Casio’s cult Ring Watch could be getting a huge smart upgrade, but only one country can buy it
The finger-sized watch reportedly adds health tracking, smartphone notifications and several days of battery life
Casio’s wonderfully strange Ring Watch could be evolving into a fully fledged wearable, complete with health sensors and smartphone notifications.
The new CRW-H001 builds on Casio’s miniature digital watches that went viral at launch and adds biometric tracking and Bluetooth connectivity.
The reported feature list includes everything you'd expect from a modern health tracker, including heart-rate, blood-oxygen and body-temperature monitoring, alongside sleep, recovery, step and calorie tracking.
Walking, running and cycling activities are also said to be supported.
Unlike most of the best smart rings, the CRW-H001 retains its tiny digital display, allowing you to check the time without opening a companion app.
It might be an obvious feature, perhaps, but one missing from rivals such as the Oura Ring 5 and Ultrahuman Ring Air.
A miniature vibration motor is said to deliver notifications for incoming calls, messages and alarms.
The ring is also said to come in only three sizes (9, 10 and 11).
The Casio smart ring we’ve been waiting for?
Casio’s existing Ring Watch has become a cult gadget by shrinking a functional digital watch down to finger size, but it offers none of the health features associated with a modern smart ring.
Adding activity tracking and notifications would turn that novelty into a far more useful everyday wearable, albeit one considerably less discreet than the usual screenless ring.
That said, the quirky look of the Ring Watch is what made it popular in the first place, so it would make no sense to remove it now.
There is, however, a reason to temper your excitement: Designboom's article says the model is "available exclusively in China."
However, Casio China only lists the existing CRW-001 Ring Watch, not the health-tracking model. For now, anyway.
If and when the CRW-H001 finally arrives, it might become one of the most interesting smart rings of the year.
A health tracker that also looks like a tiny 1980s Casio watch? Yes, please.
