“Did u get my email?”

That was the whole test, followed by “Hows work” and the automatic signature:

“Sent on the go from my Peek.”

I had joined Peek as Director of Technical Operations earlier in the month. The company made a dedicated mobile email device. It focused on email and messaging rather than the larger set of applications on a smartphone.

The simple experience depended on a messy system. Peek had to connect to Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Exchange, POP, IMAP, mobile carriers, and its own application. A person holding the device did not see any of that. They wrote a message and expected it to arrive.

So I sent tests.

I sent a series of short messages that afternoon. Some went to my personal address. Some went to people close to me. A few were no more than “hello,” “test,” or a question about whether the last message showed up.

This one was not a formal test plan. I asked whether the previous email had arrived and then asked how work was going.

The Peek added its own line to the bottom: “Sent on the go from my Peek.”

This message arrived in Gmail at 4:31 in the afternoon. That confirmed the message I had just sent reached that inbox. It did not tell me whether the earlier test had arrived.

The earlier message was still the one I was asking about. Its result was not included here.

I still needed a reply to answer the question in the body.

Archive