Fossil Abacus AU4002 Review

Fossil's Abacus AU4002 smart watch is one of the latest to use Microsoft SPOT technology to deliver news and information to those on the go.

Summary

The days of Dick Tracy are alive and well with watches like Fossil’s Abacus AU4002. With information delivered throughout the day via MSN Direct, the AU4002 serves as a time keeping piece which keeps you current on news, weather, stocks and other data which may serve some purpose in your life. The watch itself runs $129, with service plans ranging from $39.95 a year and up. The physical characteristics make the AU4002 a little too geek-chic looking for some, but the information you can get from it helps to offset that.

Introduction

Microsoft’s attempts to get into every nook and cranny of our busy lives have produced some great hits and bad flops over the years. Remember Bob? One of their more recent endeavors is the MSN Direct service (powered by SPOT, also known as Smart Personal Objects Technology), which uses a large ranging network (in metropolitan areas only) based upon FM broadcast signals to reach customers with weather, news, stock quotes, movie times and other information which is perhaps relevant to your life. The device by which this information is delivered is a specialized watch produced in conjunction with well known watch makers such as Swatch, Fossil and Suunto.

  

In this particular review, we shall focus on Fossil’s Abacus brand of smart watches, specifically the AU4002. This take on the MSN Direct Smart Watch is currently retailing at $129 and has been in the market since late October of last year.

 

The Abacus Smart Watch AU4002 has its antenna in the leather band.

 

 

 

First Impressions and Setup

 

Out of the box, the Abacus AU4002 takes me back to the days of dreams of television watches on my wrist while in high school. While this particular model is reportedly less geeky looking then the previous generation, it still definitely sports that "I have a scientific watch on my wrist" type of feeling.

 

The AU4002 measures 1.8" x 1.5" x 0.5" and weighs approximately three ounces. The watch sports a leather band which has a nice design and also integrates the antenna. The clasp is functional, providing an easy snap on your wrist approach which is adjustable for different sizes.

 

The face of the AU4002 is where all of the action happens. Five buttons (two on the left side and  three on the right) provide all of the control: turning on the backlight, changing channels of information, navigating from one screen to another and entering into more detailed modes. The LCD, perhaps owing to the "geek chic" look of the watch, is just large enough to be easy to read.

Initially, the watch needs to be charged before being of any functional use. This is done by placing it on a charging unit which has an arm that swings up in some bizarre design idea. Charging is done through direct connection of the watch to the flat of the arm specific to a diagram which outlines how the buttons should be aligned.

Speaking of the buttons, they were extremely difficult to use at first. The watch, after charged, was in a "sleep" mode which required three of the five buttons to be pressed at the same time to wake it up. The buttons were very stiff, perhaps owing to the newness of the AU4002. After several somewhat frustrating attempts, the watch finally awoke.

 

Once past this issue, setup of the watch to receive its channels of information was relatively painless. A visit to the MSN Direct website provided easy to follow instructions which required getting the watch’s ID from the "Register!" screen, inputting it, selecting a payment plan ($39.95 a year plus taxes for channels only, $59.95 a year or $9.95 a month plus taxes for channels and Outlook synchronization) and inputting personal information including a valid credit card.

 

While MSN Direct is busy activating your service, you can walk through the personalization of your channels. The channels at the time of the review were as follows:

 

• Glance: Allows scrollable scanning of headlines from other channels without the need to visit that channel on the watch.
  
• Messages: Receive one way messages from MSN Messenger contacts.
  
• Weather: Local, national and international conditions and temperatures.
  
• News: Top, business, international, technology, sports, entertainment, weather, local and health stories. Also an option to receive breaking news alerts.
  
• Stocks: Quotes for up to 15 companies.
  
• Calendar: One way synchronization (for those who pay the $59.95 a year plan) of appointments from Outlook via a special application which you install and download.
  
• Watch Faces: Selectable digital faces which are mainly seasonal.
  
• Sports: Game times, scores, and standings for selected college and professional teams across several sports.
  
• Daily Diversions: Random facts and trivia.
  
• Horoscopes: Daily.
  
• Lottery: Numbers local to your state.
  
• Movies: Showtimes for local theatres. 

Each channel, and the information options available to it, takes up a certain number of "blocks" of memory on the watch. With the AU4002, 1000 of these blocks were available which, for the average information hound, should be plenty. A nice feature for setup in this area was that the MSN Direct service helped you keep track online of how much free memory your watch had.

Usage and Operation

 

With the watch strapped on and receiving information over the course of several hours (reception strength and time varies upon where you are wandering