Over at Microsoft Monitor, one of the first reviews of a wristwatch using Microsoft’s new Smart Personal Object Technology, or SPOT. SPOT uses FM radio subcarrier frequencies to wirelessly deliver information like the weather, news, and stock quotes to a whole variety of devices besides watches, like refrigerators, alarm clocks, and coffee makers. Curiously, the review doesn’t say much about the actual watch itself (or even mention which brand it is) focusing instead on the features that SPOT offers:
First and foremost, SPOT is a watch. It has every watch feature you might want including alarms, timers, chronographs. It’s also a “smart watch”. One of the core features of the watch is an integrated radio that allows the watch to receive information over the FM band. There’s no need to re-set SPOT for daylight savings time or when traveling to a new city as the watch picks up the local times automatically. SPOT also has some very cool custom watch faces, they range from the whimsical, to the cute to the downright cool. Overall, as a watch, SPOT is great. Where the product really shines is in information. By configuring your information feeds at a website, SPOT will automatically update the following information, local weather, news headlines, stock information (with trends and graphs), MSN messenger users can send messages directly to your watch and Outlook will Sync your calendar to the watch and automatically remind you of the appointments ahead. In short, Microsoft took the concept of watch and turned it into watch plus. Does it work? Yes.
There are a few downsides, of course. The SPOT service costs $59 a year and SPOT watches need to be recharged every few days, something that most people will find difficult to getting used to doing.
