G-Shock Discovers Music Using SoundHound

Casio is releasing a new addition to their line of smart G-watches, with one key difference that makes it stand out from its fellow watches. The GBA-400 is packed with SoundHound technology, allowing it to discover music in the area without ever having to take out a smart phone.

Casio’s G-shock watches are notoriously rugged watches, so it may come as a bit of a surprise that Casio has begun packing them with smart features. The GB-line of its G-Shock watches were the first of the g-watches to begin implementing low power Bluetooth technology, smartphone connectivity for message notifications, and other smart features into its watches, but the GBA-400 aims to take those and build upon them. In addition to its SoundHound capabilities, the GBA-400 contains music controlling capabilities using its large rotary dial. To choose a song, simply twist the dial to scan through songs, and then press a button to play. Still, Casio tends to stray away from making its newest watch feature-heavy in comparison to its competitors, letting the watch still hold the majority of conversation.

G-Shock music player in function. Source: G-Shock Japan.

The watch uses an app called G’Mix to communicate with the phone, and allows the user to control settings and the like for the watch all from the phone, leaving the watch in control of its own domain. The app works on iOS 7, Samsung Galaxy phones with Android 4.3, as well as a few Japanese-specific devices.

The GBA-400 comes in 4 different color combinations with red, blue, black with a silver face, and black with a gold face. With no word on an international release date or pricing, it is currently planned for a release date of September 19th in Japan for around $223, or 23,000 yen.

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