E-mail computers, maybe?

[Hazel M]

I know. That title doesn't make a lot of sense. Maybe I can explain. Many of you will not be familiar with this but some will. A couple of decades back, maybe more, they brought out a small electronic device that sent and received email. That's all. It had no hard drive and, therefore no internet. All it was good for was exchanging e-mails. It does have some memory storage capacity, an address book, just a few basic conveniences.

 

It must not have sold well since they didn't make it long and today are no longer supporting the few that are still being used. I have one of those. When it dies, it is long dead but it's come in quite handy when my computer had problems or my server was down. I could turn to the email machine. And it was quite inexpensive. Still is as I pay Earth Link $12.95 a month to do emails.

 

My question - after all that. Do the companies that make computers make anything as simple as that? Maybe a bit more complicated as they'd probably have a hard drive. The email machine has no hard drive; therefore, no viruses. What is the simplest machine that computer manufacturers make and which would do email exchanges if nothing else?

 

Does anyone know anything about such? Or does such exist today?

[EdEarl]

I know of nothing as you describe being now sold. Many people use cell phones for all communications, including voice mail, text, email, Internet, and apps. An inexpensive computer might be configured to connect with Earth Link and get your mail; it depends on what services Earth Link provides. You can call and ask about connecting with a 9-inch screen, Android, tablet computer, which you can get for about US$100.

[Hazel M]

Thank you, Ed Earl. And my apologies to all for that post appearing five times. It never did show that it was posting but apparently it was and I'd hit it several time. Didn't realize that another post about the ad was a no-no. When I post one letter, I should stop for a while? All right. And I do know now when it appears. Don't know why but do know when. I cam avoid that.

[fiveworlds]

I could make one for about 30$. Just make an arduino boot with MS outlook or xbmc. Xbmc has a web browser so you could just log onto your email server. It also has it's own email client http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Add-on:Mail

Edited July 1, 2014 by fiveworlds

[Klaynos]

My internet and phone service provider offers a smartphone that only works on your home network for both landline phone calls and internet access. I suspect that's the closest off the shelf device you're likely to get.