Customer Reviews

Fossil Abacus AU5005 Wrist PDA with Palm OS - Black

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

****14-month followup****

The good: Case, strap, and screen all in great shape despite daily wear. Has survived miscellaneous drops and brief immersions in water with no apparent damage or effect.

The annoying: Needs charging daily. The screen is still small! When I ride my bike on a bumpy road, the Palm OS crashes, and if I don't notice quickly and reset it, the battery goes dead (and then I have to re-enter all the setup data, and reload it). Lately it has been crashing badly (total restart) every couple of days, for no apparent reason.

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Below is the original Nov. 2005 review:

I bought the Abacus PDA a couple of weeks ago, mainly to replace the shredded memo pad I'd been trying to keep in my pocket, and to synchronize smoothly with my Microsoft Outlook system at work. Overall, it's everything I expected and it has become my almost-constant companion. A few specific comments:

- Battery life: The biggest problem with it. The battery life bar shows empty after two days, even though I only use the PDA function a couple minutes a day. Maybe it's like a gas gauge, and you really have another day before it dies? If you set it so the LCD display turns off when not in PDA mode (instead of showing the watch face), the life goes to about 4 days. By having the watch application running, you can see the time by simply pressing the enter button. Charging seems very fast, however, and it doesn't seem like you have to have it plugged into a computer to charge. Sadly, it did not charge from my laptop; it had to be plugged into AC.

- The watch is pretty big. Notice that nowhere are the dimensions shown in the specs? The actual size (ignoring the band) is 2.25" long x 1.88" wide by 0.50" thick, more or less. It's also quite heavy, with the stainless case. Display is 1" square. It looks kind of bulky on my fairly large wrist; it would look absurd on my wife's slender wrist. But those of you who carry purses everywhere can get a normal-size PDA.

- Entering data is hard with the tiny screen. Amazingly, the keyboard works pretty well, though I had to run the digitizer calibration option a couple times before the letters I hit lined up with the ones on the screen. However, they're hard to see in dim light, and the touch screen doesn't respond as predictably as I'd like, sometimes giving a letter and sometimes not. I tried Jot briefly, with moderate success, and may try it more later.

- You can look things up entirely with the buttons (no stylus), which is great.

- I wish it was waterproof; I have to take it off at the health club, etc. But I've dropped it on concrete, banged it into a bunch of things (it's a lot bigger than my old watch, after all), and washed my hands while wearing it (oops!), getting it wet, all with no apparent damage.

- Syncronization with Outlook was a breeze to set up, and takes only a couple of seconds. Now I have about 500 contacts, my schedule, and a dozen lists on my wrist. Plus a calculator. Cool!

I've been using a Palm Pilot since before I started regularly wearing a watch, so my review is a bit biased toward the idea that humans cannot live well under the pressure of modern demands without an external brain extension.

That said, this watch is one of the best things I've ever bought for myself. Its benefits far outweigh its drawbacks.

Those drawbacks are:

* Tiny, tiny screen. Can be hard to read. Not for use by people with poor close-up vision! A magnifying glass, either physical or software (like Teal Magnify) helps with this.

* BIG. I am a small-boned woman, and the watch face is as wide as my arm. I have gotten compliments on how stylish it looks, but I've also been mocked for strapping a boat anchor to my wrist. Main issue for me has been that it is too big to slide under the cuff of a long-sleeved shirt.

* Short battery life. I forgot to charge it three nights in a row, and had to restore all my data from a backup the next day. (Fortunately, that process is really easy -- just keep it synced to your PC or Mac and data loss on the watch is no reason to panic.) It really does need to be charged at least every other day. On the other hand, if you have a cell phone, a Palm Pilot, or other device that needs frequent charging, the watch can just be added to those habits; it's possible to find equipment to charge it from a wall outlet, a USB port, or even a car lighter port.

* NOT AT ALL water-resistant. This is not a watch you can put on and forget about. You cannot leave it on in the shower, or fail to protect it in heavy rain.

Those issues aside, the thing is just outright useful. It will run most software made for the Palm, excepting software for OS 5. There isn't much software made specifically for it, but what is out there is good.

Its main benefit it that it's strapped to you, all day every day, so unlike a larger full-size Pilot, it won't be in your purse or the pocket of your other jacket at home when you need it. It doesn't really have enough memory to fill some of the functions I demand of my T|T3 (English-Japanese-Spanish dictionaries & translation, Mapopolis, Office file editing and storage) but it has plenty of room for daily things: multiple alarms that actually tell you WHY your watch just went off (through datebook), phone numbers, email addresses, birthday reminders, a game or an ebook for emergency entertainment, and Handy Shopper -- shopping list freeware I can't do without any more.

For example, imagine that you've just discovered you're out of salt. You don't have to find a pen and dig out a grocery list; just make note of it on your wrist. Next time you're in the grocery store, that item will show up with all the others you've put in at the touch of a drop-down menu. Or imagine you've called Information for a number but can't find a pen. Why bother? Jot it down on your wrist. Thought of something you need to do tomorrow? Friend just told you title and author of a book you want to read? No matter what the datum is, no matter where you are, you can finally track all of this on the spot. No more writing phone numbers on your hands and trying to remember not to wash them off until you get home!

Seriously. It has too many drawbacks to succeed as a casual purchase; most watches perform specialized watch functions better, and most Palm Pilots perform serious palmtop data-crunching or -storage better. but in those two little niches -- stuff you want to write down now before it can be forgotten and stuff you need to be reminded of with text instead of just something going "beepbeepbeep" -- this thing really shines. And the more you remember to use it, the less you'll ever be able to do without it again.

I've had this watch for about a month and it's been an indispensable tool (I owned a Philips Nino running Windows CE before this). With this watch/PDA, you don't have to worry about carrying your bulky PDA to every meeting or to your Doctor's office for checking your availability or be reminded of your upcoming tasks. If you need a basic palm PDA on your wrist for everyday use, this is one of the very few products out there for you. BTW, don't forget to install Avantgo on it! I get my free daily New York Times, CNET news, local weather forcast, movie and book reviews, and much more on my wrist PDA every morning when I synch with my desktop! Wassup is another handy add-on written exclusively for this watch.

Pros:
-Has all the essential PDA functionality in a small form factor
-Syncs flawlessly with MS outlook (I've checked outlook 2000 and 2003)
-Very speedy USB sync (a matter of seconds on USB 2!)
-Can run quite a few of the available Palm programs on its 160x160, 16 gray level screen (Note that it's running the older Palm OS ver 4.1)
-It also updates my home computer outlook with my work computer when I synch at home after synching at work.
-It'll be with you everywhere! (Remember the last time you were forced to be somewhere you didn't want to be and you were bored out of your mind wishing you had something to read or to play with?)
-Surprisingly, I found the included tiny stylus pretty handy and practical!

Cons:
-Short battery life: If you want to use its PDA function on a daily basis, you HAVE to charge it almost everyday! However I don't find it inconvenient as I synch it with my desktop through USB port everyday (as you do with any other PDA) and it packs enough juice through the same USB cable if you leave it connected for a while.
-The touch screen is hard to operate (sometimes it misses even precisely targeted stylus taps) but hey what did you expect from such a tiny screen?
-It takes quite a few keystrokes to navigate from the watch mode to say your calendar
-The audio beep is weak
-A little bulky especially if you have a smaller frame, however it draws a lot of attention and gives you an opportunity to brag about it!

Conclusion: I just paid $80 for this gadget on Amazon and for that price it's been worth every penny. I hope that Fossil continues working on this promising watch and have improved models out. I'll be buying one for sure!

I have always been interested in the coolest gadget watches and over the years I have had the pleasure of owning some great ones including one of the rare Casio Scientific calculator watches, the remote control watch as well as the Casio WristCamera Color (which I use even today)

So the WristPDA was a natural progression for me. I had been interested in it since it was announced a couple of years back but the pricing (> $200) kind of held be back!. But the moment I saw the price drop on Amazon, well, I pushed the button and now I have this cool one too!

First off, I should make it clear that overall I am well satisfied by this great little gadget. For the price I paid (79.99 at amazon) I think it is well worth the money!

The only thing I was worried about while waiting for it to arrive was its size on my wrist (since I have a small'ish wrist, my WristCamera watch felt a little too bulky for comfortable use). Anyway I am glad to report that even though the Abacus is not small by any standards, its sleek design definitely does not feel bulky at all and it looks real nice on my wrist!!

Since it is Palm OS powered, usage of this watch is quite similar to the usual Palm powered PDA's (the grayscale versions). The Font, although quite small, is crystal clear to read and I did not have difficulty in using any application. The included stylus although completely functional does feel uncomfortable if you use it for long. I recommend a full size stylus whenever possible.

I was able to find and load quite a lot of standard applications onto this watch. Just look for the grayscale versions with support for Palm OS 4.x. Most of the freeware games work as well (although the ones dependent on the Hard keys on a standard PDA may need to be tweaked).

The IrDA functions work well too and I was able to sync my cellphone addressbook with the WristPDA quite easily with a few clicks.

The Handwriting recognition (Jot) is amazing as well. Infact it is so good and fast at recognizing NORMAL writing style, Initially I had difficulty 'unlearning' the special Grafitti style letter writing used by older PDA's. But if you are a Grafitti fan, then the wristPDA does support that mode as well.

I only have 2 concerns with this watch:
- The first one is the relative lack of any protection for the sensitive touch-screen face of the watch. For a normal PDA, there is an option of a case/pouch. But as a watch, the face is always exposed and there is a high probability of scratches/nicks from the elements. I now use a PDA screen protector film (cut to size) for reducing this problem.
- The second one is the lack of any water resistance. Even rain is supposed to be dangerous for the watch! So be careful while singing in the shower with this watch :-)

The other minor issue I have is the mandatory 2 day recharge period. But hey the watch is not doing anything in the night... might as well recharge it!

But overall I think Abacus/Amazon deserves a hand in making such a great piece of equipment for a relatively affordable price.

This really is a pheonominal item with a list of capabilities that far exceeds most of it's drawbacks. Certain other aspects of this device take accomodations that are to be expected (text is fairly small for example). Overall it is a great item with one, significant drawback. The battery life is HORRIBLE. I veered away from ever using the backlight (this drains immensly on the battery) and it still lasted just a day and a half, at most, after a complete charge.

The difficulty this creates is that the watch looses all of it's saved info if the battery dies. That means that you either have to keep it alive by remembering to charge it nightly, or resync it every time you want to use it.

As an Apple user, I was rather excited at how well the software worked. I ran into no compatibility issues between the wrist PDA and my iBook.

The watch is also very heavy, which could be a drawback for most, and the screen can be unresponsive at times (or at least with my unit it was). After about a month of using it on a fairly regular basis to help organize my schedule and try to eliminate a few of the devices I have to carry... I decided to go back to my handheld Palm device for the reasons listed above.

It was a great idea, and probably essential to many busy professionals, but nightly charges, weight, and the threat of data-loss was too much for me to keep up with.

The Fossil Abacus AU5005 is handy crutch for those of us whom suffer from the digital organizers chain and ball sickness. However, it does not replace a plam pilot completely. The screen size makes it readible for scheduling and todo lists, but I would not recommend it for reading ebooks. The size is still a real plus and its attachment, fashioned after a watch, makes for a convient look. The touch screen with new Jot style writing makes for much more natural wiriting as well as unlimited expandibilty for interfacing. The fact that is a computer sporting the 66mhz Motorola Fireball processor and 8 MB of RAM allows for miniture computing. The watch is more than just another mis-shapen palm pilot, it is a revolation and a major gadget attraction. The few draw backs include small screen size, short battery life (on average two days), still black and white, and lacks wireless fuctionality outside of IrDA. On the plus side, this watch is very stylish, makes for the most convient palm pilot yet, has a built-in rechargable lithium-ion battey, and sports a nifty built-in stylus. Overall I give the Fossil Abacus AU5005 4 out of five stars for convience and portability, leaving it a star shy from perfect for lack of color and wireless connectivity.

just a few things to add to the previous reviews:
1)Not for people with bad vision; the text is, of course, very small.
2)battery life can be greatly extended by turning the screensaver to off instead of time. I run my watch this way and I play games for hours some days and only run the battery down to 75%.
3) I had trouble getting many applications to run on the watch, but found some games that worked great.
4) I have really enjoyed being able to enter dates, appointments, and tasks on my wristwatch. It is every bit as practical and convenient as I was hoping it would be.

On the other reviews a few complain that the watch is too big. Others state the Screen is too small. Well I love this watch how it is. It has the core features I have come to rely on in my palm.....right at my wrist. I don't have to remember to take it with me to meetings, etc. Charging it at night is no big deal....I just plug it in next to my cell phone. No complaints. My only request is that the next version be water resistant. What an ingenious product and they had to balance screen size with watch size...doing pretty well I think.

I absolutely love this watch. I have owned it for about 3 weeks now and my only complaints are the alarm chime is too quiet, and the battery life is short ~2 days.

If you take the perspective of the watch being a PDA then the battery life is not such a big deal, just remember to recharge it daily, we do this with our cell phones anyway.

Most all applications that run on a OS 4 device will run on this watch.

Be sure to get the watchface Yotta (Google it), as it completes the watch by showing datebook and todo items on the watch face.

I've had my Abacus watch PDA for several weeks. I use it as my regular PDA now; my regular-size PDA has become my backup. The screen, though small, is readable if I set the fonts for a large size. Text entry is fine if I keep the text short; I try to keep a stylus in my pocket so I don't have to fiddle with the one on the watch band. I plug in the USB cable every night for charging and syncing. I find it tremendously convenient to have my schedule on my watch. I hope that they keep improving the unit; I'd like to have longer battery life and a larger screen (maybe keep the watch the same size but reduce the size of the metal frame).

Judging from the other responses, this is a love-it-or-hate-it unit. I love it.