The PalmOS powered wristwatch from Fossil
The PalmOS powered wristwatch from Fossil
Imagine a smartwatch you could load any PalmOS app you wanted onto. We had that... about 20 years ago.
After I published my list of “The Nerdiest Wristwatches of All Time”… my inbox was flooded with E-Mails reminding me of all of the nerdy watches I should have included.
Oh, boy. So many emails. Turns out, there are some pretty strong opinions out there when it comes to “nerdy watches”!
Of the “nerdy watches that Lunduke obviously should have included”… one stood out at me.
The Fossil Wrist PDA
This sucker, released back in 2003, was a full PalmOS PDA. Except it was on your wrist.
For a watch from 20 years ago, it had some pretty fun specs!
Full version of PalmOS 4.1.2
66 MHz Dragonball CPU
8 MB of RAM, 4 MB of Flash
160 x 160 monochrome touchscreen (standard PalmOS resolution)
USB port (for charging and syncing)
An Infrared port (that could be used, among other things, as a remote control)
The battery life wasn’t amazing… but wasn’t terrible, either. When in “watch face” mode (meaning it was displaying the time), it had a stated runtime of “1 to 2 days” between charges. In “standby mode” (screen off), it was supposed to last for a week or more.
One of the biggest complaints of the watch was the size and weight. If you look at the pictures, it is a little bulky. But not overwhelmingly so. And the whole thing weighed 5.7 ounces (or about a third of a pound). Enough that you would definitely notice the weight… but not crazy heavy.
But all of that bulk gave the ability to run stock, standard PalmOS applications. Which is incredibly cool. I mean, there are office suites for PalmOS… imaging running a spreadsheet program… on your wristwatch. That’s just downright nifty.
When new, the Fossil Wrist PDA (also sold under the Abacus brand) cost $250. Nowadays, you’re lucky to find one of these (used) for less than $500.
Obviously, that’s a pretty heft chunk of change to spend on a used, slightly bulky, monochrome watch.
But, I gotta tell ya, I still find that awfully tempting.
I loved the Palm Pilot, and later the Palm Treo, and then, after a period of hating change, I loved the Palm webOS devices too. No need to root, you had a root bash shell on your phone with zero jailbreak needed. Unfortunately, Palm took too long and Android and iOS replaced RIM’s Blackberry and Palm’s PalmOS. The world has been mired in a duopoly of the less-than-mediocre ever since...