Although the concept of smart rings is not really new, it is only this year that it has really started to become popular, thanks to new launches from very popular brands such as the Samsung Galaxy Ring or the Amazfit Helio Ring. And of course, we must not forget the new Oura ring, which continues to be the benchmark in the sector.
And yet, none of these rings have anything to do with Casio’s first launch in the industry; In fact, the same Casio that for decades has been synonymous with digital watches, thanks to legendary models that even today continue to function as on the first day. Actually, Casio is now celebrating the 50th anniversary of its digital watch journeyand decided to celebrate by throwing… a ring.
Although it may seem strange to launch a new type of product to celebrate another, it makes sense when you see the new Casio Ring CRW-001-1JR watch; All the originality that they retained in the name, they spent on the device. And it’s basically a miniature watch to wear on your finger, instead of a “smart” ring as we’re used to calling them.
That means this Casio Ring Watch (we’ll call it that for now) does not have health-related functions like those of Oura and other brands; It is not able to record sleep or tell us if we slept well, or help us analyze our exercise. Next to the Galaxy Ring or the Oura Ring 4, one might think that it is not very “intelligent”, and we would not be too far off the mark.
But do you know what the Casio ring does that no other ring can? Show time. In fact, it’s just a miniature Casio digital watch, featuring a small six-segment LCD screen capable of displaying the full time, including minutes and seconds. And despite its small size, the screen has lighting to view it at night. So we can know the time just by looking at our finger, which is beyond the reach of all the smart rings we’ve seen so far.
But that’s not all. This smart ring has physical buttons, again something we haven’t seen on any others so far. Although they are small, they are obviously completely functional and allow access to “advanced” functions, such as displaying another time zone that we have configured, and even a stopwatch integrated, at the touch of a finger.
Another important difference compared to other smart rings is that this one will last much longer and we will not have to recharge it every few days; in fact, we don’t need to recharge it at all. The Casio ring wears a battery that can last up to two yearsand which is easily replaceable when exhausted. And despite this, it is waterproof, so we never need to take it off.
The Casio ring will be available first in Japan from next December, at a price of 19,800 yen, or a little over 120 dollars at the current exchange rate. At the moment there is no confirmation of a possible launch in Europe.