There's no escape
Casio caves in to smartwatches with rugged G-Shock that runs Wear OS
Say no more and take our money.
It’s not an April Fools’ Day prank. Casio is finally making a G-Shock smartwatch running Google’s languishing Wear OS platform.
Dubbed the GSW-H1000, the rugged smartwatch is based on Casio’s G-Squad Pro G-Shock watches, which means it’s big, sporty, and tough. It’s got a “dual-layer monochrome and color display” with a customizable “three-tier layer layout” that respects the G-Shock’s iconic watch face heritage.
Besides the usual Wear OS smartwatch features like a heart rate monitor, GPS, activity and fitness tracking, and the Google Assistant, the GSW-H1000 comes with a compass, altitude/pressure sensor, accelerometer, and gyrometer, according to Casio. There’s also a feature that pulls in tracking data and lets you overlay them over a video via the G-Shock Move app; it’s very much like the videos you can make with a GoPro and its accompanying app.
Wear OS smartwatches are compatible with both iPhone and Android, but work better on the latter. Certain features like iMessage and FaceTime are incompatible with Android so if you’re looking at this and thinking yes, gimme, you should dial back your excitement if you’re on iPhone.
Built G-Shock tough — G-Shocks are known for their toughness and durability. The GSW-H1000 appears to be no different. It’s built to be banged up with features like:
- G-Shock shock-resistant design
- 20-bar water-resistance
- Titanium case for corrosion and abrasion resistance
The only missing spec is battery life. How long will the GSW-H1000 last on a charge? Using this outdoors is gonna suck if you need to plug it in every night. This is one of the main reasons why the OnePlus Watch uses RTOS instead of Wear OS; OnePlus says its smartwatch can last up to two weeks on a charge.
How much? — This might sting: £599 (about $826 as of this writing) in the UK. No word on pricing elsewhere and there’s no launch date yet.
Apple is circling — The timing of Casio’s GSW-H1000 G-Shock smartwatch couldn’t be worse. Not only is Wear OS a platform that desperately needs some kind of life injection from Google, but Apple is reportedly planning to release a rugged version of the Apple Watch, possibly as soon as this year.