View the Abacus Wrist PDA photo gallery.

The first thing I'd like to do is congratulate Fossil for finally bringing the Wrist PDA to market. The Fossil and Abacus Wrist PDAs have been in the works for at least four years, and now they have finally arrived. Thanks, Fossil, for not giving up on the Wrist PDA. In my opinion, it was worth the wait.

Before I get into specifics, I want to answer the biggest question I had when I first started reading about the Abacus and Fossil Wrist PDAs: yes, they do actually work. I don't just mean that they function, but they really do actually work. The screen is big enough, the fonts are readable, the handwriting recognition is impressive, the synching functions as expected, and the battery life is sufficient. That's not to say the Wrist PDA is perfect, however. There are still some bugs to be worked out, and a few rough spots that can definitely use polishing (all of which are described below), but generally speaking, yes, this watch really does put a PDA on your wrist, and yes, it is actually usable. Now let's look at the details.

View the Abacus Wrist Net photo gallery.

There are two things which distinguish the Abacus Wrist Net from the other dozen or so MSN Direct watches currently out there: 1) It is the cheapest ($129 retail), and 2) it is, in my opinion, probably the best looking. If you've been toying with the idea of taking the MSN Direct service for a spin, the Abacus Wrist Net might be just be the price point you've been waiting for. And now that MSN Direct watches get national news and high and low temperatures in your area for free, you can even get a taste of what it's like for your wrist to be constantly connected before committing to a subscription.

In terms of functionality, the Abacus Wrist Net is identical to the Fossil Wrist Net (FX3005) that I recently reviewed. In fact, to get the full story on the Abacus Wrist Net, you should definitely check out my Fossil Wrist Net review since I'm going to try not to be redundant in this article. The three primary differences I found between the two watches are:

1. Appearance. Although the designs of the Abacus and the Fossil Wrist Net watches are similar, there are a few subtle differences. For instance, the Abacus comes with either a black or brown leather and rubber strap while the Fossil is only available in black; the buttons on the Abacus are elongated while the buttons on the Fossil are round; and the Abacus lacks the screws in the four corners of the face which give the Fossil its distinctive look.
2. Watch Faces. The abacus comes with 18 watch faces while the Fossil comes with 26 (not including the two user-selected faces). If you're wavering between the Abacus and the Fossil, I wouldn't make the number of faces a deciding factor, however, since both come with a nice and perfectly sufficient selection (far more extensive than the Swatch Paparazzi).
3. Price. The Abacus Wrist Net retails for $20 less than its Fossil counterpart. The next closest in price is the Swatch Paparazzi which retails for $150, and then the somewhat outdated Suunto n3 which generally goes for around $200.