Rating: 
Summary: Sorry, not quite ready for prime time...
Review: The short story---I returned the watch 3 days after receiving it.Now here's the long versino. Originally, this watch had been on my Christmas list, and so it was with great anticipation when it finally showed up at my door on January 19th. I opened the box, followed the directions and immediately signed up for the $59 MSN Direct Annual subscription (mistake #1). Within about 20 minutes, I had my MSN channels setup, and I was receiving signals and the watch was working fine. Setup was quick and easy. I waited until the next morning, after letting the watch charge overnight, to try and get it on my wrist---much as I tried, the watch was just too clunky to fit suitably on my wrist. Now when I ordered it, I realized the watch wasn't going to be a fashionable one---but at this point, its clunkiness really bothered me and made me doubt my purchase. It was just either too loose or too tight. Second problem. I follow a group of about 20 fairly large size companies on the NYSE and NASDAQ. Only 3 of them were available on the Stock channel of MSN Direct. And there seemed to be no rhyme or reason. 2 mid sized companies and one small company were all I could add to my Stock Watch list--leaving me 17 short. Third problem. I realized I wasn't getting any Sports information displayed on the watch. Guess what? The Sports Channel is coming soon... For nearly $200, plus a $59 annual subscription to MSN Direct, I expected to be able to get up to the minute Stock reports and Sports in addition to the News and Weather channels. Unfortunately, I couldn't, and so I returned the watch. Amazon refunded my money yesterday (minus the shipping charges since the return was 'my fault'). I've been trying to get Microsoft to refund my $59 with less success. They claim they have issued me a credit card refund, but all I have on my credit card statement is a charge for the annual subscription and now a new monthly charge for the service. I'm about to make my 3rd phone call to them. In summary, for me anyway, the watch didn't fit, and the MSN Direct Service didn't meet my expectations.
Rating: 
Summary: Cool looking - but Timex Internet Messenger watch better
Review: These watches are cool looking - but having to recharge your watch every 3 to 7 days seems like a pain. Timex has has the Internet Messenger Watch for a couple of years. Does all the same things - stock quotes, weather, your horoscope, sports, very customizable. Also - can send reminders. Does basically all the same things - the battery lasts a lot longer. Unfortunately they have been discontinued. When you bought the watch for $100 you also got a free year of nationwide service that worked pretty much everywhere with Skytel. You got an 800 with your own voicemail, and unlimited text messages. While these watches might look cool - they're more expensive and aren't really doing much new - plus coverage is a lot less limited. The Timex was was also an Ironman - waterproof - not sure if these are... It's funny how they play the technology as something new - but it's been around for several years now.
Rating: 
Summary: Functional but Unconfortable
Review: This is perhaps one of the most innovative (yet imcomplete) inventions since the watch (time piece). Incomplete in that, it is also the most unconfortable thing to where. Not to mention very bulky. A leather (or some kind of elastic) band would have solved all of that. I returned it in one week. ...did I mention it needed a leather band. Oh yeah, LEATHER BAND PLEASE.
Rating:
Summary: Worked GREAT for (3) Day's and DIED!! January, 17th,2004
Review: Watch LOOKED well made...but NO CONTACT info was shipped with it for help...the MSN DIRECT SERVICE was VERY poor...they try to TAKE charge and do NOT know the product at all...worse is they can not speak English. I called several times...got the run around. Every time you call MSN...they ask WHO you are...your name..address...phone number and on and on and on NO matter how many times you call in. During the SHORT time it worked the DISPLAY was the VERY best I have seen. I purchased it at COMPUSA...I was the FIRST person to ever purhcase one!! Hmmm I like gadgets! I have never had ANY digital watch EVER die on me...even the $5.00 ones...my OLD timex's that have laid in my night stand are STILL working. NOTE: One needs to take the ABUCUS watch to a jewler to ADJUST the band...the band is VERY hard to put on....this product is for MALES only! :-) This product will be a loser just like the Timex InterNet watch..one has to charge the battery EVERY night...do not leave home without the CHARGER! Maybe they will come out with a cig. lighter cord for it when you are driving...do not want to be late for??? The Timex InterNet watch did have a VERY easy to change battery and the BUTTONS were MARKED How would you LIKE your computer keyboard with no MARKINGS on the KEYS! :-)) The watch is NOT user friendly at all..the buttons have NO markings on the CASE! ((-:
Rating: 
Summary: YEAH IT's BIG, BIG ON FUN & FEATURES!!
Review: Well I must start by saying the watch is bigger than you might think. The students in my classes said, "Dang, that's one big watch". However, when I showed them the features they were quite impressed. If I was only out to impress people this would be quite an expensive status symbol. Being a self-comfirmed Gadget FREAK I enjoy new technology and try to find ways to incorperate it into my so-called life as a teacher. I jumped on board when the first PDAs went on the market and haven't looked back since. The Abacus by Fossil works very well (once it's charged) and instant messaging seems to be quite speedy at 2:03 minutes per message (an average of 30 attempts). Set up is an absolute breeze. For this item I had my non-tech-savvy wife set it up and she had NO problems whatsoever. After the initial set-up it took only 30 minutes for all of the channel content to appear. Most channels were ready to view in 5 minutes or less but it was my local weather channel that took 30 minutes. The channels are easy to switch to and news content and messages are easily erased. The cool feature with this watch is that you can set-up breaking news to be instant messaged to you. On early Wednesday morning, when the trains in Madrid were targeted by a terrorist organization, I was quickly informed of this news. (I would suggest that you set your tones to off or to sound only when an instant message comes in, otherwise your watch will be beeping with every news flash that is stored in you news channel.) The band is a bit odd. However, on the fifth day of owning this watch I have figure out "the trick". I would tell you "the trick", but I want you to have a huge sense of accomplishment after you have placed it on your arm in under 1 minute. Overall, this is a great product. I subract a star because of the band learning curve, and the thickness of the watch. Will the second-generation devices be better?.....yes, but until then I can check the news while using the bathroom. And if that's not cool, and geeky, I don't know what is!!!!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: YEAH IT's BIG, BIG ON FUN & FEATURES!!
Review: Well I must start by saying the watch is bigger than you might think. The students in my classes said, "Dang, that's one big watch". However, when I showed them the features they were quite impressed. If I was only out to impress people this would be quite an expensive status symbol. Being a self-comfirmed Gadget FREAK I enjoy new technology and try to find ways to incorperate it into my so-called life as a teacher. I jumped on board when the first PDAs went on the market and haven't looked back since. The Abacus by Fossil works very well (once it's charged) and instant messaging seems to be quite speedy at 2:03 minutes per message (an average of 30 attempts). Set up is an absolute breeze. For this item I had my non-tech-savvy wife set it up and she had NO problems whatsoever. After the initial set-up it took only 30 minutes for all of the channel content to appear. Most channels were ready to view in 5 minutes or less but it was my local weather channel that took 30 minutes. The channels are easy to switch to and news content and messages are easily erased. The cool feature with this watch is that you can set-up breaking news to be instant messaged to you. On early Wednesday morning, when the trains in Madrid were targeted by a terrorist organization, I was quickly informed of this news. (I would suggest that you set your tones to off or to sound only when an instant message comes in, otherwise your watch will be beeping with every news flash that is stored in you news channel.) The band is a bit odd. However, on the fifth day of owning this watch I have figure out "the trick". I would tell you "the trick", but I want you to have a huge sense of accomplishment after you have placed it on your arm in under 1 minute. Overall, this is a great product. I subract a star because of the band learning curve, and the thickness of the watch. Will the second-generation devices be better?.....yes, but until then I can check the news while using the bathroom. And if that's not cool, and geeky, I don't know what is!!!!!!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Great watch
Review: Works great here in Richmond, VA, Watch works great even in a 40 mile + radius. The signal won't work right until it is chaged the first time (about 6 hours) Time from activation on MSN website to geting information on watch was on <30 minutes and not 12 hours. Using the section on MSN website to personalize your watch, you can also select to receive local news in your area from whoever provides news on your local NBC channel. The watch will even beep when theres is late breaking news in your hometown or across the world! Great for people who are somewhere with no Internet, Television, or Radio, (like at work, the mall, etc.) Great product for those who want to be informed in minutes, not waiting hours later for the local news to come on to find out what's happening either locally or globally.
Rating:
Summary: Lots of gadget geek appeal, but not ready for prime time
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Hey, its definately cool, but lets not consider it a watch!
Review: You may want to know why such a great looking, gee whiz product gets such a low rating from me. I looked at the watch in a store locally, and was impressed until I heard the punch line. MSN subscription! I'm not going to go into detail that MS has more money than God does. I will say, they're very clever in keeping continued money streams flowing. The subscription service costs, are roughly equivalent to a low cost Internet dial-up connection. Unless you really have a strong need for this, I don't see the value of getting it on a "watch". Lets be honest here, if you are a high-powered business type, or imagine yourself to be one, you already carry a high-tech cellular phone. Compared with the capabilities there, using this is just overkill. In addition, most people would agree, that a watch is something that should be low maintenance. They recommend you recharge the Smartwatch "daily"! Do you really want to become a slave to your watch? The FAQ says, the battery on this watch is not even replaceable. I'll assume MS thinks by the time it wears out, in a year or so, (from daily charging) you won't mind buying the next model, probably for more big bucks. All that said this is an attractive watch, with a strong geek appeal factor. People buy expensive jewelry all the time, to impress others on just a few wearing occasions per year. I can't complain if that appeal is why you are considering buying it. The watch face is just like a little computer monitor, (although not color) and can display many things. I just don't buy this as a practical item, unless it's the only thing you use (no PDA's, cell phones, or notebook computers) for these features. Down the road, this may become a better technology, one that I may want to use. What it needs is a hot-switchable, rechargeable battery, so you can avoid putting the watch on a charger. In the future I believe there will be some recognition that working people can't afford to pay for dozens of subscriptions for phone(s), Internet, CATV, PDA, beeper, and now a watch. Combine that with all the "net" services, "email", sports, music, news, entertainment features, and others we expect to pay for. When that time finally arrives, we'll see many of these services combined. Then the "smart watch", might be worth a second look.
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