|
Fossil Wrist Net Smart Watch for MSN Direct (AU4000) | 
 enlarge
| Brand: Fossil
Category: CE
Buy Used: $99.99
New (1) from $199.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  27 reviews
Media: Electronics
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 6.2 x 5.9 x 5.8
MPN: AU4000
Model: AU4000
UPC: 796483963917
EAN: 0796483963917
Availability: Usually ships in 4-5 business days
|
| Features:
| • | Sports, news, instant messages, and more--delivered wirelessly to your watch face | | • | One of the first devices to use MSN Direct, a wireless subscription service | | • | Automatically updates to the correct local time when you travel | | • | Customizable data channels and watch faces | | • | Syncs up with your Outlook calendar |
|
| Accessories:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
It's a great idea, and, for the most part a great product: a watch that keeps time with atomic clock accuracy and displays useful, timely information. The Smart Watch gives you stock prices, news, and weather, and personal messages, all right on your watch face. You get all that stuff on your cell phone already, right? But the idea of the Smart Watch though is that it offers this information in glanceable form, and on a device that is always at hand. Simplicity and unobtrusiveness are key--you can rapidly navigate through all the different types of information quickly, and immediately read your text messages the moment they arrive with a discreet little beep. MSN Direct is the subscription service that broadcasts data to the Smart Watch via an FM signal. The first thing you have to do when you get your watch is set up an account and customize your information channels. It's a fairly quick process, though you have to jump through a few Microsoft hoops (like getting a .NET Passport). Immediate gratification junkies should be warned, however, that you most likely won't start getting any data until about 12 or more hours after set up. Also, the channels are very much a work in progress--the news I was getting initially had a random quality to it, but more recently the watch's timeliness has compared favorably with CNN.com in breaking major stories. Information delivered to your watch includes:  | Stock quotes: Get updates on the stocks you care about, as well as information on the major high-volume stocks and indices. |  | News: Get headlines and the full text of local, national, international, business, entertainment, sports, health, and travel news stories. |  | Time: Wrist Net watches display the current time, automatically updated for different time zones, and include a chronometer, an alarm, and a timer. You can choose from a wide variety of watch faces for just the right look. |  | Weather: Get the latest reports for cities all over the world. Local city weather information includes current conditions, a three-day forecast, sunrise and sunset information, humidity, barometric pressure, and ultraviolet (UV) index. |  | Text messages: Receive messages from friends and family through MSN Messenger version 6.0 or later. |  | Sports: Continuous sports updates keep consumers current on game times, scores, pre- and post-game stories, and standings for their favorite collegiate and professional sports teams. |  | Daily Diversions: Currently, consumers can select from Word of the Day, Quote of the Day, Born on This Day, and This Day in History. |  | Horoscope: Consumers can receive a personalized horoscope based on their specific time and place of birth. | | | | The need to recharge frequently--a single charge will last two to seven days, depending on usage--has some users unhappy, but for me it is a non-issue. You charge the watch by simply placing it on its cradle, so if you set the cradle up wherever you stash the watch at night, the watch will always be charged. There are a few real drawbacks, however, most prominent (literally) being the size of the watch, which is on the humongous side of fashionably chunky. Another downer is the strap which is hard to close and, since it contains the watch's antenna, tends to spring open. The most serious complaint however is that reception can be sporadic--there were entire days that I got no new data at all. When MSN Direct improves service--and it has shown signs of doing so since the watch launched--they will have a truly revolutionary product on their hands (and the nation's wrists). --David Stoesz Pros - Geek factor is through the roof
- Intuitive navigation
- Recharging is a snap
Cons - It's HUGE
- Coverage can be sporadic
- Strap is unwieldy
Amazon.com Product Description
The Wrist Net watch with MSN Direct receives information wirelessly, so you're in the know while on the go. Find everything from stock quotes to the latest news, all at a glance. Along with a glanceable, seamless connection to your world, there are tons of watch faces to choose from, for just the look you want. Set-up is easy: simply charge up, activate your watch online, and set up the content channels you want. A subscription to MSN Direct--available in top cities across the U.S. and Canada--is required to take full advantage of all watch features. FAQ What's included?
Wrist Net Smart Watch, Reference Guide, Quick Start Guide, Charger, and AC Adapter. What is MSN Direct?
 MSN Direct is a new, specialized wireless service that delivers personalized information through an FM network. Watches with MSN Direct provide you timely, glanceable information conveniently available at the flick of a wrist. Stay connected to the information that matters to you most, including news, weather, stocks, personal messages, appointment reminders, and more. Find the latest info and get a subscription at www.msndirect.com. How do I set the time on my watch?
MSN Direct uses an atomic clock (an extremely precise timekeeping device that uses atomic measurement for absolute accuracy) as its time standard, and broadcasts this time to your watch over local FM radio waves. You do not need to set the time your watch will automatically receive the time and remain accurate. If you travel to another time zone, your watch will update to the correct local time, as long as you are within an MSN Direct coverage area. If you are outside an MSN Direct coverage area, you may need to manually set the time on your watch. How will I know when my watch is activated?
To activate your watch with the MSN Direct service, go to the MSN Direct Web site -- www.msndirect.com -- and click Activate. Follow the instructions on your screen to activate MSN Direct and personalize the content you want to receive. Once you complete this process, the service will send a Welcome message to your watch. When you receive the Welcome message, your watch has been activated. After the message arrives, your watch will continue to receive other configuration information to complete its initial setup. The activation and configuration process is complete when the channels on your watch match those you have selected on the Web site. This initial process may take several hours to complete. To see the available channels on your watch, press the Channel button repeatedly. How do I replace or recharge the battery in my watch?
The battery in your watch is rechargeable, not replaceable. To recharge your watch, simply place it on the charger supplied by your watch manufacturer. For more information, see the user manual that came with your watch. Recharging your watch may take up to 2 hours. For best results, we recommended that you recharge your watch daily. How often do I need to recharge my watch?
Your watch battery will run 3-7 days on a single charge, depending on usage. For best results, we recommend that you recharge your watch daily. You can recharge your watch at any time. There is no need to wait for the battery to drain completely. For more information about your watch battery capacity and recharging your watch, see the user manual that came with your watch. What happens when I leave an MSN Direct coverage area?
When you travel to a different MSN Direct coverage area, your watch is automatically updated to the new time zone and information such as local news and weather are updated for your new location. And no matter what, your watch will always work as a watch, continuing to tell time. Information you already received will remain on your watch. How do I view more information on a news story?
On the MSN Direct Web site, click the Channels tab, click News, and then click View Latest News. To view an entire article, click Read Full Article for the article you are interested in. To sort alphabetically by headline, click Headline at the top of the list. To sort by date, click Date. To sort alphabetically by news category, click Category. Note: You may see articles on the MSN Direct Web site that you never saw on your watch. These articles may have cycled through your watch before you had a chance to read them. If you want to increase the number of news articles stored on your watch, go to the News Settings mode of the News channel. Does my watch automatically adjust for time zones and daylight savings time?
Yes. MSN Direct references an atomic clock (an extremely precise timekeeping device that uses atomic measurement for absolute accuracy) as its time standard, and broadcasts this time to your watch over local FM radio waves. Your watch should automatically receive the time and remain accurate, without needing to be set by you. If you travel to another time zone, your watch should update itself automatically with the correct local time, as long as you are within an MSN Direct coverage area.
|
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 22 more reviews...
 Watch + Data = Smart Watch for MSN Direct January 8, 2004
70 out of 74 found this review helpful
I heard about Microsoft's Smart Personal Object Technology (SPOT) devices a while back, and it intrigued me. Although as a certified gadget geek I have a number of wireless devices that can receive news, weather, and sports, I had always thought that the perfect device would replace my existing watch. While this first generation device isn't perfect, it's not bad.Opening the box containing the Abacus Wrist Net Smart Watch for MSN Direct (there's a mouthful!), you'll find two small manuals, the watch, and a two-piece charger. The charger consists of a plug (thoughtfully made to fold flat) and a rather clunky charger with an "arm" that rotates into place to hold the watch. You just lay the watch onto the arm and it starts charging through induction - no charging port or contacts to get dirty! You need to activate the watch through MSN Direct to get your news, and it's best to take the $59 one-year subscription rather than go with the $9.95 monthly plan. You will need a credit card to subscribe. Once you've entered your unique watch ID and personal information, you get to pick the type of content you want sent to your watch. At this time (1/7/04) the sports channel powered by ESPN isn't available, but it's supposed to be ready soon. It takes about 10 minutes to get a confirmation message on the watch telling you everything's OK, and then it can take up to 12 hours for all of your info to show up. There are five buttons on the device that are used to turn on the white backlight (rather uneven, I thought), change channels, and navigate (enter, next, and previous). The buttons seem a little spongy, but not too bad. The Abacus AU4000 isn't waterproof but will survive splashes. If you're used to very expensive thin watches you'll hate this, but anyone who likes clunky multifunction watches will love this. From a design standpoint, the $299 Suunto N3 sure looks a lot nicer, but functionally it doesn't do anything different than this watch. A charge is supposed to last 2 - 3 days, and I think I may just put my watch on the charging arm every night when I go to bed. Heavy use of animated screens will drain the battery faster; like any first-generation electronic device, battery life is an issue. So far I'm fairly impressed, and find the display to be clear and easy to read. Just showing the Weather Channel info to friends has been good for a lot of positive comments, and folks have been sending me MSN Messenger "pages" just for fun. If you're an early adopter, you'll probably want to get one of these new watches; if not, wait for the second generation devices.
 Great Potential but Bad Watch September 5, 2004
13 out of 16 found this review helpful
Many of the features of this device are awesome and show a clear path into the future of wrist-watches. Heaving your watch know your calendar just makes sense.
However, there are problems!
The watch simply resets itself all the time! This means that it does not keep track of time well at all, because every time it resets itself, the time of the watch goes to 2am, Jan 1st 2003. Granted, over the next few minutes, the watch re-aquires the correct time from the server, but even that does not make it OK when the watch resets itself sometimes several times within an hour.
Example: I went to the park jogging today. I tried to use the built in chronograph to see how long it took me to run my usual lap. However, within a few minutes, the watch reset itself and with it the chronograph. In all, the watch must have reset itself close to 10 times within that hour it took me to complete my lap.
And not only is this a problem for just plain time-keeping. How much do you trust calendar reminders when the watch more often than not has the wrong time? Also, you end up reading the same news over and over, since the watch looses track of what it had already downloaded. Argh!
The concept here is great. I just can not believe that MS would let such a severe bug slip into the release version of this product! And it's not just that the watch resets/reboots, but what I really do not understand is why it looses track of time in that process?!? When I reboot any other computer, the system clock does not get set back! I mean: C'mon! With all the hurdles they had to clear to make this device a reality, they could not make a watch that keeps track of time?!?
For now, I really can not recommend this product. However, once they have this bug ironed out (and the coverage area expanded), this will be one awesome device!
Lots of gadget geek appeal, but not ready for prime time January 20, 2004
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
Wow, that guy from Boise sure has a lot of watch rage! Most of what he/she says doesn't make sense and is not even accurate. Anyway, I've had this watch for a little over a week now, and let me give you a quick review.The upshot is, at first I found a lot to complain about, but after a week, it started to grow on me, and right now, I like it a lot, and everyone I show it to is impressed, although most don't think it's worth the price + subscription fee. Anyway, I don't regret this purchase like I did with the T-Mobile Sidekick. Pros:
- Lots of geek appeal with real-time information updates
- Changeable watch faces
- Can receive updates from Outlook Calendar
- Atomic clock auto-syncing
- ESPN channel coming at end of January
- 10-second white backlight at the touch of a button
- Alarm clock, chronograph (stop watch), timer, time zones
- FM radio frequency, so low power and potentially low chances of us getting tumors from wearing this Cons:
- Kinda large, not for slim wrists
- Not particularly attractive physically
- No color
- Battery life can be an issue; I've recharged only once but it's only because I use the animations sparingly and turn off the radio at night
- The wrist band is hard to use and adjust (this is one thing the rage man from Boise got right)
- Update can be slow at times
- You need to set up a travel schedule to receive personalized information (i.e., Outlook appointments) when you travel, which is totally stupid, especially as the set-up page on the Web is a perfect example of stupid programming (but not unlike the typical Microsoft goofs) -- too complicated to explain here, let's just say it doesn't work the way it should.
- Coverage is not consistent, and only works in the U.S. and Canada My initial impression was this deserved no more than 2 stars, as the watch was kinda ugly and all the information you get (weather, news headlines, up to 15 stock quotes, Outlook calendar, etc.) is nice to have but totally not necessary, especially for people like myself who sit in front of the Internet all day and half night. Plus, set up was more confusing than warranted, and the battery life issue was a big turn off. But there is just so much gadget-freak factor in this watch. It's actually more useful than my Casio camera watch or some prototypes of communicator watches I've seen in Asia, because, at least for a guy, the size is acceptable, and there's something about getting real-time weather and stock quotes that just fascinate me. The weather channel is especially impressive, especially on cold wintry days like these in New York. Pressing the channel button to cycle through the various channels -- BTW there's also a special channel that automatically cycles through the channels for you -- has a certain magical power of its own, and I just love showing this off to friends and coworkers, and get lots of pleasure when people come into my office to ask "oh what is like outside?" or "hey show me your watch again." Should you buy this? It's very hard to say. Luckily MSN Direct offers a free month if you sign up with the monthly plan. Then if you like it, you can switch to the annual plan and save 50%. If you don't, at least Amazon offers a nice 30-day MBG policy.
 Stopped working in under 2 weeks February 3, 2004
8 out of 11 found this review helpful
Mine stopped working in less than 2 weeks. Amazon will take it back, but Microsoft will not refund the $60 annual fee I paid, even though they confirm there are problems with the watch (hardware and software) that they are still trying to work out. My advice, if you decide to get this watch despite the neg feedback: only use the MSN Direct free trial period. Do NOT sign up for a year in advance.
This watch is a lemon - 2 failures and counting November 28, 2004
8 out of 11 found this review helpful
If you buy this watch, be sure to save your reciept, because it will fail, and you will need to return it. This has happend twice to me.
The MSN service is fairly cool, but after a month or two, the watch starts to reboot frequently, and then it will eventually lock up with a blank screen, from which you can not reboot.
|
|
|
|
