- [Narrator] WSD-F10 is, to
me, the kind of model number
you give to a compressor
a nuclear reactor.
Not noramlly an Android Wear smartwatch,
but Casio is not a normal watchmaker
and the F10 is not a normal smartwatch.
I'm Michael Fisher and I spent two weeks
getting to know the Smart
Outdoor Watch from Casio.
This is the Mr. Mobile review.
What first attracted me
to this little gadget
is just how different it is from the usual
polished and petite watches
running Android Wear.
First of all, it's an absolute brute.
We're talking about 60 millimeters across
and over 15 millimeters thick,
though thankfully, it's not
quite as heavy as it looks.
Casio took a lot of queues
from its G-Shock line of
conventional watches here.
The bezels are huge
and so are the buttons.
Three of them stud the right edge
while a magnetic charging
port dominates the left side
along with a barometric pressure sensor.
This is the first time I've
used a watch with one of those.
The casing is framed by a
generic polyurethane wristband
and backed by a stainless steel plate
that proclaims five bar water resistance,
which Casio says is good for
about 50 meters of depth.
That's a lot deeper than the
one meter water resistance
of most Android watches
and a hell of a lot deeper
than the puddles in the local splash pond,
so I didn't dive test this.
I did wear it during a beach
trip to the ocean though,
and I'm happy to report
that it wasn't fazed
by salt water in the least.
I still gave it a
freshwater bath afterwards.
The watch is also rated
to the same mil spec
as some durable mobile phones,
certified for everything from shock
to solar radiation to ice storms.
And the outdoorsy
optimizations don't stop there.
The Tool button is my
favorite one on the watch.
It gives you direct access
to the onboard sensors
so you can see your
altitude above sea level
to track your hike up a mountain
or see if a storm's about to roll in
by keeping an eye on atmospheric pressure.
These are direct measurements
taken by the watch.
There's no data connection required.
There's also a readout
for the onboard compass,
tide clock if you've got a nearby harbor,
sunrise and sunset time tables,
and the obligatory activity tracker,
all done up in a nice unified aesthetic.
Casio also bundled a
handful of watch faces
that can constantly
display some of this data
so you don't need to hop between apps
to know what's going on.
And if you download the Moments Center app
to your Android phone, you
can do all kinds of things
like make the watch alert you
when the tide's about
to come in or go out,
or warn you about a
sudden drop in mercury,
or hit you with a custom reminder
when you approach a particular location.
Of course, you can also download
any Android Wear apps you want
and you can assign pretty much any of them
to the App button for a quick launch.
Probably the smartest
thing about this watch
is how intelligently
its display is designed.
This is actually two
LCDs stacked together.
The usual color TFT panel sits beneath
a monochrome segmented display up top.
So when you're not
actively using the watch,
the main display goes to sleep
and the more power efficient
black and white one takes over,
which is much easier to see in sunlight.
It's one of those features
I wish every smartwatch had.
And if you run low on battery
but still want a clock,
you can trigger Timepiece mode,
which shuts down all
the Android Wear stuff
and just displays the time
and date on the top layer LCD.
And yet, the Casio does fall
short in some crucial areas.
You'd expect a smartwatch built
for the outdoors to pack GPS, but nope.
If you're not near a wi-fi hot spot,
you need to stay connected to your phone
for the watch to know where it is.
Casio may have been trying
to save on power consumption
with that omission
because this watch is no
endurance champ either.
For me, it delivered a max
of a day and a half between charges.
That's in line with
what I've come to expect
from other smartwatches, but
again, look how big this is.
You'd expect this watch to last a week.
And it's specifically
targeted at the kind of person
who won't be able to plug in every night.
Also, the display is pretty
small relative to the casing.
It's also quite undersaturated
and despite the flat tire,
there's no ambient light sensor
to automatically adjust brightness.
Finally, there's no
heart rate sensor either.
Not a huge omission, sure, but still odd
considering the target audience.
If you can live with those drawbacks,
you'll pay a pretty penny for the F10.
Whether you get it from Casio, Amazon, REI
or the Google Store, you're looking
at a minimum of $499 for a new device.
That makes it one of the most expensive
Android Wear watches around,
and I'm not convinced
it brings enough utility to justify it.
It also remains to be seen how
well it run Android Wear 2.0,
which lands late in 2016.
Still, if what you want
is a rugged smartwatch,
your options are pretty limited
and this one does manage
to tick a lot of boxes
within the limited
framework Android provides.
Plus, I have to say it again,
every smartwatch should have
this dual display option
because it's amazing.
Personally, I'll probably
wait for the next generation
before sinking my own
money into one of these,
but that depends on just
how long this summer lasts
and how badly I want a beach watch
to go with my beach phone.
That's it for now, folks.
Stay tuned to Mr. Mobile
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just like this one.
Until next time, remember
to set your moments,
label your buttons and
stay mobile, my friends.
