From calculator watches to smartwatches, Casio has been developing clocks for decades.
But the New Year brings a new innovation: The WSD-F10 Smart Outdoor Watch—an Android Wear device built to military standard specifications.
The smartwatch with a dumb name is optimized for outdoor use: whether you dunk it in water (up to 165 feet/50 meters), scrape it against rocks, or use it to break your fall, the tough timepiece continues ticking.
Rough and rugged, Casio's wearable can replace some of your usual accessories; its pressure sensor, compass, and accelerometer measure and display real-time details about your natural environment and activity levels.
Tap the upper right "tool" button, for instance, to read the compass direction, air pressure and altitude, sunrise and sunset times, and tide and activity graphs. Plus, the watch links to the Android Wear ecosystem, so you can download apps like ViewRanger GPS, Runkeeper, and MyRadar.
The WSD-F10 comes in four colors—green, orange, black, and red—and features a 1.32-inch dual-layer display. Turn up the fashion by presenting data in bright hues, or extend the gadget's battery life by turning on the power-conserving Timepiece Mode, which toggles off smartphone communication. With normal usage, the watch battery lasts more than one day; Timepiece Mode extends that to more than one month. You'll need to set aside about two hours to recharge.
Casio's WSD-F10 requires a smartphone running Android 4.3 or later; iOS connectivity is not yet available. It arrives in April for $500.
The Wall Street Journal in July first tipped the upcoming Casio smartwatch, under the direction of new company president Kazuhiro Kashio. At the time, Kashio said the device should be ready for release in March—just shy of the Apple Watch's one-year anniversary.