Asus has officially joined the wearables market with its very own ZenWatch. As you can see from the image above, this is one sexy looking watch though as far as I’ve understood, it’s rather big. Then again, it’s not like competing products are petite by any stretch of imagination; that battery needs some room so something’s gotta give.
We wouldn’t say the ZenWatch looks nicer than LG’s G Watch R and Samsung’s Gear S, but it’s definitely in the same league. This is the league of smart watches that we could see being used by average users, not just mega-geeks. 😉
Specs wise, Asus’ baby is very similar to other Android Wear products, rocking a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chip coupled with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage. There’s also a 1.4Wh battery which should get you through the day. The built-in brain comes with a caveat, you know. But you also get a charging cradle for adding extra juice when needed.
Expect all of the standard Android Wear bells and whistles, along with the ability to track your fitness activities. Asus also included some of its own software tweaks to further improve the experience. Some of these features include “Tap Tap” for activating a pre-assigned function by double-tapping the watch; “Cover to Mute,” “Find My Phone,” “Remote Camera” and “Presentation Control.”
The Asus ZenWatch is an IP55-rated device which makes it dust- and water-resistant. This, however, doesn’t mean you can swim with it; but you can use in the rain.
Asus’ smart watch will be available in Europe for 199 EUR (about $260). It should hit the stores in early Q4, or perhaps late Q4.
Any takers?