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Casio's G-Shock watches are well-known for their bold designs, offering water and shock resistance to athletes, workers, and any outdoorsy type. Despite shipping several rugged Wear OS gadgets in the past, none of its smartwatches have ever been included in the G-Shock series. While finding a suitable wearable for Android might be a challenge these days, Casio is looking to finally bring G-Shock into the 21st century with its massive new GSW-H1000 smartwatch.
Casio's Pro Trek line of smart watches started in 2016 with the WSD-F10, a bulky, expensive Android Wear device with aesthetics and a feature set slanted at the outdoorsy market. The company followed up in 2017 with the WSD-F20, a refinement on the concept. Now, Casio is back at it with the WSD-F30, which is less chunky, but still rugged (and expensive).
Wear OS devices aren't exactly flying off the shelves, but that hasn't stopped Casio from announcing a new one. The new PRO TREK WSD-F20A has the same rugged design and flat tire display as Casio's other Wear device. It's a little cheaper than other Casio wearables, but it's still costly overall at $400.
Casio has a very particular design aesthetic. Its watches and phones are bulky, rugged, and have a lot of sharp angles. Now, there's an action camera to go along with those devices. The G’z EYE can take a beating while recording video, and it looks like a Decepticon.
We've all been there. You're deep in the woods, maybe fist-fighting bears, maybe live-acting Minecraft, perhaps even escaping Shia LaBeouf. But, in the middle of things, your phone starts to buzz away in your pocket. Wouldn't it be way more convenient to just take a glance at the outdoor-optimized, 50m water-resistant, Android Wear 2.0 Casio WSD-F10 strapped to your wrist, rather than risk pulling your phone out of your pocket? Not only is that the better option, today you can pick one up at Amazon for just $330. Over at REI or Dick's, you'd spend $400 for one of these units, but right now you can pick one up for a lot less. The Black/Black model is the cheapest at $330, and the Black/Red model is right around $340. That's a $60-70 savings minimum, some places are even selling them at $500.This smartwatch is built for the rugged outdoorsy types. It has both monochrome and color LCD screens layered on top of each other and set in a 56.4mm case. The monochrome display is allegedly a power saving mechanism that allows the smartwatch to limit its function, operating only as an ordinary timekeeping device to reduce energy consumption when needed.The Casio WSD-F10 also has a built-in activity tracker, altimeter, barometer, and compass. It's even water-resistant to 50m for short periods. And it has all the same basic features that all Android Wear devices do (it can pair with your phone and show you stuff). For a high-activity wearable, the only real omission is a heart rate sensor, and often those don't even work correctly.So, the next time you're escaping actual cannibal Hollywood superstars, you can rest easy knowing you'll be slightly less distracted by notifications.
Android Wear started off, as many Google products do, as something closer to a proof-of-concept than a finished product. The first watches had problems, the software was unfinished, and tech companies were the only ones producing them. Now that Android Wear is becoming a more mature platform, mostly thanks to the long-awaited 2.0 update, we're starting to see more watches than ever hit the market.
It's been around two months since Android Wear 2.0 officially launched, yet no watches that launched with Wear 1.0 have been updated to it yet. Nope, not even the Huawei Watch or LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition, which have been running the developer previews since mid-2016, have received this long-awaited update. That changes today, though; Android Wear 2.0 is now rolling out to the Fossil Q Founder, Casio Smart Outdoor Watch, and TAG Heuer Connected.
Most Android Wear watches can take a splash, but knock them around and they might not hold up very well. Casio's first Android Wear device was an exception with its MIL-STD-810G rating, and the second one will be much the same. The WSD-F20 will be built to last, and it'll be running Android Wear 2.0 when it comes out around April. It won't be cheap, though.
There aren't many options for rugged, outdoorsy smartwatches on the market; Casio's horribly named WSD-F10 is one of them. Though this Android Wear-powered smartwatch wasn't very well-received initially due to its $500 price tag, it's now been discounted to $399.99 - a 20% drop.This Casio actually contains many features that standard watches like the Moto 360 and Huawei Watch just don't have. For instance, it features two LCDs - one low-power for when you just want to check the time, and one for when you want to use smartwatch functions. It also has tools such as an altimeter, a barometer, and more to assist you when you're hiking. It's also worth noting that it is legitimately stronger than other Android Wear offerings; it's rated for MIL-STD-810G compliance, as well as 50m water resistance. Most other smartwatches' IP67 ratings pale in comparison to this.If you're a regular Ron Swanson (well, except that you like technology) and you'd like to pick one of these bad boys up, Amazon has discounted all three colors (orange, black, and an Amazon-exclusive red) to $399.99. Two-day shipping and returns are free with Prime. We're not sure if this is a Cyber Monday-only deal, so if you're interested, you probably shouldn't wait too long to hit the "Place your order" button.Source: Amazon
Just as several new smartwatches make their debuts on the Google Store, two (and a Chromebook) say their goodbyes. The ASUS ZenWatch 2, Casio Smart Outdoor Watch (great name, right?), and the ASUS Chromebook Flip are now unavailable for purchase from Google's hardware shop; in fact, the links to their listings now automatically redirect to the Android Wear and Chromebook landing pages, respectively.
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- Also available on Amazon (red), REI (black/orange), and Casio store (black/orange)
The Casio Smart Outdoor Watch popped up on the Google Store just yesterday listed as "coming soon." They weren't kidding—it's available now for $499.99. That's a lot of cash, but this watch has a few things you won't find in other Android Wear devices.It has a round (flat tire) LCD display with a monochrome LCD layer for outdoor visibility. The design is a bit more bulky in appearance than other watches, but it's also water-resistant to 50 meters and meets MIL-STD-810G standards for drops and shocks. The internals look pretty standard for Android Wear, but Google doesn't list the full specs.As this is a rugged outdoor watch, it comes with some rugged outdoor apps like ViewRanger, MyRadar, and Runkeeper. The Casio Smart Outdoor Watch comes in either orange or olive, which is much nicer looking and exclusive to the Google Store.
Athletic smart watch users, a new option has popped up on the Google Store. It's the new smartwatch that Casio announced back in January, along with the promise of up to a month of battery life. The watch is still listed as Coming Soon, but the page is there to keep an eye on. The price will be $500, and you will have your choice of black, green, orange, and red.
Most of the Android Wear devices out there are similar takes on the same use case, but watchmaker Casio is trying something a little different. The Casio Smart Outdoor Watch (WSD-F10) is an Android Wear device with sport watch styling and a seriously rugged design. It can even run for as long as a month in basic monochrome mode. It might not be a watch you wear every day, but outdoorsy folks might really dig it.
TeamViewer is a go-to tool for users who, well, remote access into things enough to have a go-to tool. The software lets someone in location A beam into a smartphone or tablet running the app in location B. It's the kind of thing enterprise support teams can use to keep their coworkers or clients happy. Likewise, it's what that techy person up the street uses to help out all of their confused family members.
Point-of-sale systems are about as dull as computers can get. With the ability to figure out sums and print out receipts, they're little more than the digivolved versions of calculators (and not the cool, graphing kind either). This drab sector of the tech industry could benefit from something interesting, so Casio is doing its part by announcing upgraded versions of its Android-powered cash register.
The DROID Incredible 4G LTE came out in 2012, and it hasn't received an OTA since that year. The phone was less-than-stellar at the time, and since its hardware was worse than its software, an update can't do much to turn it into a better device. That said, if you already own this quirky handset, be on the lookout for a notification bringing with it a handful of enhancements, such as ISIS Wallet support, reduced power cycling, and some security patches. The software version is 2.19.605.2 710RD.
In the storied history of ugly phones, there are few that can stand up to the horrendous might of the Casio G’zOne Commando. This device may not be a looker, but it's rugged and now it has a spiffy new software update. Version C771M140 is available to download now for anyone still hauling the original Commando around.
If you want a "ruggedized" phone on Verizon, you can have any model you want, so long as you want the Casio G'zOne Commando 4G LTE. It doesn't have a lot to recommend it aside from its tough-as-nails construction, but if Verizon's your only choice, it's better than nothing. And on that note, a $50 on-contract price tag is better than twice that at retail. Wirefly has the G'zOne Commando for $49.99, fifty bucks off the standard price.