monitor and make sure it has at 256MB of memory and a modem. There are also deals where the ISP, like AOL or Earthlink will pay $200 or more toward the PC purchase if you subscribe for a year at $29. Get a free Yahoo or Gmail email account so you can dump the ISP after the year and keep the email address.

The only thing they won't be able to do is work with Internet Explorer/Windows only sites, but those are getting to be few and far between.

 

[rpadula]

If you want to be brave you can get one of sub $500 Linspire or Xandros Linux PCs at Wal-Mart.

For an elderly person?!? Aww Mike, i thought you were a mac guy. Hello - for sub $499 one could get a Mac Mini, with a much friendlier OS for the old folks.


-Rich

 

[MSmith]

I beta-tested these things about 6-7 years ago.

The problems that I experienced then were that they were a bit slow, and didn't work well in noisy environments (like an airport payphone). They may have fixed those problems by now.

 

[mikea]

For an elderly person?!? Aww Mike, i thought you were a mac guy. Hello - for sub $499 one could get a Mac Mini, with a much friendlier OS for the old folks.


-Rich

You're right. The Mac mini is a better choice.

If the cost of the Wal-Mart PC + monitor is the same as a Mac mini ($499) + monitor + keyboard (~$100) , the Mac wins hands down. It's be a LOT more reliable and a cinch to set up. Besides it has stuff like iChat for looking at the grandchildren and iPhoto to store the pictures.

Who knows? Grandma and Grandpa might like iTunes. Even the Queen of England is listening to an iPod now!