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By Ian Fried, 18 November 2002 09:20

NEWS A watch maker has announced plans to combine its next timepiece with a handheld computer using the Palm operating system. Watch maker Fossil will today unveil a prototype of its new wrist-worn device, which is a watch combined with a fully-fledged PDA. Fossil will also announce that it has licensed the Palm operating system for the gadget, which is timed for release next spring. The new device - known as the Wrist PDA with Palm OS (very catchy) - marks an advance on Fossil's first watch/handheld combo. The Wrist PDA, released earlier this year, was a clunky device that could receive contact and calendar information from a handheld, but didn't operate as one. In addition, the new gadget is slimmer than its forerunner, with a screen the size of a small biscuit. The big selling point, Fossil officials say, is that people will be able to carry just one device instead of two. Donald Brewer, vice president of technology for Fossil, said: "Today, people's pockets are full." Brewer concedes that sales of the first Wrist PDA were small, but attributed that to its not being a full PDA, to its large size and to the company's limited sales push for the device. He said the new model is about the same size as a typical Fossil men's watch, and perhaps a millimetre thicker. "This is watch-size," he said. "There are certain expectations on a man's watch, and that's what I think we've been able to achieve." Fossil's Wrist PDA with Palm OS has approximately the same features as Palm's recently introduced Zire, including 2MB of memory and a 160-pixel-by-160-pixel screen. It even comes with a stylus and, like other Palm OS devices, can accept Graffiti text input. However, because the pixels on the wristwatch screen are necessarily tiny, Fossil has rewritten some core Palm programs to use larger fonts or fewer icons and has added a jog-dial switch to make navigating the programs easier. The company says most Palm programs will run on the combo device, though some may benefit from being optimised for its tiny screen. Ian Fried writes for News.com