Wrist PDA

The Fossil Wrist PDA is a Personal Digital Assistant designed to take the place of a wristwatch.

The device, manufactured by FOSSIL , features a tiny gray 160x160 pixel screen, the same number of pixels as most palm devices up to Palm III, with 16 shades of gray. It is run on Palm OS 4.1 and has a tiny stylus hidden in the watch clasp. It is able to carry out most PDA functions, and run any normal Palm OS-compatible application. It features 8 Mb of RAM (about 7.7 Mb available to user) and 4 Mb of flash memory. Like other Palm OS devices, it can synchronize or exchange information with PC or Mac, has an infrared port, a virtual keyboard, and a touch screen. The device also has a watch mode, with several "watch faces" to display the time.

The device has some limitations, including:
*Not water-resistant.
*The USB Mini-B port wears out in 2-3 years, causing intermittent charging and data problems.
*According to the manufacturer, its rechargeable lithium-ion batteries will run the device for 3-4 days, but in actual use, displaying one of its watch faces, the batteries often run as little as 18 hours before needing recharging. However, the device can also be left to run in standby mode, where it turns off between uses, thus extending the battery life to a week or more.
*Its alarm sound is virtually inaudible, making it impractical for use as an audible alert-generating device.

The price at debut was $200, but due the releases of newer Palm Operating Systems, and perhaps poor marketing, the price has fallen and as of January 2006 was around $79US.

However, the watch was recently discontinued, and replaced with Fossil's new line of WristNet watches, which do not run PalmOS, but can receive updates from the MSN Direct wireless service. This means the price has been going up, as collectors and enthusiasts race to get this soon to become rare watch. The models Fossil created, which have the same hardware, but a few differences in cosmetic design, were the FX2009 Wrist PDA, FX2008 Wrist PDA,and the Abacus AU5005, Abacus AU5006, and Abacus AU5008. Abacus is a subsidiary of Fossil.

Its major competitor is OnHand PC. OnHand PC has its own OS, but much longer battery life (2-3 months instead of 3-4 days), because it is a much simpler device, with a fraction of the RAM and processor power.

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: Time, Address Book, Date Book, To Do List, Memo Pad, Calculator
*Third-Party Application Support: Will run most Palm OS applications
*Interface: USB
*Infrared Port: IRDA (v1.2a)
*Battery Life: Approximately 3-4 days
*Power Requirements: AC power Adaptor (100V - 240V), DC output (6V), Lithium-ion rechargeable battery (internal)
*Warranty: 90 day factory warranty

External links

* [http://www.fossilwristpda.com/getting_started.asp Review by independent reviewer]
* [http://palmtops.about.com/b/a/147033.htm Review by Watch Report]
* [http://www.thetechlounge.com/articles.php?id=201 Review by TheTechLounge]
* [http://wristpda.beiks.com/ Beiks Abacus PDA Watch Support]