You will be hard-pressed to tell that the Casio Edifice EQB-500 is a smartwatch.
It looks just like a classic chronograph timepiece with a case,
bezel and watch band all made of stainless steel. The build is rock
solid and the feel is very conventional. The only giveaways to the
smart features are in the form of tiny icons on the watch face. Indeed,
its smart features are so basic it barely squeezed into this round-up.
It has an analogue watch dial with four sub-dials, which display world time, 24-hour time, AM/PM and watch mode.
The review unit came in silver. There is also a black version, which I prefer.
The watch supports only selected Apple iPhones and Samsung Android
smartphones. The pairing process is straightforward and the mechanical
indicators make the process fun.
Pairing involves using the Casio Watch+ app on your smartphone, a
Bluetooth connection and pressing the left bottom button of the watch
for an instant. Do that and watch the second hand move a notch to the R
icon. When pairing is complete, the second hand will move to the
Bluetooth icon. Nifty.
Also cool is the ability to sync the watch with your smartphone's
time. This is handy when you are travelling across time zones. For the
world-time function, choose, say San Francisco (there are 300 cities to
choose from), and the world sub-dial will turn its hour and minute
hands accordingly.
The watch also lets you find your phone should you misplace it, even
without a Bluetooth connection. But the app must be running on the
phone.
When an e-mail message arrives, the mode hand moves to the full
circle icon. When there are no new e-mail messages, the mode hand
points to the circular ring icon.
It all sounds good but there is a rub. The Bluetooth connection
would disconnect after around 10 minutes and has to be reconnected when
that happens. So the e-mail indicator is not very useful.
Powered by Casio Tough Solar power system, this watch can
practically last forever as long as you leave it to charge under the
sun or in a lit room.
RATING
Features 2/5
Design 5/5
Performance 3/5
Value for money 3/5
Battery life 5/5
Overall 3/5
