Big promises, not a lot of clear details
Looking past bombastic (and awfully vague) marketing claims that this “smarter” smartwatch can “connect” to its users rather than other devices and “anticipate” instead of merely informing you, we find quite the convoluted description of exactly what the upgraded CZ Smart does to stand out from the crowd of admittedly similar and arguably repetitive intelligent timepieces out there.
In a nutshell, a proprietary CZ Smart YouQ app is tasked with providing a so-called “built-in self-care advisor”, leveraging a bunch of purportedly innovative technologies and “best-in-class” research to help wearers “understand and anticipate patterns of fatigue and alertness” while also offering “customized insights and personalized strategies to build better habits to maximize” your “daily potential.”
That’s a lot of buzzwords companies like Fitbit and Garmin have undoubtedly used in their own descriptions of various wearable devices released in the last few years, but Citizen seems really confident its aforementioned proprietary software will offer unrivaled personalization and the best possible insight into your “unique characterization, rhythms, and habits.”
“Intriguing” is probably the best way to characterize an app reliant (among others) on something called Alert Monitor tests, which are a “consumer-facing” take on an evaluation originally developed by NASA to determine the “mental acuity” of astronauts.
Other details to know… and some left to be confirmed
Because Citizen is focusing almost entirely on hyping up and explaining the “revolutionary” aspect of its latest smartwatch, we’re left assuming some of the basics, like the (hopefully pre-installed) Wear OS 3 support.
Other key second-gen CZ Smart features are only mentioned in passing, including a 1.3-inch AMOLED touchscreen with unknown resolution, 8GB storage (just like on the first edition), a built-in microphone and speaker, as well as a “traditional” arsenal of health monitoring tools and sensors covering heart rate, blood oxygen, a gyroscope, altimeter, barometer, accelerometer, and ambient light.
That’s taking vagueness to a whole new level, and we’re obviously not particularly delighted by the “second half” launch target of this second-gen Citizen CZ Smart Hybrid watch either. But hey, that’s still better than nothing for the brand’s hardcore fans interested first and foremost in battery life and wholly uninterested in touchscreen timepieces.
