With Smart Watches taking over the world, is there a place for a non smart watch?
Absolutely! Of course there is, many people have no interest in a Smart Watch, many people would rather speed £500 on a wrist watch over a smart watch. Others need the functions of a standard watch more than a Smart Watch. Me, for example I wear G-Shocks, for their rugged strength, and I like how they look. I can wear it to work and not even slightly worry about it, same goes for being out on the bike, no weather will phase it, nor me, and if pulling a long a long weekend, or a full day I don’t need to worry about my watch’s battery. I don’t need to worry about damaging it, because let’s be honest if the watch breaks, there’s a good chance my arm is broken with it!
However when browsing I noticed the G-Shock ‘Smart’ Watch at a bargain price of £90 GBP, when the RRP is £180, that was easily enough to tempt me, so it was ordered and arrived the next day.
Basically it is a G-Shock with everything you expect in the rugged strength and chunky looks, with the added bonus of Bluetooth 4.0. There is an app for iOS (and Android) which pairs to the watch, which when you activate and from there the app can control the time settings and the music on your smart device, whether that be song selection or volume.
So its smart settings are basic, time setting and music control. that’s all there will ever be, but that’s fine, not too many people will need or want more from a G-Shock, but it is a nice feature set, it adds to the G-Shock experience, and at a reasonable price it is a bargain.
The battery is touted as lasting for 2 years when using the Bluetooth Features for 2 hours a day, obviously the more or less you use the more or less the battery will be affected. Also it doesn’t remain parked indefinitely. In an attempt to preserve battery the BT connection will disconnect after 2 hours of non use. Some people like this, others hate it, for me I am reasonably indifferent, pairing the watch and a phone back up is very easy and quick, so it doesn’t bother me at all.
All I would say in summary is that this is a G-Shock with a Smart features, it isn’t a smart watch. Don’t expect text, email notifications, for some reason Casio have dropped this feature which they do have on other watches, this is a watch to control your music, if that is something you would benefit from then this is definitely the G-Shock for you. If not the RRP of £180 opens up a massive range of other G-Shock watches for you so have a good browse around. Oh and at £90 this is an absolute bargain!
G-Shock GBA400-1AER Bluetooth 4.0 UnBoxing Gallery :