14 DAY TRIAL // Everybody these days is designing smartwatches, but most of them function following similar principles. The wrist-bound devices pair with your smartphones and let you do a lot of the things you could be doing on your handset too.
But unlike Samsung, LG, and others, Casio is taking a relatively different approach to the smartwatch problem. Its latest G-Shock G’MIX GBA-400 Watch focuses on an original interface, instead of cramming all the possible functionalities, some of which you might not even need or want.
As part of the new design, Casio has added a large twist dial that enables users to access their music app plus other functions on their smartphone via G-SHOCK and G’MIX apps.
So, basically, the complex smartwatch functions go back to the smartphone, letting the G-Shock focus on a few leading feats like controlling music playback or receiving message notifications.
As suggested by its name, the G-SHOCK watch is quite rugged, being both impact- and water-resistant, which makes it suitable for more extreme activities such as water diving or rock climbing.
The watch takes advantage of a high-contrast LCD screen that is used to display the needed information.
A cool feature is that the watch is capable of “listening” to music around you, relay it to the smartphone, and then use SoundHound to identify the title of the song for you and display the results on the screen.
The watch will first launch in Japan and will cost around $233 / €174. It will become available in Black, Gold, Blue, and Silver, and it will see an international rollout soon after that.
