Digital Trends

Fossil Abacus AU4002

February 15th, 2005 | by Nino Marchetti

Usage and Operation

With the watch strapped on and receiving information over the course of several hours (reception strength and time varies upon where you are wandering — inside or outside — and the amount of data you are pulling down), I proceeded out into the world. The AU4002 was generally comfortable, not slipping or rubbing as I walked, but definitely feeling a little bulky. It drew comments from several of my friends when showed off, which were mainly of the “Hey, It's Dick Tracy” vein.

Funny jabs turned to sounds of awe as sports scores and news of the day were read aloud. Navigating between each of these channels was relatively easy after a quick memorization of the watch's functionalities. The primary channel button moved me through the main channels (certain channels have secondary options which first appear when you hit the channel button as well) while other buttons allowed me to navigate through headlines and proceed deeper in to read the summaries (full stories are not downloaded, which I suppose is a storage saving feature).

After double checking my next appointment which had been downloaded from Outlook to MSN Direct and on to my watch, a quick flick of several buttons brought me to reading about the hockey lockout and the Iraqi elections. As the weather started to change foul, a flip to the related channel showed me the near current temperature (all the information is fairly close to real time, providing you are in a local metropolitan coverage zone in the United States or Canada) and the fact it was due to rain.

Outside of the realm of a mobile information provider, the AU4002 also has some other neat features. Time keeping is extremely accurate owing to the fact this watch has an atomic clock feature and is automatically updated. Multiple watch faces are supported, with the ability to download up to two more. There is also a stopwatch which can record up to 99 laps, dual alarms and timer.

In terms of battery life, Fossil estimated at least two days of operating time under normal conditions. The amount of actual time I found could last up to four days, depending upon how you manage factors which impact battery drain. Recommendations to stretch your watch's functionality between charges are included in the manual and basically put the responsibility on you for keeping track of battery life through the information selection of your watch's settings (a notification icon luckily appears at around 30 percent of remaining battery life if you aren't paying attention).

Watch Faces

The Abacus Smart Watch comes with the following watch faces.  You can add additional watch faces using the Watch Face channel.

Conclusions

The Fossil Abacus AU4002 makes itself standout as a solid contender for the right to be a source of mobile information delivery. The price tag of the watch itself is not too steep, though the cost of the yearly or monthly service (especially with regards to the Outlook expansion option) might make some raise their eyebrows at the need to pay additional fees. The physical look may turn off some as well because, despite Fossil's best efforts at making the AU4002 look chic, it still maintains a high geek factor. For those who don't mind this, the AU4002 may find its way to their wrist quite often for its interesting variety of channels.