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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.

The Dick Tracy watch is the coolest big kid toy around. If you always wanted a Dick Tracy watch well here is the first generation Dick Tracy watch. Its cool but not perfect. Text messaging takes 7-10 minutes to receive. Some messages NEVER arrive and are lost in transit. So for the business man that needs to depend on text messages...maybe not the best choice. The calender on watch is very limited. This to me is a big disappointment. It only holds limited info for yesterday, today and the next 6 days...so if you want to use it to check on your appointment 8 days from now ...forget it! Very limited! But if you just want to be the coolest gadget guy/girl around and you think owning a Dick Tracy watch is cool. Buy it just don't depend on it. The news, stocks, and weather seem to work well. Also at this time the service area is very limited so if you dont live in a big city like me...you may want to skip this gadget. The charging adapter is cool and unique. You just rest the watch on it and it charges automatically. Another problem is the wristband YOU CANT CHANGE IT even if you want to. It's connected to the antenna and charging device so it can never be changed...if it breaks you gotta go to Fossil for replacement.

I purchased this watch after a 3 year lack of a wrist watch. My Phone was too clumsy to look at time, and I wanted a tech saavy watch. This is my first delve into MS Watches, but so far I am impressed. Set up was a breeze, Once it had charged (overnight) the morning, it was ready with all my calander and news and stocks right there. I did purchase the extended warranty, why not its an expensive little new gadget...I want to be covered incase something happens...

One drawback...not water proof per say...it can get splashed...but you have to take it off to shower or swim... I have a big wrist so the watch is the right size, though it will be big on some people.

I love this thing so far...and no issues yet.