Fossil Abacus AU5006 Wrist PDA with Palm OS - Brown Croco

by Fossil

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B000ANN0ZY
• Item model number: AU5005
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #92,233 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: December 22, 2004

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Check more than just the time with this Wrist PDA watch, a revolutionary personal organizer cleverly disguised as a stylish wristwatch. Powered by the Palm OS platform this watch can store hundreds of contacts, check your calendar, and make a To-Do list from its surprisingly big 8 MB of memory. Other features include convenient drop-down menus, alarm reminder window for recurring appointments, a memo pad, and a selection of different time and date displays to give your Wrist PDA its own personalized 'dial' when not in PDA mode. A stylus is integrated into the buckle.

Palm OS The world's most popular handheld platform. Touch Screen Input Stylus integrated into the buckle for easy Jot input. 8 MB Memory Enough space to store thousands of addresses, years of appointments, hundreds of to do items, notes, memos, and still have space left for additional applications. Customizable Watch Dials Select from an assortment of different time and date displays to give your Wrist PDA its own personal look and feel when not in PDA mode. Stylus Stored in the watch band buckle.

 

Address Book Keep track of thousands of contacts including names, email addresses, phone numbers, addresses, and attach notes. Convenient drop-down menus allow you to organize different categories.
Date Book Store and recall all of your business and personal appointments in a fully functional date book that features day, week, and month views. Also supports repeating appointments, notes, and alarm reminder window functions.
To Do List For those people on the go, view thousands of checked and unchecked to do notes, with the capability to view independent categories through convenient drop-down menus.
Memo Pad Jot meeting notes and personal reminders with just as much ease and comfort as if performed with pen and paper.
Time Select from an assortment of different time and date displays to give your Wrist PDA its own personal look and feel when not in PDA mode.

Technical Specifications

• Operating System: Palm OS 4.1
• CPU: Motorola Dragonball Super VZ 66MHz
• Memory: 8 MB (RAM), 4 MB (Flash) (approximately 7.7MB RAM available)
• Display: 160 x 160 pixels, 16 level grayscale, EL backlight, Touch Screen
• Built-in Applications: Address Book, Date Book, To Do List, Memo Pad, Calculator, Time
• Third-Party Application Support: Will run most Palm OS applications (We recommend you use applications designed to take advantage of the special features of the Wrist PDA such as the Rocker Switch and the larger font sets.)
• Interface: USB
• Infrared Port: IRDA (v1.2a) (communicates with all Palm OS devices)
• Battery Life: Approximately 3-4 days (Based on an average use of 30 minutes per day, with no backlight or IR. The battery life varies depending on the temperature and conditions of use.)
• Power Requirements: AC power Adaptor (100V - 240V), DC output (6V), Lithium-ion rechargeable battery (internal)
• Warranty: 90 day factory warranty

What's in the Box
Wrist PDA watch, HotSync Pod, USB cable, AC adapter, extra stylus, installation CD, wristband link removal tool, Getting Started guide

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

84 of 99 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Why the hassle?, December 12, 2005

By 

M. T. GUNDOGDU (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fossil Abacus AU5006 Wrist PDA with Palm OS - Brown Croco (Office Product)

I love all kinds of watches and computers. I even have Pocket PC and Palm OS handhelds. I even like all of them. Because I like programming and I love to use all kinds of gadgets, it is hard to dissapoint me with any technology. But this equipment is a waste of time. Not money, because it is cheap.

First and most significant hassle:

You have to charge it frequently (every 3-4 days). If you forget, it erases all its memory. Yes, I lost all of the information I transferred when I let it stand on my desk for some days. Including the games. Because of this, carry its cable and if no computer, carry charger too.

Second hassle:

It is so big on your wrist, everyone realizes it and askes questions.

Third hassle:

Screen is not very sensitive with the little stylus.

Fourth hassle:

The side buttons and their use is not efficient.

Fifth hassle:

You have to download editional programs; it does not have even one game on it ready.

Sixth hassle:

Do not use its back-light or you have charge it every day.

Conclusion:

A very nice looking and big watch (it has different watch looks) which needs to be charged all the time. If you like Palm OS and little gadgets and know that you will not use this watch after a very short time, than buy it.

25 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars terriable as a watch and a PDA, most impractical gadget I've seen in a while, December 14, 2005

By 

almosthappy (San Diego, CA, California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Fossil Abacus AU5006 Wrist PDA with Palm OS - Brown Croco (Office Product)

I admit, a PDA watch sounds like a swell idea. Unfortunately, Fossil Abacus is a terrific example of how a great idea fails spectacularly after been turned into a reality. First let's talk about practicality of this atrocity of a watch as a PDA. Because of the limited UI, reading and inputting data are both arduous tasks. The tiny stylus is literally smaller than a matchstick. Unless you have delicate fingers of a harpist, doing graffiti with the a microscopic stylus is probably as fun as getting a prostate exam. And because it is a watch, say you want to jog down a quick note while talking on the phone, you will need to hold out the hand wearing the watch, and using the other hand to input the data. That leaves...wait...that leaves no more hand to hold the bloody phone. In short, getting data into and out of the unit is much, much more inconvenient than using a real PDA, or even something less high tech, like a little note book. And forget about using all the fine and dandy Palm software out there. Because of the UI limitation, and the stripped down Palm OS, no regular ware will run on this thing. So using this gadget as a PDA ain't much fun. Fine, it's still not a bad price for just a plain watch. Using it as a watch is fine and dandy, but there's a couple of things to keep in mind. Because of the micro-processor running in the watch, you need to charge the darn thing on a nightly basis. I would say that's a slight inconvenience compared to normal watches. Another big consideration is fashion. Notice no actual dimensions are given for the watch. That is because this thing maybe too small as a PDA, but as a watch, it is ridiculously big. Nothing screams "I'm the biggest dork in the county!" than having a watch the size of a Rubik's cube. NOTHING goes well with this watch, except maybe a pocket protector. Maybe you have large and mighty forearms. If that's case, there is a chance you will somewhat normal with this thing on your wrist. But recall my previous comment about the necessity to have delicate fingers to operate the microscopic stylus...

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice basic PDA, neat gadget, and cheap., December 28, 2005

By 

1stone (Baltimore, MD United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fossil Abacus AU5006 Wrist PDA with Palm OS - Brown Croco (Office Product)

I have used it for a few weeks, and quite satisfied overall. In the past, I used PDA before, but other than basic PIM, didn't use much other than that. Then I tried to use Bluetooth and sync my cell phone for PIM. It is very unreliable, and loss data often because of the poorly design sync software with most phones. And here comes the WristPDA...

It is probably the smallest PDA available. With the Palm softwares, sync is a breeze and faithful.

As for battery life, I find it just as advertized: 3-4 days with watch only function; pretty decent. I plug it to the computer to charge/sync it daily anyway; don't know why people are complaining about charging every other day. If you try to buy a watch, that's ridiculous. But if you want a PDA, that's a given.

There was one time the watch was frozen. Fortunately, the stylus is right on your watch, so you don't need to find a need to reset it. And better yet, although the software/watch was frozen, the time was not. After a quick reset, there was no need to input the time, or anything, again. So that's not bad.

Pros:

Small as a PDA, cheap ($30 shipped on Amazon from time to time), reliable software (Palm), dependable PIM, expandable with other palm freeware/sharewares. You can even use it as remote control (shareware) and take charge of the TVs at airport/Gymboree etc.

Cons: Big and heavy as a watch, battery life is short if you use backlight a lot.

I had some problem installing some freeware on the PDA though. Notably the Adobe Reader for Palm. Maybe it's my problem, or maybe it's not compatible with this WristPDA. So, you can't expect it perform like a full version of Palm PDA, but it is good enough for most tasks I need.