Casio has announced the first Wear OS smartwatch in its long-running G-Shock lineup: the GSW-H1000. The watch will retail for $699 in the US or £599 in the UK, and it will be available in red, blue, or black. With shock resistance and water resistance up to a depth of 200 meters, Casio says the GSW-H1000 is a fitness-focused wearable designed for everything from surfing to snowboarding.
The watchmaker has been releasing devices using Google’s smartwatch OS since 2016, when it released the Android Wear-powered Casio Smart Outdoor Watch. But this is the first time Google’s software has appeared on a G-Shock watch. The G-Shock lineup dates back to the 1980s, and the watches have a reputation for being some of the hardest-wearing around.
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The GSW-H1000 comes with many of the features expected on a fitness-focused smartwatch. There’s an optical heart rate sensor, and Casio’s built-in software supports 15 activities and 24 indoor workout options. The watch supports GPS and has a built-in compass, altitude sensor, accelerometer, and gyrometer. Wear OS means there’s Google Assistant and Google Fit support, and you can download apps from Google Play.
In terms of hardware, the watch has a 1.2-inch 360 x 360 dual-layer display that combines a monochrome always-on LCD display with a color LCD panel. Battery life is rated at around one and a half days if you’re using the color display, extending to up to a month if you only use the watch for timekeeping and sensors. A full charge takes around three hours, according to Casio.
With rumors of an extreme sport-focused Apple Watch on the horizon, Casio and other rugged smartwatch manufacturers could soon be facing a lot more competition. But on paper at least, the GSW-H1000 looks like it could be up to the challenge.
