This past January at CES, Citizen introduced its second-generation CZ Smart smartwatch, featuring some interesting-sounding NASA-derived tech. Sales were supposed to get underway in March, but after a bit of a false start, the wearable is now finally available for preorder, ahead of a May 1 release.
Citizen recently put up pages for its full collection of options for the new CZ Smart (via 9to5Google). You've got your pick of styles and sizes, starting as low as $350, and no matter which you end up going with, Citizen will throw in a bonus free leather band.
Originally shown off at CES earlier this year, the second-gen Citizen CZ Smart was apparently briefly available for preorder Amazon. Back then, the watch was intended to come out sometime in March. Clearly, a delay has transpired, and while we don't have the details on what caused the change of plans, this ship appears to now be back on course.
The watch is compatible with both Android and iOS devices and uses AI built with IBM Watson to make predictions about your cognitive and physical energy throughout the day, with the idea that it can help you develop better habits and have more productive days. It’s the same technology NASA uses to determine how tired its astronauts are. The science may be sound, but we're curious how well the experience will translate to doing work filling out spreadsheets, rather than flying spaceships.
Beyond that space tech, the watch offers largely the same features we’ve come to expect from other wearables in this segment. It's one of the handful of smartwatches so far that will be running Wear OS 3, as we probably know best from the Galaxy Watch and Google's Pixel Watch. Under the hood, you’re getting 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. According to the company, the watch also changes in just 40 minutes after which it’s capable of running for a full day.
Like most smartwatches these days there are also a few options to choose from that vary in price. The $350 version of the watch is 41mm in size and comes with a silicone band (plus the bonus free leather strap). Prices for the watch gradually scale up based on the watch size and type of band with the most expensive version, the 44mm version with stainless steel band in its sport finish, coming in at $435.
Preorders for the second-generation Citizen CZ Smart are currently expected to ship on May 1.
Citizen CZ Smart (gen 2)
Citizen's second-gen CZ Smart is a Wear OS smartwatch featuring some unique NASA-derived tech to help you determine how alert or tired you are. More than that, it's a regular full-featured smartwatch equipped with a Snapdragon Wear 4100+, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB storage. You can expect about a day's usage on a charge, and repowering takes roughly 40 minutes.