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With the growing popularity of Internet, e-mail has quickly become a business and social phenomenon, providing a fast, convenient and affordable way for people to keep in touch with each other electronically.

 However, until now, the majority of e-mail usage has been limited to PC or Mac, and if you are not a genuine PC/Mac user or do not have a machine, communicating on e-mail seems still not as easy as it should be.

  In order to broaden the use of e-mail, Cidco developed the MailStation, which is specifically built for those who do not have a PC/Mac or who are not familiar with PC operations but want to keep in touch with friends and relatives on e-mail.

 It is also good for those who, like myself, do not feel comfortable with carrying a bulky laptop on trips just for checking e-mail.

  The MailStation, introduced by US-based Cidco (www.cidco.com), is a dedicated tool for sending and receiving e-mail through an ordinary telephone line.

 The device looks like a notebook computer but is much more compact and weighs only 2.2 pounds.

  It reminds me of the old Tandy 100 laptop in the early 80s; this was a dedicated all-in-one machine for journalists to edit and file stories from the field through a telephone handset connected to an external 300bps acoustic-coupler modem.

 Although the data storage and modem speed was limited compared to the modern standard, it was welcomed by most of the journalists because of its simplicity of use.

 The MailStation has 512KB flash memory on board, with 384KB available for user storage, and a built-in 33.6Kbps data/fax modem for transmission. It operates on ordinary three AA batteries or with an AC adaptor.

 It supports standard Internet e-mail (POP3) for up to five separate users and is installed with a dedicated e-mail application.

  It has intuitive graphical display on screen to guide anyone through sending and receiving e-mail without having to have any PC knowledge.

 As easy as hitting one button, you can have all the e-mails received on screen.

 Additionally, it is equipped with an almost full size (16.5mm pitch) keyboard which makes typing as easy as on a PC or typewriter.

 A mouse is not required.

 Apart from basic e-mail functions, the MailStation is capable of sending faxes.

  Other functions include calculator, address book, electronic calendar, personal notes, printer option and, what I like most, a built-in spell-checker.

 Although the machine is neat and handy, it has some drawbacks.

 For instance it does not support e-mail attachments - you need to download an attachment separately through normal PC/Mac applications.

  It has an 8KB limit on receiving e-mail, and if an e-mail exceeds 8KB in size you have to retrieve it on PC/Mac.

 Also, it does not have 'cc:' or 'bcc:' as a feature in the e-mail application. So in the event you need to send an e-mail to multiple addresses, you need to input string addresses delimited with semicolons. Cidco responded that all functions come with the device and the 8KB limit for receiving e-mail is adequate to ordinary home users.

 In the United States, MailStation is sold directly by Cidco, together with e-mail service subscription, to the end-users at either US$99.95 plus prepaid $99.95 for one year e-mail service or $149.95 plus $9.95 monthly for e-mail service.

 In other countries, the MailStation is sold as a standalone unit, whereby it can be connected to virtually any POP3 and SMTP compatible ISP. The unit price is $179.95 plus shipping cost.

  Cidco will ship MailStation to Hong Kong though customers here would have to pay handling and shipping charges. SAR-based VTech has a similar product called eMail PostBox which costs $99.99.

REVIEW PROS AND CONS Product: MailStation Price: US$179.95 Pros: Affordable e-mail-only solution for multiple users Cons: Limit to file attachment size and no 'cc:' feature 



Cidco's easy route to attachment-free e-mail