Customer Reviews

Fossil Abacus AU5006 Wrist PDA with Palm OS - Brown Croco

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

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.

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...

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.

It has been a week since I am using this watch and I found it worth the money I spent.There are some hassles maintaining it if you need to use this as a watch. As a PDA I am satisfied with the functionality it gives with the price.
Entering data with the little stylus is not very easy and user friendly but if you can do a sync with your computer eases the task.
It easily gets synchronized with your computer outlook and you can have all your appointments, address and telephone numbers handy and without much of difficulty.
I will give it 4 out of 5.

I already have a black version of this watch but bought a brown one since I love it !!! I bought this watch with intention as my back up PDA, not to be my primary PDA. Entering the data in this watch is not too hard, but those with + sign glases will always complain. I have my Axim X30 and IPAQ 6315 so you can call me a geek. But, I occasionally use my regular cell - so I will use this watch for pda functionality. It serves my purpose very well. From the minute I opened the box, loaded the software to my PC - no problem at all.
Regardless the comments about charging battery - well, any PDA will require charging, to me this watch is very intelligent and well thought for having a rechargeable battery for its PDA functionality. If you forget to charge and the data is gone, well some of the PDAs will behave the same thing. All you need to do is to resync with your desktop and quit whinning.
This watch deserves 5 star at the very least:

1. smallest real PDA
2. rechargeable battery system
3. many palm based applications can be used with this watch. (yes, many free games if you aren't too lazy to look up)
4. style - interface can be changed in many settings,very cool.

Bottom line - compare this PDA watch with other PDA watch, all I know is casio which is kinda ugly/bad application/no rechargeable battery. No match up. Zero.

A little short of 5 stars, this watch is certainly worth what I paid for it: $29.99 with free shipping (thanks Slickdeals), so I can't really complain. The price sticker on the bottom of the box reads $199.99 -- I can't believe anyone would pay that!
The biggest problem with this watch for me is its battery life: I keep the charger cable connected to the computer at work, and if I take the watch home for the weekend, it's pretty much dead by Sunday morning, so not even 2 days on a full charge. And when I say dead, I mean dead dead -- you'd have to reload all the applications.
The watch isn't really practical as your only watch -- it's not water resistant, and I can't imagine the screen surviving even a single scratch, so for all you 'active' types -- forget about it, but I'm the kind of guy who just would have several different ones for different occasions (and did I mention how cheap it was?)
This watch looks great -- the face, the case, the band: people notice it, and it's a great conversation starter :-)
Besides the phone numbers I keep a secure database with all my online passwords on it as well -- just used it to log on here to write this review, very convenient. I also enjoy having a watch that can beat me at chess, and before you laugh -- 99% of the people can't do it, I'm master strength. The watch can run pretty much everything a Palm Pilot can, although there are exceptions: many hackmaster extensions might not be supported, my Cyrillics driver certainly was not, but I can't say it's the watch's fault: you can hardly expect every small developer to have tested his or her software on an Abacus.

I bought this watch for $30 from Amazon. It was trouble all along with this watch.

Never compare this with a real PDA. I never took the pain of entering data into this watch. The provided program CD is also not very good.

After 2 weeks the Time got stuck. I have never seen a digital watch freezing. It was like Windows hanging on you.

Returned it to Amazon and thankfully got a full refund from Amazon...

A palm on your hand? Yes.
A slim fashion complimenting watch? No.

This thing is huge and can be very useful if you don't like carrying the bulk of a palm and usually use it for calendar, contacts, and tasks. If that's your goal, but it.

If you're a palm power user, taking notes, using graffiti, or more interactive behaviors, then you have a trade-off either get the watch or accept the bulk of a more functional Zire or Tungsten.

The three reviewers below are either too narrow minded or just fools. The Wrist PDA is a NICE SUPPLEMENT to a real PDA. It is not meant to REPLACE a full PDA. How do you expect a device with a watch screen to give the same functionality as a full PDA? It's not possible given the laws of physics.

However, the wrist PDA is perfect add-on for those of us with a PalmOS PDA, to take our data with us even to places or situations where we CAN'T CARRY a PDA with us.

A reviewer below complains about the size and says "nothing says I'm the Biggest Dork better than carrying this watch". Well, I guess he feels like a dork already, or likes to look down on people. I remember when a CELL PHONE was a "dork" thing.

Just because supermodels don't wear a WristPDA on the front cover of fashion magazines does it means that a given watch is a "dork thing"? I DON'T THINK SO!.

In short: if you put it to charge every night, it performs flawlessly.

Beware, however, of applying too much pressure to the side buttons, you could damage them.

I liked this watch, until I got rained on and found out it is not even water resistant. If my son's $5 watch is water proof up to 30 meters, certainly Fossil could have made this watch water resistant for an additional $5. They argue that you should treat it like any other PDA - but it's a watch, too, and people don't usually take off their watches when it rains. Many people don't even take them off when they shower...