Is there such thing as a small email only computer with a small screen and full keyboard?

Question

While flipping through a magazine years ago, I saw a small email machine that had a keyboard and a small screen attached. It had a modem and it's purpose was to send and receive emails. Something like this would be perfect for my dad who is in his late 60's and refuses to learn how to use the computer. Has anybody seen something like this?

Answer 1

You may want to take a look at the MSNTV2 service using a RCA RM4100 device conected to your tv using dialup or broadband service. This provides internet and e-mail service through MSN. These units can be easily found at amazon used for $100 or new from Circuit City for $200

Answer 2

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RE:
Is there such thing as a small email only computer with a small screen and full keyboard?
While flipping through a magazine years ago, I saw a small email machine that had a keyboard and a small screen attached. It had a modem and it's purpose was to send and receive emails. Something like this would be perfect for my dad who is in his late 60's and refuses to learn how to use...

Answer 3

No, I don't there is. There are phones that have email but make sure you read the instructions and terms&conditions carefully; horrors like the Amstrad eMailer can charge per email - and that includes RECEIVED email, including spam!

There is this one, but sadly it's only a prototype:
http://studentservices.engr.wisc.edu/tongprize/Tong2007/6.html
I think it's a great idea and well overdue.

I think the best way would be to set him up with a broadband (DSL) subscription (dial-up carries the danger of rogue-dialer malware) and install an all-in-one security suite that updates and scans automatically (not Norton or Mcaffee - they're awful)
and set up all the email addresses for him - use the email service provided by the ISP (Internet Service Provider) because unlike most free accounts, it won't expire if not used.

Also install a "parental control" type program to either blacklist sites or create a white-list. Give him the password, obviously, but it will give him some assurance that he won't accidentally access high-risk sites.

Answer 4

Mailbug by Landel might be what you are looking for? Also try Alphsmart Dana wireless (Wi-Fi).

I am currently looking for the same type of email-only device for an older gentleman who doesn't want to learn how to use a computer and doesn't even want the temptation of the internet and does not want to type on a small cell phone keyboard. These are the only 2 I have found that have big screens and full keyboards, etc.

Answer 5

Yes. I had one for my mom. It's made by Brother. Toshiba also makes a small notebook pad that can only be used for email. They were made at lest 5 to 7 years ago and if you are looking for anything that's new it's going to be expensive. You might want to concider getting him a PDA that works off of Wi-Fi so that he can get his email that way. HP makes some great ones that are less then 300 bucks and are easy to use and has a large screen.

Answer 6

Acer Aspire One for sure, its a much more flexible platform in a package about the same size. My buddy bought an Aspire One 9 inch with the Atom N270. It is awesome, we use it for everything: - A large MP3 player connected to the stereo in his car. - Its portable so we brought it into his car with a usb-to-serial and special cable to read the Mazda's computer. - World of Warcraft on the go for my buddy (not my thing) but it plays it well! - Downloading machine for large files (160 Gb hard drive in it) when near other open internet connections. - Internet on the go at Wi-Fi hotspots like Williams Coffee pub. - I use it to check up on my Facebook. The thing is so damn portable and has many uses. It came with XP but we put Windows 7 it and it runs just as well! Honestly these netbooks are a great little platform with a ton of uses, you can't go wrong with one. They are not too common now but if you can find one with the NVidia ION chipset that will allow some better gaming performance.

Answer 7

Email Only Computer

Answer 8

Not since that magazine was printed I should think. This dates to a time when you did not have affordable computers and these machines were the cheapest way to communicate. They were far harder to use than a modern machine. Everything you wanted to do involved typing commands, no visual interfaces like Windows. Even mail operations required some programming knowledge.

Answer 9

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Answer 10

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Sorry for the long paragraph! If I separated them, it wouldn't all fit! They're both 2 very great devices, I must say. They both have their pros and their cons. Lets start off with typing. The iPad it has 2 virtual touch screen keyboards, a portrait and a landscape. The portrait is good for quick typing or thumb typing. The landscape is good for long documents, or writing out something that would be longer than a sentence. The Aspire One has only one keyboard, and it's comparable to the iPad's landscape keyboard, but the Aspire one's keyboard is real buttons, not a touchscreen. Neither of them have full-sized laptop keyboards, but they're about 90-95% of the size. This is your call, if you want the 2 boards, go with the iPad. If you want a board with real buttons, the Aspire's for you. Software wise, the iPad runs a slightly scaled up version of the iPhone/iPod Touch operating system (OS). It has a HUGE app store, like the one on the other "i" devices. You can run all of your favorite iPhone or iPod touch apps on the iPad, and if you've already bought them for another device, you can get them FREE of charge! The iPad also has it's own app store, with many many apps designed especially for the iPad. With the iPad, you can't really download anything from the net, but you can get many things from the app store, like the ever popular browser, Opera Mini. There's no flash on the iPad, but you can still watch Youtube with the Youtube app that comes pre-installed. There's also HTML5, which some may call the future of the internet. It's like flash, but a LOT less used. The benefits of HTML5 are that there are no pesky pop-ups, and it's faster. It's only a matter of time before HTML5 becomes the new flash. The iPad also runs iWork (Apple's version of Microsoft Office) with Pages (Word) Numbers (Excel) and Keynote (Power Point). Each program costs $10 from the app store. That's a whole office suite for $10! But enough for the iPad, on to the Aspire. The Aspire runs many different OS's. They include: Windows XP home, Windows Vista Basic, Windows 7 Basic and many versions of Linux. Linus doesn't usually come pre-installed, but many people prefer it. They're all great operating systems (Excluding Vista, which is slow, sluggish and has horrible security). XP will run the fastest, but the vast majority of Aspires run Windows 7. The Windows OS's are more advanced than the iPhone OS, but are generally slower. Linux is slower than the iPhone OS too, but more advanced yet again. There's NO app store, I repeat, NO app store for ANY of these operating systems! This is a bit of a disappointment, but you can download programs from the internet, for free or for a fee! The problem with this is that you can never tell if something from the internet is good, or bad. Game wise, the Aspire can play flash games online. Though flash is no HTML5, it's more commonly used and some prefer it. You can watch Youtube directly from the site, that's right, you don't need a special app. For an office suite, the Aspire can run Microsoft Office. It doesn't have iWork, but Office is great. iWork is easier to use and simpler, and it runs faster since it's a smaller app. Getting back to Office, it's a bit slow but it does run. I'd recommend Office Home and Student for an Aspire, since it's simple, cheap and doesn't take up lots of space. It comes with Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Onenote. There are also many other office suites, including Open Office, WordPerfect Office, Google Docs, eXpresso and Adobe Buzzword. None of these will run on the iPad. Overall, the Aspire can probably run more, but it will also attract more malware and it's slower. When looking at hardware, they're two VERY different devices! The iPad is a pad or tablet design, almost like a flat piece of cardboard. The Aspire's a clamshell design, meaning that it opens up to reveal a screen, a keyboard and a mouse. When you're done, you close it. Like a small laptop. The iPad has a 9.7 inch Capacitive touch screen (A large high-end touch screen) and is easy to use, but a finger print magnet. It has a SUPER HIGH resolution, waaaaay better than ANY Aspire! Navigation is used with your fingers on the screen, very different from the Aspire. The iPad has a 1ghz processor, which is a bit slow but it feels faster than it is. It has a VERY small Hard Drive Disk (HDD) when compared to the Aspire, and 256 Mega Bites (MB) or Random Access Memory (RAM), about a quarter of the size of most Aspires. It has an accelerometer, meaning that when you turn it the image of the screen turns with you, Headphone jack, speaker, microphone, 25 watt lithium ion (Li-Ion) battery, so about 9-10 hours of usage, available 3g, WiFi and Bluetooth. Enough of that, lets move on to the Aspire.The aspire has a lower resolution screen and's about 9-11 inches, and navigation is used with a touch-pad, or an external mouse. If you've never used a touch-pad, it's like a pad where you put your finger, move it around, and wherever you put your finger on the pad, is where the mouse goes on the screen. Pretty cool. Also, when you tap the pad, the mouse clicks, hence, "Touch-pad". The Aspires usually have a 1ghz to 2ghz processor, so up to twice the clock speed (The speed that the processor runs at). Even though the processor can go faster, with Office, Windows and all those hige apps and programs, the computer seems slow, even with the 2ghz processor. They have Intel Atom processors, smaller than what you'd find in a full sized laptop. The iPad actually seems faster. The Aspire had a 150gb HDD, about 10 times larger than what's on the iPad, at least! Even though it's larger, with all those apps and programs, it'll be full just as fast as the iPad's! RAM wise, the Aspires usually come with about 1gb. It usually's a bit slower than the iPad's, one again because of those large apps and programs. It also comes with headphone jack, speaker, microphone AND webcam (One feature that the iPad lacks terribly) batteries that last about 5-10 hours, WiFi and Bluetooth. This one's your call. What do you prefer. Talking more about internet, the iPad is much better. The iPad offers WiFi, which is a standard now a days, but also optional 3g connectivity. That means for $30 a month, you get unlimited browsing wherever you are, on AT&T's fast network (iPad with 3g costs $130 more that the one with just WiFi). WiFi's also fast, and reliable. The browsing experience is great! Scrolling with your finger is VERY easy and smooth, multi-touch is great (multi-touch gives you the ability to interact with more than one finger on the screen), and both Safari and Opera Mini are great browsers. The Aspire only offers WiFi, but 3g can be added by plugging a LARGE USB key from AT&T into the device (By the way, the iPad doesn't have a USB input). "USB internet" costs more, and you need to sign up for a pesky contract. With the iPad, you're contract free! You CAN get 4g USB keys though, which are faster. 3g keys are also available. The browsing experience isn't as good, because scrolling isn't as smooth, there's no multi-touch on the touch-pad, but there are many different browsers for you to use. Whether it's Internet Explorer, Fire Fox, Opera, Safari, Google Chrome, Sea Monkey, etc etc... you have a choice of hundreds of browsers to use. The iPad's better for browsing, speed and 3g, but the Aspire's better for browser choice and 4g. Overall, it's your choice on what to get, but I'd recommend the iPad. I own both, and the iPad's better in my opinion. Also, the HP slate's another option. It's a tablet computer running Windows. It has a large HDD, lots or RAM, a quick processor and much more. The HP slate will start at $550. The iPad starts at $500 for WiFi only and $630 for WiFi and 3g, and the Aspires start at about $230, but the Aspire's cost is all over the place. I hope that I helped, and didn't make you more confused! -Evan