Thursday, July 18, 2002
Fossil PDA Watch Review
Posted by Brad Adrian in "ARTICLE" @ 07:00 AM
Last week, when I read about the new PDA watch from Fossil I got very excited and posted a comment on this site, mentioning that “I have GOT to see one of these things in action.” Well, within a few hours of making that post, I got an e-mail from Jeff Bruneau, the Product Manager over the Fossil Tech Division. He offered to send me one of the Pocket PC PDA watches so I could put it through its paces; within two days it arrived on my doorstep.
I greedily tore open the package and unpacked the contents. There were some very nice surprises inside.
Fossil PDA Watch Review
Box contents:
• The Wrist PDA(PC)
• A CD with synchronization software
• A “holster” for holding the watch steady during synchronization
• Eight button-size batteries
• A fully-illustrated guidebook
First Impressions
I have to admit, the watch is a bit larger than anticipated. The watch body is 44 mm x 50 mm x 15 mm in size and weighs about 75grams, so it’s definitely bigger than any other watch I’ve ever seen. I reminds me of those heart monitor watches that I’ve seen masochistic runners wear. It’s fairly comfortable to wear, though, as the body and strap are nicely curved to fit the wrist. I’ve got large hands anyway, so it really doesn’t LOOK that big on my arm.
I was also a bit confused that the package included eight batteries, especially once I realized that only two are needed at a time. The spec sheet states that the batteries will usually need to be replaced every one-and-a-half to three months. So, that amounts to about a one year supply of batteries. This is a data device, so this shouldn’t be judged too harshly.
The rigid plastic holster that’s used to hold the watch stationary while synchronizing also confused me (big surprise). It’s a nice idea, because it provides a flat surface to lay the Pocket PC on, keeping its infrared port aligned with that of the watch. In the end, though, I found that the ports can be kept aligned simply by placing the Pocket PC and watch on a tabletop, so the holster may not prove that useful.
Software Installation
The CD contains the application needed to send PIM data from the Pocket PC to the watch, and installation is simple. You will be pleased and relieved to see a couple of familiar names appear once installation begins: Conduits Technologies and PeaceMaker. Fossil wisely chose to use a special edition of Conduits’s PeaceMaker program to handle the information sharing tasks for this system. I have always liked the software produced by Conduits, and PeaceMaker Pro was actually one of the first applications I every purchased for a Pocket PC.
As expected, the software installs very quickly onto the Pocket PC. Its footprint is VERY small, and hardly impacts the free space on the device.
Data Synchronization
With all the software installed, the next step is to get the PIM data from the Pocket PC to the watch. First of all, you have to select exactly which data to be transferred to the watch. Here’s where things can get a little frustrating.
After tapping on the Fossil icon on the Pocket PC, the special PeaceMaker application begins to initialize. During this process, the application gathers information about the amount and types of data available for transfer. On my Pocket PC, this initialization process took a full five minutes each and every time data was synchronized. Having a lot of calendar, contacts and notes data on the Pocket PC can slow the process down, but my system was nowhere near filling the 190k memory capacity of the watch and initialization was still painfully slow.
Once the little “waiting” icon disappears, the data configuration screen appears.
Tapping on the respective EDIT buttons allows you to determine exactly which Calendar, Contacts, Tasks and Notes information is shared. For example, the Calendar options allow you to determine the rough date range for including appointments.
And, the Contacts options (like those for Notes and Tasks) allow you to select specific item categories.
Once all of the data parameters are set, tapping on the Send Data button starts the transfer of data from the Pocket PC to the PDA watch. At this point, the Pocket PC software goes into another lengthy initialization process, again lasting about five minutes. Once this step is completed, the watch begins to search for infrared communication with the watch; it is at this point that an Infrared Receive option must be selected on the watch and the infrared ports on the Pocket PC and watch must be aligned.
The problem is, when the watch switches from its initialization mode to its transfer mode, there is no indication other than some small text on the bottom of the PeaceMaker screen. So, you have to carefully watch the screen during its five-minute initialization or you’ll entirely miss the prompt to start the Infrared Receive mode on the watch, and the whole system will time out. Once transfer is under way, though, it proceeds quickly and thoroughly.
Using the Watch
With the Pocket PC data safely onboard the PDA watch, using the watch and retrieving the data is pretty straightforward.
The main screen provides basic time and date information. One really nice touch is that there are five different layout options for this display, allowing you to select things like whether you want the day of the week displayed and the size of the characters.
An overview screen allows you to select which type of data you want to view:
To scroll through the various options, the center button is used like a “joystick” control much like on an iPAQ; scrolling is possible in four directions and pressing the center of the control selects the highlighted option.
Viewing the data is simple, if not tediously slow. Even though I only loaded the next month’s data (and no past data), I am always greeted with a “Loading…” icon for about twenty seconds before the data finally appears.
Luckily, the Contact, Task and Notes information displays almost instantaneously, and scrolling among entries is easy, especially when using the joystick to page down through entries quickly.
It should be noted that, due to memory restrictions, the entire contents of a Contacts file are not transferred. However, the most important stuff is, including:
Name
Company
Primary Address
Work Phone
Home Phone
E-mail address
Additionally, the watch can actually trade business cards with other PDAs via its infrared port. However, this does require the PDA have PeaceMaker Pro installed, which costs around $15.
Gotchas
There are a few aspects of this cool toy that can use some improvement:
• Even though PeaceMaker does a great job of transferring the data, the initialization steps are painfully slow and cannot be aborted if accidentally started.
• Recognizing exactly when to put the watch into Receive mode is tricky; providing an audible beep when the Pocket PC software enters Send mode would help.
• Retrieval of Calendar information is plagued by long delays at nearly every step of the process, especially when scrolling to a different day.
Conclusions
The Fossil PDA watch is definitely a cool toy, with a lot of cutting-edge capabilities. Even though it is fairly large, its contoured shape makes it very comfortable to wear and use. I you’re looking for a way to carry detailed Contacts, Task and Notes information with you, this may be the device for you.
The feature I was most interested in using is the ability to view my Calendar and Contact entries without having to refer to my desktop PC or Pocket PC. Viewing Contacts worked very well for me, and I like the fact that both phone numbers and e-mail addresses are stored. However, retrieving Calendar data simply takes too long for my tastes and I still found it much easier to simply use my Pocket PC.
In my opinion, this slowness and the time it takes to actually get data onto the watch are major detractions. If these issues can be resolved, this would be a killer device. The watch currently does what I expect it to do, but in its present incarnation probably only the most steadfast technophiles will be patient enough to use it on an everyday basis.
I greedily tore open the package and unpacked the contents. There were some very nice surprises inside.
Fossil PDA Watch Review
Box contents:
• The Wrist PDA(PC)
• A CD with synchronization software
• A “holster” for holding the watch steady during synchronization
• Eight button-size batteries
• A fully-illustrated guidebook
First Impressions
I have to admit, the watch is a bit larger than anticipated. The watch body is 44 mm x 50 mm x 15 mm in size and weighs about 75grams, so it’s definitely bigger than any other watch I’ve ever seen. I reminds me of those heart monitor watches that I’ve seen masochistic runners wear. It’s fairly comfortable to wear, though, as the body and strap are nicely curved to fit the wrist. I’ve got large hands anyway, so it really doesn’t LOOK that big on my arm.
I was also a bit confused that the package included eight batteries, especially once I realized that only two are needed at a time. The spec sheet states that the batteries will usually need to be replaced every one-and-a-half to three months. So, that amounts to about a one year supply of batteries. This is a data device, so this shouldn’t be judged too harshly.
The rigid plastic holster that’s used to hold the watch stationary while synchronizing also confused me (big surprise). It’s a nice idea, because it provides a flat surface to lay the Pocket PC on, keeping its infrared port aligned with that of the watch. In the end, though, I found that the ports can be kept aligned simply by placing the Pocket PC and watch on a tabletop, so the holster may not prove that useful.
Software Installation
The CD contains the application needed to send PIM data from the Pocket PC to the watch, and installation is simple. You will be pleased and relieved to see a couple of familiar names appear once installation begins: Conduits Technologies and PeaceMaker. Fossil wisely chose to use a special edition of Conduits’s PeaceMaker program to handle the information sharing tasks for this system. I have always liked the software produced by Conduits, and PeaceMaker Pro was actually one of the first applications I every purchased for a Pocket PC.
As expected, the software installs very quickly onto the Pocket PC. Its footprint is VERY small, and hardly impacts the free space on the device.
Data Synchronization
With all the software installed, the next step is to get the PIM data from the Pocket PC to the watch. First of all, you have to select exactly which data to be transferred to the watch. Here’s where things can get a little frustrating.
After tapping on the Fossil icon on the Pocket PC, the special PeaceMaker application begins to initialize. During this process, the application gathers information about the amount and types of data available for transfer. On my Pocket PC, this initialization process took a full five minutes each and every time data was synchronized. Having a lot of calendar, contacts and notes data on the Pocket PC can slow the process down, but my system was nowhere near filling the 190k memory capacity of the watch and initialization was still painfully slow.
Once the little “waiting” icon disappears, the data configuration screen appears.
Tapping on the respective EDIT buttons allows you to determine exactly which Calendar, Contacts, Tasks and Notes information is shared. For example, the Calendar options allow you to determine the rough date range for including appointments.
And, the Contacts options (like those for Notes and Tasks) allow you to select specific item categories.
Once all of the data parameters are set, tapping on the Send Data button starts the transfer of data from the Pocket PC to the PDA watch. At this point, the Pocket PC software goes into another lengthy initialization process, again lasting about five minutes. Once this step is completed, the watch begins to search for infrared communication with the watch; it is at this point that an Infrared Receive option must be selected on the watch and the infrared ports on the Pocket PC and watch must be aligned.
The problem is, when the watch switches from its initialization mode to its transfer mode, there is no indication other than some small text on the bottom of the PeaceMaker screen. So, you have to carefully watch the screen during its five-minute initialization or you’ll entirely miss the prompt to start the Infrared Receive mode on the watch, and the whole system will time out. Once transfer is under way, though, it proceeds quickly and thoroughly.
Using the Watch
With the Pocket PC data safely onboard the PDA watch, using the watch and retrieving the data is pretty straightforward.
The main screen provides basic time and date information. One really nice touch is that there are five different layout options for this display, allowing you to select things like whether you want the day of the week displayed and the size of the characters.
An overview screen allows you to select which type of data you want to view:
To scroll through the various options, the center button is used like a “joystick” control much like on an iPAQ; scrolling is possible in four directions and pressing the center of the control selects the highlighted option.
Viewing the data is simple, if not tediously slow. Even though I only loaded the next month’s data (and no past data), I am always greeted with a “Loading…” icon for about twenty seconds before the data finally appears.
Luckily, the Contact, Task and Notes information displays almost instantaneously, and scrolling among entries is easy, especially when using the joystick to page down through entries quickly.
It should be noted that, due to memory restrictions, the entire contents of a Contacts file are not transferred. However, the most important stuff is, including:
Name
Company
Primary Address
Work Phone
Home Phone
E-mail address
Additionally, the watch can actually trade business cards with other PDAs via its infrared port. However, this does require the PDA have PeaceMaker Pro installed, which costs around $15.
Gotchas
There are a few aspects of this cool toy that can use some improvement:
• Even though PeaceMaker does a great job of transferring the data, the initialization steps are painfully slow and cannot be aborted if accidentally started.
• Recognizing exactly when to put the watch into Receive mode is tricky; providing an audible beep when the Pocket PC software enters Send mode would help.
• Retrieval of Calendar information is plagued by long delays at nearly every step of the process, especially when scrolling to a different day.
Conclusions
The Fossil PDA watch is definitely a cool toy, with a lot of cutting-edge capabilities. Even though it is fairly large, its contoured shape makes it very comfortable to wear and use. I you’re looking for a way to carry detailed Contacts, Task and Notes information with you, this may be the device for you.
The feature I was most interested in using is the ability to view my Calendar and Contact entries without having to refer to my desktop PC or Pocket PC. Viewing Contacts worked very well for me, and I like the fact that both phone numbers and e-mail addresses are stored. However, retrieving Calendar data simply takes too long for my tastes and I still found it much easier to simply use my Pocket PC.
In my opinion, this slowness and the time it takes to actually get data onto the watch are major detractions. If these issues can be resolved, this would be a killer device. The watch currently does what I expect it to do, but in its present incarnation probably only the most steadfast technophiles will be patient enough to use it on an everyday basis.
