Casio G-Shock GBD-200: The Almost Smartwatch

We’ll cut right to the chase and lead off with the absolute best part of the GBD200: It’s not a smartwatch, but it’s not a dumb one either. Sporting a modern Bluetooth connection and a reasonably reliable smartphone app, the GBD200 has the ability to alert the wearer to all manner of phone notifications without the somewhat distracting feature of also displaying those notifications nor the requirement that it be charged nightly. To clarify, while there is a menu through which you can use the GBD200 to read messages, it’s not a primary function - in fact, it’s pretty onerous, to be honest. Rather, when messages or phone calls come in, the watch can beep, vibrate or do nothing (depending on your notification settings selected in the app), while a simple message appears on the screen; usually taking the form of the app name that’s sending the notification (Instagram, Facebook, etc) and the sender’s name when applicable. After a brief period, the notification disappears and is added to the notification counter in the top left.

This lets it bridge the gap between a conventional smartwatch that all but mirrors your phone screen on your wrist, and a traditional digital watch; providing some of the benefit of a smartwatch without the intrusiveness. In my case, that takes the specific form of having set the watch to vibrate for incoming calls, and remain muted for all others. It’s a perfect balance.

MIP Screen Means No Recharging

The other advantage over a conventional smartwatch is the GBD’s unique display. Referred to as a “memory-in-pixel,” or MIP display, this sort of digital readout differs from a conventional LCD display in that the individual pixels do not consume power unless they are actively changing from shaded to unshaded, and once shifted, revert back to not requiring power. Obviously, for a watch, where the majority of the pixels remain static for minutes, hours, or days at a time, this provides a massive boost in battery life and so the GBD200 boasts an estimated battery life of 2-years on a single CR2032 cell. That compares very favourably against conventional smartwatches that almost all require recharging in a matter of days.

Of course, the downside is that it’s a black and white display and obviously lacking in the vibrancy of the high-resolution TFT displays on most smartwatches. But when compared to standard LCD displays it actually ranks quite high in terms of visibility. For example, compared to a digital watch with a similarly “negative” conventional LCD display (where the background is black and the digits appear brighter, as opposed to a “positive” display where the background is lighter than the digits being displayed), the MIP display is noticeably more legible in all conditions and the backlight is exceptional, being both brighter and more uniform across the display. Overall, it almost has the same quality as an e-book display, being somehow flatter and crisper than the average LCD, but being both higher resolution and faster to refresh than the average e-ink display by a large margin.

Fitness Tracker

In addition to being a sorta-smartwatch for those of us that don’t like smartwatches, the GBD200 is actually marketed as a fitness watch, on account of it having both a step tracking function and a pretty reasonable workout/activity tracker. And again, it does so in a very intelligent way intended to prevent unnecessary power consumption: When paired with your phone and permitted access to GPS, the smartphone app and an accelerometer in the watch will basically work out how the movement of your arm correlates to distance traveller - or rather, what your stride is. In essence, it compares the accelerometer inputs with the GPS data, so as to provide accurate data on steps taken, distance travelled, time and speed.

The coolest part is that as it learns your gait, it can end up becoming quite accurate without the phone’s GPS connection; relying on just the watch’s accelerometer inputs to come up with an accurate activity log. And if you do go for a hike or jog without your phone, at the next available opportunity the watch will transfer the data recorded to the app, which of course has a whole host of additional fitness features beyond the watch’s simple step tracker or activity recording displays. Calorie counting, activity plans, data logs, distance goals; it’s all there. Of course, for someone like myself, the simple step-tracking display on the watch is enough to remind me of my too-sedentary lifestyle. But, if you’re planning on wandering through the woods this fall, it’s certainly more than capable of giving you plenty of feedback as to how far!

Unfortunately though, for the outdoorsman, it doesn’t include a few features we’d love to see. First and foremost would obviously be solar charging to stave off battery changes entirely, but simply put, without becoming a much larger watch to allow for the installation of a solar cell that’s an impossibility - and much of the GBD200’s appeal is its relatively small size. 

Additionally, it’d be great if the GBD featured a sunrise/sunset display, and perhaps a moon phase and tide display. Any digital calendar can produce an accurate moon phase calendar, and moreover, all of these are offered as features on the GBD’s surfing-market cousin, the GBX100. Functionally and physically nearly identical with the solitary differences being a metal bezel insert, a heavier-duty strap, and the addition of the tide table/moon-phase display, the GBX generally runs about $50 more though, so perhaps that price differential explains why those features were left off the GBD. Bit of a bummer, nonetheless.

Conclusions

In daily use, the GBD200 is quite simply excellent, on account of being possibly the most comfortable G-Shock on the market with a softer and more breathable strap than most and a relatively slim, cuff-friendly case, combined with a feature set that makes it among the most broadly useful. Add to that the display has the low profile of a negative display without the legibility issues, and you’d have a winner already. Add the smartphone connection, vibration alarm, and fitness tracking features, and with a retail price of $200 it feels like an absolute bargain. And of course, short of doing something you really wouldn’t want to put your arm through, you will not kill it; it’s subjected to all the same extreme durability testing that all G-Shocks are which means it’s among the most indestructible watches on the market. If you lead an active lifestyle and want something to help you track that activity with minimal intrusion and maximum durability, this may be the ticket.