I don't like analog watches. I wish there was a watch like the basic casio I use but smart, but not huge and rugged like a G-Shock. If pebble releases a modern version of their watch, I might finally buy a smartwatch.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.azya.fitbi...
Casio has smaller G-Shock smartwatches (not just the giant circular ones) that track your activity, heartrate, etc. But if you want smartphone notifications, then yeah, sadly you are out of luck.
I am totally with you overall, though. I feel that if someone were to nail it, it would be Casio.
So when friend send a simple "thumbs up", it displays the Unicode replacement character.
How does the Casio do it?
Were you referring to that icon in the top left corner of the display that looks like it could be a notification counter? If yes, then that’s a fair point, but just being able to see the number of notifications is not the same as being able to see notifications (especially since it doesn’t seem like it would even tell you which app the notification is from, let alone what it was).
I would love to be corrected in case I am wrong, because it could be entirely possible that I am not even looking at the correct watch.
0. https://www.casio.com/us/watches/gshock/product.GBD-200-1/
I haven't made one myself because last I checked it was a hassle to ship, but this might be what you're looking for, F91-W exterior with minimally smart replacement innards.