Windows Phone Thoughts: Got The Time? The SPOT Watch Review

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Monday, March 1, 2004

Got The Time? The SPOT Watch Review

Posted by Jason Dunn in "OFF-TOPIC" @ 10:00 AM


This is a different style of review - it's a chronologically-based review, structurally similar to a blog (only it's a reverse of the reverse chronological order most blogs follow...if you followed that). The photos were taken at the end, just prior to publication, but everything else is "real time". This means that if I wrote something incorrect in an earlier entry, I didn't go back and change it - I made a note of what I learnt in a later entry. I thought this style of review would be appropriate for a device like this, since it's based on discovery of features over time. Let me know if you like this style of review, and we might do more of them in the future. For the literary-minded among you, yes, I'm aware that there are some issues of tense with this review. ;-)

Jan. 29th, 11:50 PM – I just got home from a music practice, and look what’s waiting for me! A Fossil SPOT watch (the ABACUS from Fossil) – very cool. I was told by the PR firm that sent it to me that I should have received it by now, but it turns out that good ol’ Canadian customs stopped it and kept it for a few days, probably trying to figure out what the heck it was. ;-) I quickly opened up the box, then spent several minutes struggling with the watch band. Why the heck is this thing so difficult to open and expand? Now I may be slightly “watch impaired” because I haven’t worn one for over five years, but somehow this watch strap seems like it requires too much of a fight to get open and adjusted. Oh well, I'll fiddle with it tomorrow.

Jan. 30th, 9:11 AM – Ok, it’s time to get this puppy working! According to the Quick Start guide, it should already be charged…but it’s not. Well, it probably died while waiting in customs, so I’ll just put it on the charger and see what happens. Isn’t that strange – I’ve plugged in the base station to power, put the watch on the charger (facing the right way), and nothing is happening. There’s no charge indicator, any light indicating I have a solid connection, or what the watch is even functional in any way. I’ll leave it on the charging cradle for a few hours and see what happens – I wonder if I have a defective watch? You’d think that there’d be a light somewhere on the base station or watch to indicate that it was charging.

Jan 30th, 10:08 AM – Aha! The watch just beeped at me, so I picked it up off the charging cradle and I can see a lightning bolt, which is the charge indicator it seems. Now it’s beeping at me that it has 10% power, which is a critical battery level. Back onto the cradle it goes! I think that’s very poor user interface design – there should be some sort of indication that the watch is receiving a charge.

Jan 30th, 11:45 AM – The watch keeps beeping every hour or so, and I’m not really sure why. An hourly chime? As much as I don’t like the lack of charge indicator, the passive charging mechanism is very cool. No cumbersome port to try and jam the watch into – just put it on the stand and leave it there. Smart!

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