Great looking smart watch, needs more battery life
Citizen's CZ Smartwatch comes with a great set of features that you'd expect to have on your wrist these days. It packs Google's Android-compatible Wear OS and offers rugged construction, but that also comes with bulk. If you love wearing sturdy timepieces on your wrist that do a lot more than just tell time, you'll probably love this watch.
The CZ Smart by Citizen is a stylistic blend between a classic look and modern feel all nicely packaged with Wear OS by Google. I love the weight and size of the watch on my wrist as it’s not too large and not small, and it feels comfortably snug on my wrist. The included silicone strap is sleek and comfortable, it gives the watch more of a sporty vibe which I love since the OS supports a multitude of fitness and health/wellness features. The screen display is beautiful and vivid which makes it easy to see. I also find the touch screen to be very responsive and smooth swiping from the screen or using the dial on the watch. It’s quite easy to navigate and overall, quite impressed with how Wear OS operations on CZ Smart hardware. Battery life has been mixed for me, heavy usage seems to drain quickly so this is a watch that you’ll likely need to charge daily, though I haven’t found/used any smart watches that didn’t need to be charged daily. I like that there are different multi-day battery modes to help extend battery life, but I often find myself defaulting to daily mode (the default setting). I’m quite happy with integrated speaker and mic; I’m able to take a call pretty easily with the CZ Smart, and while it does quite well, however I haven’t tried to take call while in a noisier environment. Ultimately, it seems to work well as I often like to take calls from my watch. I do really wish that the bezel was rotatable/functional much like the dial, however that’s just a personal preference. Additionally, I’m not extremely fond of the USB cable with magnetic charger, simply because it limits your charging options. While I think it does an excellent job of charging your watch rapidly, I often like to have a backup charger and since this is a proprietary charger, it limits my options if I need another charger. CZ Smart Is a nice option for a classy looking smart watch if you want something unique and different from the norm. It performs well overall, looks great, and supported by an excellent OS.
----- SUMMARY ----- Verdict: The Citizen CZ Smart has a classy look with a sharp display and fast performance. It’s also high quality and comfortable to wear. The one problem is that the smartwatch market is crowded, and much of the competition has the same features and performance as the CZ Smart. I think the primary differentiating factor that the CZ Smart has is its design, which does have a lot going for it. There’s no doubt that the Citizen CZ Smart is a very good smartwatch, so if you are a fan of the design, it should be at the top of your list. Otherwise, there are others to consider, especially if you’re looking for more fitness features like automatic workout detection and the ability to take an ECG. Pros: - Quick and simple setup - Classy and elegant design - High quality - Sharp display - Easy navigation with the three buttons (one being a rotating crown) - Accurate workout tracking and heart rate results - Fast performance - Built-in speaker and mic produce good call quality - Battery lasts all day and charges quickly Cons: - No automatic workout detection - Cannot take an ECG ----- DETAILS ----- Setup: The setup process for the CZ Smart was quick and simple. The only requirements are attaching the magnetic charging cable to the watch and the other end to a USB charger, then walking through the on-screen instructions to pair it with your phone. The watch is compatible with iPhone or Android devices using the Wear OS app (free to download from the app store). I have an iPhone and it paired on the first try. I always appreciate an easy setup process without any issues, and Citizen delivered. Design: With its classy and elegant design, the CZ Smart looks much like other Citizen analog watches. Unsurprisingly, since the CZ Smart comes from a top analog watchmaker, the aesthetic doesn’t disappoint. When I was unboxing the CZ Smart, I quickly noticed that it looks and feels high quality. The case (46 mm) is stainless steel, and Gorilla Glass covers the screen. The included silicone strap (22 mm) feels durable and comfortable, even after all-day use. The strap is easily interchangeable, and additional straps can be purchased from Citizen. I’m excited to eventually try the other straps out. The 46 mm size of the watch is perfect for me, but it is on the larger side, so if you have smaller/thinner wrists, this watch might not be ideal for you. The larger size doesn’t seem to impact the thickness of the watch though because it’s impressively thin. Additional design aspects include a built-in speaker and microphone, which enable you to take phone calls, use Google Assistant, and more. Call quality, voice to text, and Google Assistant were all great. Overall, I am a fan of the CZ Smart watch’s design and wearing it has been very comfortable. Features & Performance: The CZ Smart has a 1.28” AMOLED touchscreen with a 416 x 416-pixel resolution and an always-on display. Whether it’s day or night, the screen is sharp and easily readable. On the right side, there are three buttons. The top and bottom buttons are defaulted to activate Google fit and the Citizen Watch Face app, but they’re customizable to your preference. The middle button, which also has a rotating crown, operates as the home and back button. Rotating the crown navigates through the interface, which is a nice feature. I am happy with the three-button and rotating crown combo because it makes controlling the watch easy. Some of the features I use daily include receiving notifications, using apps like calendar and weather, and also tracking workouts. The watch is quick and responsive, so the performance meets my expectations. Tracking workouts has been a good experience, and the results are comparable to another smartwatch I own. I wish there was automatic workout detection though. The heart rate sensor also seems to be consistent, but you cannot take an ECG like some other similarly priced smartwatches. If you’re looking for a fitness-focused smartwatch with the most sensors and features, then I wouldn’t recommend the CZ Smart, but otherwise, I’ve been impressed. Battery Life: Depending on what battery mode you choose, the battery life of the CZ Smart is generally about one to three days. An exception to this is the Time Only Mode, which just turns the smartwatch into a simple clock that lasts about a week. The other battery modes are Daily, Extended, and Custom. Since I charge the CZ Smart nightly, I usually have it on the Daily Mode which allows you to use all the features. Even with frequent use, the battery on Daily Mode consistently lasts the whole day. Extended Mode only uses essential features and usually extends the battery another day. Charging the watch is impressively quick. Just 45 minutes will charge the battery to 80%. A little over an hour will get it to 100%. The battery life is more than enough for my needs, and it’s nice to have fast charging. ----- WHAT’S IN THE BOX ----- 1 x Smartwatch Head/Case (46 mm) 1 x Silicone Strap (22 mm) 1 x USB Charging Cable 1 x Documentation
