The Watch Report published a nice review of the Abacus Wrist Net. This is one of Fossil's entries into the MSN Direct-compatible "smart watch" market. MSN Direct also sent me an Abacus Wrist Net back in December, but I have been unable to completely review it because of data reception problems that may have to do with a faulty antenna.

Christian Cantrell talks about the appearance, the 18 different digital watch faces that the Abacus Wrist Net can display, and its cost relative to competing Smart Watch models. When I was using the Abacus Wrist Net, I used the "Glance" mode, which displayed most of the information that it collected from MSN Direct on a rotating basis. I agree with Christian that MSN Direct is useful in this context, and represents a good alternative to subscribing to text message news alerts delivered to your cell phone.

I have to share one comment about the Abacus Wrist Net from my friend Jen Cully. She was over at my house in December to pick up my wife to go on a car trip, I showed her the watch, and she said:

I mean it's cool and everything... but it's a wonkin', non-girly watch.

That says a lot about the Abacus Wrist Net in a very concise way. All of the Smart Watches I've seen are noticeably thicker than nearly every watch I've ever worn. The only exception to this is biking and running computers from Polar Electro, like the Polar S625x. I'm sure some of the thicker Swiss diving watches are of similar size.

Jen is also right in suggesting that these Smart Watches are pretty much a men-only phenomenon. It's hard to believe that we'll see them on the wrists of women anytime soon, unless the form factor is significantly changed.