Is Microsoft's SPOT Watch the Sleeper Gadget of the Year?

A few years ago we all heard about Microsoft’s latest technology called SPOT and the uber-watches that held the technology. What Microsoft did was allow you to download all sorts of content to your monochrome watch like local weather, movie times, and sport scores for a monthly fee. The problem was that the watches were ugly and the technology sucked (it uses FM reception).

But in early 2006 Microsoft revamped the watches and technology and it seems to be making some inroads with the uber geeks. Here’s a Abacus watch that looks pretty good:

I checked out my neck of the woods for the MSN Direct service coverage and it pulled up this map:

This is pretty good coverage but it seems to be the only coverage in Maine. It looks like most states only have one coverage area around the biggest city. But if you spend most of your time in this coverage area (kind of like a cell phone plan) then it shouldn’t be a big deal.

The real question is how well does it work. Is it really that easy to get local movie times? What content can you get on your watch? The best thing to do is to go http://direct.msn.com/channels/default.aspx and watch the demo. I was impressed with the different content you can get like synchronization with Outlook and MSN messenger messages from your friends. They even have a new traffic channel so you won’t get stuck for your morning commute. I would like to see them do a mapping service for directions.

Overall I think the SPOT watches are a real sleeper gadget that has a definite role in the uber geeks life. If you’re looking for a gadget that will give you real-time updates then this might be it for you. (I would love to hear from someone who actually has one of these)