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Fossil's $145 PDA Watch

Posted by michael on from the please-steal-me dept.

Robogeek writes: "News.com reports that Fossil will launch its $145 Wrist PDA in early 2002 - "a watch that doubles as a Palm- or Pocket PC-compatible organizer." Apparently, the 190KB device will accept data imported from your PDA via infrared. But isn't this kind of redundant if you're already carrying your PDA with you? (And can't enter data directly into the watch?) Besides, what I really want is a combo phone/mp3 player/PDA watch, dammit!"

4 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. My Casio and I by Man+of+E · · Score: 3, Informative
    This Fossil is great - I wish it had appeared earlier. Still, some quibbles that will prevent me from ever buying one. Here goes.

    I used to have a great Casio calculator watch. It had storage for phone numbers, a calendar, and could serve as a four-function calculator. Great stuff.
    Since it didn't sync with a computer, you had to input data by hand. This was at the same time a limitation and a blessing - numbers had to be typed in one by one, but you could always type something in whenever you needed to take a note.
    Back to the Fossil.

    • You can't type things in. This is key if someone gives you a phone number, or you stumble across something you need to remember. You come off looking like a nerd, but I'd much rather look like a nerd with a cool watch than a nerd with a cool watch and lots of paper scraps in his shirt pocket.
    • It syncs your entire address book. I for one don't want every single address that's on my computer to be sent to my watch. Searching and browsing is a pain, and I'd much rather only have numbers that I need on hand. My Casio only ever had at most 40 numbers in it - important ones.
    Because of its limitations, I got a Xircom Rex MiniPDA (basically a PCMCIA card with a touch-screen that does addresses, notes, calendar, and third-party apps). In the end, I threw out the Casio and got an analog watch. The Rex does everything I'd ever need a PDA to do, and it's tiny. This sounds like a product plug - must stop now.
    --
    Ceci n'est pas une sig
  2. It's been done. by Jucius+Maximus · · Score: 3, Informative

    Casio has had a watchws that can interface via IR with each other and with Palms for months now. Take a look. List Price: US$130

  3. Re:Timex already has a similar item... by james_shoemaker · · Score: 2, Informative

    The real difference is that the new Fossil version has a battery life of only 1.5-3 months. My Timex is going strong on a 4 year old battery. What are they doing to make it eat batteries so fast?

  4. Another wrist PDA... by not-quite-rite · · Score: 2, Informative

    Check out

    http://www.onhandpc.com

    I would like to get one of these if it wasn't so damn expensive!!

    US $299, ie AUS$600+

    That is some friggin dough for a cool watch....
    I wonder if they'll swap it for a family member.