Citizen is briefly suspending gross sales of its second-generation CZ Smart smartwatch, which it first introduced at CES 2023 and subsequently launched on May 1. Although the smartwatch has been in the marketplace for almost three months, Citizen says it has “recently identified a technical issue that is negatively affecting the user experience.”
The firm’s assertion, in an e mail, comes a couple of weeks after the watchmaker despatched out check models to product reviewers, together with myself. I’ve had a lackluster expertise with the Gen-2 CZ Smart and have been cataloging the bugs I’ve run into. I shared my suggestions with Citizen earlier this week. The points embody a laggy interface, poor battery life, inaccurate coronary heart price knowledge, inaccurate sleep monitoring, the watch freezing on particular screens, and Citizen’s proprietary YouQ options not working. The smartwatch begins at $350.
I’m not alone. YouTube tech reviewer Michael Fisher (higher known as MrMobile) has skilled many of the identical bugs as I’ve and even launched me to new ones, just like the Pilot watch face that merely can not inform the proper time. Scroll by Citizen’s CZ Smart product page and prospects aren’t blissful both. There are many complaints about poor battery life and laggy software program, and a few of these critiques have been posted two or three months in the past.
Citizen says it’s within the course of of getting in contact with prospects who’ve purchased the watch to work out an answer. “We are investigating the issue, recalling review models, and will be temporarily suspending sales on touchscreen models while we pinpoint the source of the issue and the best path to a solution for our customers and partners,” a Citizen spokesperson stated in an e mail. The short-term suspension of gross sales will take every week if no more to iron out.
The Gen-2 CZ Smart is a successor to the unique CZ Smart from 2020, and it runs Google’s Wear OS 3 smartwatch platform. It’s speculated to carry out identical to any other smartwatch—you possibly can test and reply to notifications, management music playback, and management your sensible dwelling units—however Citizen overestimated a customized app it constructed for the watch, known as CZ Smart YouQ.
YouQ stems from a partnership with IBM Watson and NASA researchers. After you put on the look ahead to a interval of time, it’s speculated to study your bodily and cognitive power ranges. Eventually, it assigns you a Power Score day-after-day, and it may possibly counsel “Power Fixes” to vary the trajectory of your power ranges so you are feeling extra wired than drained. These fixes may be so simple as having a cup of espresso, or they could be a little extra intense, like lifting weights for half-hour.
This idea isn’t new, as corporations like Fitbit and Garmin have lengthy had instruments like Daily Readiness Scores and Body Battery that can be utilized to gauge how prepared you’re for bodily exercise. But Citizen’s strategy is extra centered on bettering alertness and productiveness all through the day, not only for train.
The {hardware} within the CZ Smart isn’t the most recent—it’s powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 4100+ processor, whereas newer Wear OS smartwatches just like the TicWatch Pro 5 make the most of Qualcomm’s newer Snapdragon W5+ chipset, which is quicker and extra battery-efficient. However, there have been Wear OS smartwatches with the identical chipset because the CZ Smart that don’t have any of the identical flaws.
Citizen didn’t share a timeline for the way lengthy it expects to pause gross sales, however given the breadth of issues, it is likely to be a while.
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