Summary
- Citizen's second-generation CZ Smart smartwatch is facing technical issues, including a laggy interface, sub-par battery life, and inaccurate heart rate data.
- Reviewers and customers have reported negative experiences with the watch, with features like YouQ and the Pilot watch face not working as intended.
- Citizen has temporarily suspended the sales of the affected CZ Smart touchscreen models, but the smartwatch remains listed and on sale on its website.
Samsung, Google, and Mobvoi make the best Android smartwatches. But they are not the only players on the field. AT CES 2023, Citizen introduced its second-generation CZ Smart smartwatch with some unique NASA-derived tech. After a false start, the smartwatch went up for sale on May 1 this year. Considering the watch costs $350, you'd expect it to offer a fuss-free experience, but that does not appear to be the case. Now, three months after the $350+ Citizen CZ Smart went on sale, the company is suspending its sales due to a "technical issue."
In a Wired report, Julian Chokkattu detailed the issues he faced while reviewing the Citizen CZ Smart, like a laggy interface, sub-par battery life, inaccurate heart rate data, and the IBM Watson and AI-powered YouQ features not working as intended.
His experience was corroborated by YouTuber MrMobile, who even discovered that the Pilot watch face shows the inaccurate time. Citizen's CZ Smart listing page is also filled with negative reviews from unlucky customers who bought the watch when it was on sale.
Citizen confirmed to Wired that it is temporarily stopping the sales of the CZ Touchscreen smartwatch as it works to find out the root cause of the issue. It also notes that only the touchscreen models are affected, with the Smart Hybrid variants working as intended. The company has confirmed the following CZ Smart models are affected:
- MX1003-71X
- MX1000-28X
- MX1000-01X
- MX1000-52X
- MX1005-83X
- MX1002-57X
- MX1018-06X
- MX1017-50X
- MX1010-59X
- MX1011-05X
- MX1016-28X
What if you have already purchased the Citizen CZ Smart? The company should get in touch with you soon to work out a solution. If that does not happen in the next few weeks, try contacting Citizen's customer support yourself.
Despite Citizen acknowledging the problems with the CZ Smart, the smartwatch continues to be listed and on sale on its website.
It is unclear why Citizen's CZ Smart wearable is facing these issues. Prima facie, a buggy firmware could be the cause behind these problems. As of now, Citizen has not confirmed how long it will take to fix the issues with its smartwatch and when it will go back on sale.