Casio’s G-Shocks are unanimous with durable watches that look stylish. What’s great about this is that the company regularly releases collaborations and new products. One of these has caught everyone’s attention – the GSW-H1000 Smart Watch.
The device looks and feels like any other G-shock. But when you inspect it, you’ll realize that there’s an exciting new addition; it’s the line’s first timepiece to run Wear OS.
Announcement
On April 1, 2021, G-Shock announced the release of the GSW-H1000. It was promoted as a flagship product in the G-Squad line up.
The company said the smartwatch would be available in red, blue and black. Each of the timepieces would have urethane bands, which are widely seen in regular G-shocks. Special components would be placed between the bands to allow them to fit different-sized wrists.
You can expect to buy the timepiece for around £599 to £830. It can be purchased through the Casio online store or selected retailers.
What Will You Get?
Casio promises that just like other G-Shocks, the GSW-H1000 would be durable. This is appreciated, as you wouldn’t think a smartwatch would be able to handle much of a beating.
Thanks to the H1000’s thick plastic and glass build, it would be able to withstand 200 meters underwater. Even though the glass on its display is thick enough to handle immense pressure, the display still allows for a smooth-touch control.
With one look at the timepiece, you’ll realize how familiar it looks. It’s reminiscent of the Mudmaster – arguably the best g-shock watch released. It’s also reminiscent of the Rangeman and the older Gravity Master. It’s clear that Casio’s goal was to make the GSW-H1000 as “watch-like” as possible.
The device’s case back is titanium. The metal ensures corrosion resistance. What also helps is the titanium carbide finish, which provides extra abrasion resistance.
G-shocks are big. However, the H1000 takes things the next level. Its case dimensions are 65 mm x 56 mm x 19.5 mm. It’s an absolute beast, as it’s heavy too, coming in at 104 grams. Casio has been making large watches for a long time – they’re experts. The smartwatch will be very comfortable on your wrists as a result. The urethane strap we mentioned is soft. The titanium on its rear helps keep the weight down too.
The H-1000 has an anti-fouling coat on its screen. The coating prevents attachments of barnacles and other organisms on its front. Speaking of its display, it is a 1.2-inch dual layer. It is 360 x 360 pixels, which makes it sharp.
Its dual-layer display makes use of a monochrome LCD to tell the time, and a color LCD for the HD display of data, maps and more. The display is highy flexible, and can be adjusted to a range of settings.
The device comes with a GPS inside. On its back, there is a heart-rate sensor. You’ll also find sensors like the accelerometer, air pressure, gyroscope, magnetic compass on its rear.
The watch sadly doesn’t come with a blood oxygen sensor. There won’t be wireless charging either. It would have to be charged with a magnetic plug that attaches to its sides.
In terms of its battery, the dual-screen system lets it last a while. The GSW-H1000 would last around 2 days, if you’re not going to be tracking workouts. Charging would be slow, and it would take around 3 hours to fully charge.
For a smartwatch, it doesn’t come with the most prioritized tech features. You’d expect it to come with Google Pay or NFC, but Casio let us down.
What is Wear OS?
The Operating system is powered by Google, so the GSW-H1000 comes with a variety of Google apps and services. One of the most useful is Google Assistant. You’ll be able to track activity metrics via Google Fit.
All kinds of applications can be downloaded from the Google Play Store. Of course, you’ll be able to access messages, phone calls, weather forecasts, notifications and so much more as well.
Wear OS lets you connect the smart watch to the G-Shock Move app. Some of the things it lets you do are:
- Create customized training plans
- Display and analyze steps, heart rate and other life log data tracked by the watch
- Display and analyze distance, heat rate, training effect, time and other activity log data measured by the watch.
The chipset that would be powering Wear OS is unknown. Casio hasn’t made it public knowledge yet. Considering how common Qualcomm Snapdragon chips are with smart wear, it’s safe to say that the H1000 would have one too. Our hope is that it has the newer Snapdragon 4100 Wear chip inside, and not the older 3100 Wear chip.
Expecting the Snapdragon 4100 Wear chip to be present is being over optimistic, though. It’s quite rare.
Casio might not have made the processor public-knowledge due to licensing agreements. There is no information about the chipset on the product’s box either.
The company has stated that Wear OS will only work with phones running the latest versions of Android or IOS 7. It won’t work with devices that run the GO edition of Android or a version without the Google Play Store either.
The operating system will let the GSW-H1000 show notifications reliably. The watch’s insides would work smoothly too, possibly due to the combination of the 1 GB RAM along with the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.
To summarize, the smartwatch looks and feels as durable as any other G-shock on the market. It looks like some of the brand’s most famous pieces, like the Mudmaster and Rangeman. However, it’s a more than adequate smartwatch. Its super durable glass lets it handle a lot of pressure, but it’s still sensitive enough for a touchscreen. The H1000 caught everyone’s attention because it runs Wear OS. You’ll be able to use all kinds of Google services on the unit. Unfortunately, the specific processor inside is unknown. However, it’s speculated to be a Qualcomm Snapdragon.
