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I was really excited when the Fossil Wrist PDA was announced in 2002. By the end of 2004, the watch was written off as vaporware and I really expected that we'd never see the great Palm watch that received so much hype for 2 years. Well in Jan 2005, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), that all changed. There were actual working models at CES and the buzz started all over again. So it the Fossil Wrist PDA the gadget of the future? Be sure to read the full review for your Guide's impression.

Hardware and Specs

Let's start by talking about the hardware. First I'll say that this watch is obviously larger than your typical watch. Personally I wasn't too concerned about the size because of the functionality involved. Honestly, you really couldn't make the hardware much smaller because the text size on the Palm programs is pretty small as it is.

The first thing you'll notice about this watch is the quality. Fossil is known for quality watches and this is no different. The watch has a very sturdy feel to it. The face is brushed metal and the band is made of leather. This watch is just beautiful. Because of the size, the Wrist PDA is highly noticeable and I received quite a few compliments. Once I told people I had a PDA built-in to my watch, they were even more impressed! The thing that the Wrist PDA has going for it is that chunky watches are "in" right now, so the FX2008 is a pretty nice fashion statement.

One great design feature is that the screen is slightly recessed so that if you do bump your watch against a wall or hard surface, the chances of you demolishing the screen are less than with your typical watch. The watch function is nice because you have a choice of 12 different watches faces to fit your mood.

What does make the Wrist PDA somewhat of a challenge is the lack of buttons. What you have is a 3 way jog dial, up and down buttons, and a back button that turns the backlight on and off. You'll want to take a look at Beiks A+ (which we mention below) for extended button functionality.

Just like most PDAs, the Wrist PDA has a touch screen. The challenge is that you have a much smaller target to hit with your stylus, which caused me to hit the wrong areas of the screen sometimes. Overall, the touch screen works well with some practice and patience. The Fossil comes with a stylus that is cleverly hidden in the watchband. While the stylus is small and collapsible, I prefer to use a normal stylus whenever possible.

The specifications of the Fossil Wrist PDA is as follows:

Operating System
• Palm OS 4.1

Hardware
• Motorola Dragonball Super VZ 66MHz
• 8MB(RAM), 4MB(Flash)
• 160 x 160 pixels
• 16 level grayscale
• EL backlight
• Touch Screen

Dimensions
• Width (in inches): 1.38 - Height: 2.01 - Depth: 0.49
• Weight: Approx. 5.7 oz

Software
• Address Book
• Date Book
• To Do List
• Memo Pad
• Calculator
• Welcome
• Time
• HotSync
• Jot
• Preferences
• Security
• Watch

Do All Palm Programs Work?

Another nice thing about the Fossil Wrist PDA is that most Palm programs look just like they do on your Palm PDA, just a lot smaller. It's really impressive to think that just about any program you would use on a full sized PDA, you can use on a watch. I installed quite a few programs on the FX2008 and had very few problems. In fact, just about the only programs that didn't work were programs that were reliant on hardware buttons. After a short time of non-use, the PDA defaults to the watch function, which is basically like a clock screensaver. I found that some third party launchers played some havoc with the watch display and actually caused the watch display to become blank. Otherwise, you can play games, use handwriting programs and just about everything other Palm programs.

One program you'll want to get that really should come preloaded on the Wrist PDA is A+ from Beiks which is a collection of utilities that enhances the PDA functions. The best part is that the software gives you added functions with the buttons and allows you to launch programs through the buttons. So to sum it up, software support is pretty strong and you'll be able to use most programs on the Wrist PDA.

Overall Impressions

Overall, I'm truly impressed with the Wrist PDA and would wear it in a heartbeat. While the specs like 16 level grayscale, 8MB of Ram, a 66MHz processor, and Palm OS4 may be a bit underpowered for some, I think this is a good start; although a color screen would probably make the screen more readable. I found that I used the FX2008 more as a backup PDA than my primary PDA, and I was slightly inconvenienced because I had to charge it almost every day.

The Fossil Wrist PDA will be a prized possesion for the early-adopters and true geeks, but will probably be shunned by the mainstream market which is a shame. Most non-PDA users won't see the point of having a PDA on their watch. People who already use a PDA will like the convenience of having a backup PDA on their wrist but will probably not have the patience for the small screen. But who knows, I've been wrong before (or so my wife tells me).

Since the reviews of the Fossil Wrist PDA range from "Why" to "This thing is genius", it really comes down to a matter of taste and preferences. While this first transformation of a PDA into a watch isn't perfect, I think that Fossil did an outstanding job and really hope to see the Fossil Wrist PDA project stay alive.