This post brought to you by POWOW Messenger. All opinions are 100% mine.

Do you enjoy texting your friends with your smartphone more than you do talking to them face to face? If you also happen to be an Android user, there’s a free app from Handmark called POWOW Messenger for Android that provides an impressive set of features to elevate your texting skills and enjoyment to the next level. The app really comes in handy when you want to text a group of your friends because you can send one text to a whole group and then keep the conversation going on one scrolling screen of messages instead of popping back and forth between individual conversations. To test this app, I installed POWOW on my Motorola Droid X.

After installing the app, you will receive a text message with a link that you have to click to activate POWOW. Once activated, you can create named groups of your friends. Doing this will create a special phone number for that group. The app will send a message to everyone in your group using that number.

POWOW has an easy to use interface that isn’t radically different than most stock messaging apps with a familiar speech bubble style. It has a few extra features that I don’t have on my iPhone though, like the ability to attach, ringtones, slideshows and audio in addition to pictures and video to a text message. It’s also easy to quickly sort your texts by individuals, groups and favorites.

Another nice feature is the ability to “mute” and blacklist people. If you mute them, you’ll still receive their text messages, but you won’t be notified that they are coming in. Messages from blacklisted people won’t even show up, which is a nice option to block out your crazy stalker ex-girlfriend.

Other features that POWOW provides are:

• ZipIt – Blacklist unwanted texters so you don’t see notifications or text messages from them OR “Mute” notifications message notifications for select contacts while retaining their messages in your history.

• PopUp Notifications: Instead of exiting an app or browser to see your new message, have it pop up right on your screen where you can decide whether to respond, ignore, delete, or call.

• Storage of Groups on Server: Quick retrieval of groups if you change phone or phone number.

• Favorites: Easily set your favorite contacts and filter messages without having to scroll through your entire history.

• Emoticons: Supports native emoticons (non-text) available for your Android device.

• Contact Pics: Import Facebook, Twitter, Google Contacts, and/or LinkedIn pics for use in your text conversations.

• Long Date/Short Date: Customize to show date/time in the fashion you prefer.

• Voice Text input capability: Utilize Google’s voice input technology to speak your texts rather than typing.

• Easy Delete: Single-press delete of individual messages within a thread or complete conversations.

• Call shortcuts: Access your phone capabilities and make calls through a single click.

You get all of this for free. The only catch is that you have to put up with ads at the bottom of the display. Some of the ads are annoying as they can sort of trick you into clicking them because they look like a special feature of the application. So just keep that in mind. If you get tired of ads, there’s an option where you can upgrade to POWOW Pro via an in-app purchase.

All in all, POWOW is a handy alternative for Android owning texting fanatics.

Filed in categories: Android related, News

Tagged: Android, SMS

POWOW Group Messaging for Android originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 21, 2012 at 1:33 pm.

The makers of the Peek Pronto have introduced a new device; the Peek 9. Great!

What is it? Is it a phone? A scientific calculator? A digital dictionary? I got it, it’s an Electronic Foreign Language Translator!

Actually it is none of those things. It is an Email Device. It probably should be some or all of those other things, then perhaps we can have a reasonable expectation of people actually wanting something like this. In a world of the Smart-Phone and even the Feature-Phone becoming better at doing practically everything except cooking your dinner, what could a simple email device do for you?Simple Gone Social

The idea behind the original Peek was for it to be a simple way to get your email on the go. Period. No bells, no whistles. Just email. The later released Peek Pronto enabled SMS, Twitter and Facebook capabilities along with a few other enhancements (if you can call it that). Simple not so simple anymore…

Even with those features, it doesnt seem to be worth the 70 bucks they were asking. Not to mention the $20.00 a month for service.

New and Improved?

“Everyone else was doing more, we did less. Everyone else was chasing premium. We made it cheap. Everyone was focused on flash and trash. We made nuts and bolts. Cheap, simple, fast email,” said Amol Sarva, the Peekster-in-Chief.

“For some reason, while everyone is busy making $99 touch screen phones (we’re not), the average cell phone bill seems to be going up (including ours). But aren’t people talking less? Texting, email, etc, more? Isn’t that cheaper?”

True, most people do not talk as much on their phones. But we all still want the option. You ever try to give detailed directions through text messages or emails, going back and forth with the person? The fact is, talking is still the fastest form of communication. Sometimes you need an answer, quickly. Sometimes it’s an emergency. Sometimes we want to hear our loved ones voice.

Cheaper isn’t always better.

On the Otherhand…

Peek however, may have a chance if targeted at the right market. Business professionals.

If you have ever worked at a large office you would see just about everyone has a Blackberry that is provided by the company. A lot of corporate phones are used now for email only. Peeks would be a lot cheaper for the company to have for sure. That should be the target demographic. Not regular consumers. Consumers want more than just email. I mean, if I work at Target as a cashier I’m not gonna be checking email my entire lunch break. Twitter and Facebook is nice but I have a whole 30 minutes to an hour to kill. Can I surf the web, or listen to music, play video games or call my brother?

If its cheap its cheap, and aren’t we always surprised when cheap stuff actually does something cool? Why? It’s because we didn’t expect it to do much in the first place. That’s where Peek stands. Most people like simple things. But we aren’t asking for the world when we say, “Peek why not put a web browser on there and maybe we can talk.” Or someone would say, “Peek, how about a new hardware design if your gonna come out with a new model. I haven’t seen a scroll wheel on anything since my Blackberry 8700 from like 20 years ago.”

Simple is not better for everyone. But what do you think?

Is Peek 9 a deal or is Peek just not getting it?

Filed in categories: Articles, News, Wireless

Tagged: Email, Gadgets, SMS

Why the Peek 9 originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 23, 2010 at 8:30 am.

I’m an avid reader of the Consumerist. I also talk to Julie online a lot, which means that I’m frequently sending her links during the day to interesting articles I find. We got into a discussion about texting, after I sent her an article on a girl in Colorado who racked up a $4,756.25 Verizon bill from texting one month. She sent roughly 10,000 messages…and received just as many! That’s a lot of texting, even for a teenager. Last month, I also saw an article on the Consumerist about a California teenager who managed to send and receive over 14,000 text messages one month on an AT&T plan. Fortunately, her parents had an unlimited messaging plan on her phone.

But when you don’t want to pay for unlimited messaging, what can you do about a kid whose thumbs move faster than Road Runner’s mad dash away from Wile E. Coyote?

I’ve been both an AT&T and a Verizon customer, and I know just how much text messages can cost. With AT&T, unlimited texting is an extra $20 a month. It’s $30 a month if you have a family plan and want to add unlimited texting to every line on the plan. Verizon’s plan isn’t quite as good – $20 a month will get you 5,000 messages, plus unlimited messages to other Verizon mobile numbers. Back when I was on Verizon with my former employer’s corporate discount, I ponied up the extra $10 a month for 500 messages, plus unlimited mobile-to-mobile – which worked for me, since I only really texted people with Verizon numbers.

When I got my iPhone and switched to AT&T, I decided it wasn’t worth the money – especially since I got email directly to my phone. So I called up AT&T, had texting completely blocked from my number, and told everyone to text me at an email address I set up just for my iPhone. That was three months ago, and it’s been working out well.

Kids, however, aren’t so accommodating to Mom and Dad’s tight wallet. More and more I see tweens and teens at the mall with BlackBerries and iPhones and SideKicks, madly texting away.

Then again, teenagers don’t really need cell phones. By FCC regulations, any cell phone (even ones that aren’t activated) must be capable of calling 911, so that kills the “I need it for emergencies, Mom!” excuse. There’s also the whole concept of what life was like before cell phones…and, like the teenager in Colorado, your kid’s grades might be impacted by their constant calling and texting while at school.

I decided to do a little searching to see if there were any alternatives, especially for younger kids (like the 10-13 “tween” types). What options are out there for satiating a teenager’s desire to be forever connected to her BFF, even at 4 AM? High-count text message plans on top of a line on your family plan will cost, at minimum, $30 a month. Text-only plans usually end up costing more over the long run. So what can you do?

Surprisingly, I found a few different options.

Rip Roar im

The Rip Roar im is a small device with a monochrome LCD and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. It works over the 900MHz wireless band (like older cordless phones) and allows you to use your existing accounts with AOL, Yahoo!, and MSN. It connects wirelessly to a USB transmitter you connect to any Internet-connected computer. While it’s not a cellular device, it will get the kids off the computer, and they can contact their friends no matter where they are at home. Its MSRP is $79.99, but Target.com carries it for a mere $20 – not too shabby.

Zipit Wireless Messenger

The Zipit Wireless Messenger is a wifi-enabled device, available at both Target and Best Buy (according to the manufacturer’s website). At $49.99 MSRP, it costs a bit more, but it comes with a slew of awesome, teen-friendly features. Equipped with a mini-SD slot and full-color LCD, the Zipit can play MP3s and display digital pictures. It can even play Internet radio stations over its 802.11g-compliant wireless connection. The device itself flips open and has a QWERTY keyboard. There’s one caveat – initial purchase requires activation of a one-year service plan at $9.99 a month, which provides texting access in addition to IM access on AOL, Yahoo!, and MSN. After the year is up, you can use the Zipit for IM at no monthly fee.

Unlike the Rip Roar im, the Zipit works on any wireless network or hotspot, so your teen can take it with them and use it anywhere with an open hotspot. As more and more locations provide free wireless, this device can be pretty useful while minimizing your monthly expenses. It also allows parents to limit how much it can be used, and parents can keep track of who their kids are talking to. When you’re dealing with a thirteen-year-old, this can really bring some peace-of-mind to parents.

And, for the geeks out there, it even runs Linux! Who knew?

GirlGear IM-Me

For the younger set, you might consider the  GirlGear IM-Me. It’s a girly pink-and-purple device with an MSRP of $44.99 – but it’s available on Amazon.com for only $13.49. This toy is definitely geared at younger kids between the ages of about eight and twelve. It, like the Rip Roar im, works over the 900MHz band, but it provides several parental controls that allow you to know who your kid is talking to at any time. The IM-Me uses its own instant messaging protocol, so it won’t work with AOL, Yahoo!, MSN, or any other existing IM service. A trial application is available to allow you to chat via a computer with someone using an IM-Me – although the manufacturer’s site isn’t particularly clear about what it means by “free trial”, I’m guessing that it’s a time-limited deal in order to convince you to buy more IM-Me devices. The IM-Me device comes with a USB transmitter, a docking cradle, and has a QWERTY keyboard and backlit monochrome LCD. This is definitely not a device for teenagers, but it’s a great way to let your younger daughter have a way to communicate with her friends that doesn’t cost you any extra money on your already bulky cell phone plan.

Of course, at the end of the day, one has to wonder just how critical it is for kids these days to be always-connected. I’m no stranger to the addicting qualities of being perpetually tethered to cyberspace, believe me. On the flip side, I was raised in a financially conservative family, where we didn’t have cable TV, let alone cell phones. I got my first phone when I was a senior in high school – and it was prepaid because I couldn’t sign a contract yet!

If you’re having trouble getting your teenaged kids to tone down their cell usage, it might be time to start pushing them to get a job and pay for their own service – or, at least, the texting add-on to their line of the family’s cell plan. If you just want your child to have a phone for emergencies, consider T-Mobile’s prepaid plans. I ended up getting a T-Mobile phone for my mother. The phone was $69.99, and for $100, I got her a year of minutes. She only has to pay as little as $20 a year to keep her existing minutes renewed. Since she hardly ever uses her phone, it works out perfectly – and it’s a very cost-effective way to provide a phone to your kids if it’s that important to you that they have one.

None of the devices I found work on a cellular network – for that functionality, you’re stuck continuing to pay for a normal cell phone with a messaging add-on. However, if your kid just wants a way to message their friends while at home, the products I found might just be the ticket.

Filed in categories: Wireless

Tagged: SMS, Texing

Texting Troubles – What’s a parent to do? originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 16, 2009 at 10:06 am.