For the last two years, Casio’s press conference has been disappointingly light on display news – so we were happy to see a new smartwatch being announced, called the WSD-F10.
Kazuhiro Kashio, president and COO of Casio Computer, introduced the Smart Outdoor Watch. Casio’s first smartwatch is designed for outdoor users who are interested in trekking, fishing and the like.
Casio has been making watches since the 1970s, and personal electronics since the ’90s, said Shinji Minami, GM of the company’s energy business. The F10 combines these two areas. As well as its smart functions, the watch is water-resistant to 50m and has been built to US military specifications.
David Johnson is VP of Casio America. He described the stacked design of the watch’s 1.3″, 320 x 200 display. Two LCDs are used in the display: an always-on passive monochrome unit and a colour unit. This design saves power and ensures that visibility is high in all environments. The dial, it was implied, switches between the two LCDs automatically.
Activating Timepiece Mode disables the colour LCD display, Android Wear and other smart features, leaving only a monochrome digital watch face. This will be especially useful for hiking and the like, when phone reception is poor and notifications won’t be coming through regularly. Casio said that this mode raises battery life from 24 hours to 30 days.
Watch operation is designed to provide easy access to commonly-used features, like the compass and fitness tracker. Linking the watch to a smartphone app called Moment Setter enables the display of time-based features, for example the best times to fish, tides and even when to rehydrate.
Casio will launch the watch in April, for $500.
