Casio G-Shock GBA 400: Watches just smart enough

February 1, 2016
Watch Gonzo
Bluetooth, Casio, G-Shock
0

During my teens and as a young adult, music dominated the better part of my life. Bluetooth, those times, was a dentist’s responsibility and none seemed too happy to get one. But the changing times…well…spell different. Now Bluetooth is something people like with everything; it’s a staple to the smartphones, tabs, laptops…and now, it’s in the watch! I wish I was a teen or a young adult now; eating, sleeping and breathing music with minimal effort. With one of the G-Shock GBA-400 series Bluetooth-enabled watches and a smartphone/tab, I could have changed tracks just lifting the wrist. Agreed smartphones were never a part of my growing up; all I say is things would have been much better that way.

A lot of you might be wondering if the G-Shock GBA-400 watches were created with the sole purpose of listening to music. Not exactly, but well, that’s another good thing you can do with them. These Bluetooth watches will connect to your phone (w/Bluetooth connectivity) and play all the music in your phone’s memory, the way you want it; whichever track it may be, how much ever loud you want it to play. For Casio finally understood even the tough and the rugged need music to sustain, not just the frail and thin Gonzo.

Being a part of the famous G-Shock range from Casio, there’s the traditional ruggedness present in the form of shock and water resistance. They display both in analogue and digital formats and its Super Illuminator light is a big aid in the dark. That makes music pleasanter in the dark.

No, the G-Shock GBA-400 watches are not touch-screen phones. They are chunky and more capable to withstand rigours than other smartwatches, which sometimes, don’t even make it to dips in the bathtub. With the G-Shock, a 600 feet deep, saltwater pool is also no match.

Let’s see now what the two LCD screens do. The uppermost screen displays the date normally, but once connected, it acts as the screen that shows the track being played. The lower LCD shows time digitally. In between the LCDs, the large silver/gold disc indicates if your Bluetooth is on or not and is quite a bit of fun to watch.

The large, rotary crown is the master control for track changing and volume level alterations while the other five buttons establishes the Bluetooth connection and enable to activate/deactivate general watch functions like changing/selecting modes and activating the Super Illuminator light. As for other functions and features, there’s a flight mode which suspends the signal transmission when activated; a world-timer, an alarm, a stopwatch and countdown timer.

If you got an Apple iPhone or your phone runs on the Android platform, it will be only sane to opt for the GBA-400; not just the watch but also the app G’Mix, a dedicated media-player with custom/preset equalisers and interface.

But the most surprising part? Install in your phone the SoundHound; it will identify whatever song that’s been played nearby.

Watch(es) mentioned in this post are listed below. Click to see details and buy them:

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