Casio's G-Shock GB-6900 Set To Roll Out On March 16

Casio showcased their smartphone ready GB-6900 series watch back in July 2011 and was supposed to be available by the end of the year, but there was nothing to be heard of the watch after the official announcement at FCC. The reason being the Thailand floods, which affected most of the electronic components manufacturing units, causing a shortage resulting in the delay in production.

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But now it looks like Casio is finally set for the official roll out on March 16. The G-Shock GB-6900 will be available in Japan as of now, so if you would like to have one of these, you have to head over to Japan or wait till the watch is available in your country.

Ok, so why is this watch so special? It is because it's a smartphone ready watch embedded with Bluetooth 4.0 (BLE). The Bluetooth 4.0 is often referred as Bluetooth Low Energy as it is aimed for use primarily in low power and low latency wireless devices which are designed for use in shorter range. So the watch has features that will show incoming calls, messages and emails on the small display. It can even be used to set profile modes on your smartphone directly from the watch.

The USP of the watch isn't the smartphone connectivity feature, it's the first ever integration of Bluetooth 4.0 in a watch. With the use of BLE, Casio claims that the watch would have a battery life of 2 years with a single CR2032 battery. The expected cost of Casio's G-Shock GB-6900 is around 18,000 Yen or US$231.

Source: Casio's New G-SHOCK Connects To Smartphones, Shows Incoming Calls, Emails, SMS • TechCrunch