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The Smart Watch is back in an upgraded 2006 edition, which is a surprise to those who have been watching the watch since it first appeared. While its debut was marked with much advertising and techie enthusiasm, the public never warmed to it and we always felt the Smart Watch was on the edge of extinction. But rather than kill it, Microsoft and Fossil have significantly improved it with this release. Thanks for sticking with it, guys: the new version is more functional and a better value.

For those new to the product, the Smart Watch is a computerized timepiece that, with a subscription, can display several self-updating information channels, including news, weather, traffic, stocks, and more. It receives updates via FM radio signals and works in most metropolitan areas. For an extra fee, the watch can display your MSN Messenger notes and sync with an Outlook account.

One of the Smart Watch's chief problems has always been its size: it's a large and hefty watch with a face that only a geek could love. But the updated version is two millimeters thinner than previous models, which is a lot when you're talking about a watch.


The Abacus Smart Watch 2006 comes with six
unique watch faces not available to other Smart
Watches. Additional faces can be downloaded.

This version comes in five attractive yet neutral color variations, which don't call too much attention to themselves. The face still looks like a small computer screen, but it isn't as jarring as previous versions due to bezel's reduced size.

Windows users sign up for an account at www.msndirect.com (the watch only works with Windows PCs), and can then customize the channels the watch receives. The earliest Smart Watches couldn't receive any updating channels without a subscription, and later models could get only basic news and weather for free.

Now, each watch comes with a 12-month subscription code, which is a great value. After paying $179 for the watch itself, you shouldn't need to immediately buy a subscription. Renewing after 12 months will cost you $39.95. The MSN Messenger and Outlook service costs an extra $20 per year.


Information channels available to the Smart Watch
include local weather.

The watch's storage capacity has grown with this release, from 1000 blocks to 2000 (channel requirements are listed only in "blocks"). Once you've signed up for an account, you can view a list of available channels and their space requirements, then check the ones you want on your watch. With the new storage allotment, you can load all of the available channels, plus a few extra watch faces.

While no new channels have been added with this release, innovative recent additions include a traffic channel, which alerts you to traffic delays in your area, and a movie channel, which tells you what's playing near you. We wish that the Movie channel didn't have a 10 theater limit, though. We'd also love to see the designers add one or two simple games, to help fill those moments of downtime.

Other features include a stopwatch with lap counter, an alarm, and the ability to display multiple time zones. This model also includes a smaller charger than before, with a cord that lets you power from either a wall socket or USB port. We got about five days of use on a single charge.


This version of the Smart Watch is 2 millimeters
thinner than previous models.

Years of improvements are paying off, and the Smart Watch is looking and performing better than ever. If you'd like to get more than just the time from your timepiece, take a look.