Asus has been known for a long time for design and power. Their computers have garnered attention from gamers, design lovers, and power users alike, while their smartphones have cornered a specific and niche market of trans-device users who need a tablet and phone. But, as we have seen for a few weeks, they are working their aesthetic genius on Android Wear.
The Asus ZenWatch has been rumored for a while, and it was announced officially recently. Now Google Play has the latest Wear watch listed in their online catalogue. No, you can’t buy it, but yes, it is ‘Coming Soon’. The device, surprisingly, will only cost you $200 USD, so it’s one of the more affordable Wear devices to date. The best part, however, is something that we had heard a little of a little while ago.
The customizations added onto Android by Asus, called ZenUI, were rumored to be present, and that was odd. Wear is supposed to be, and it is actually part of the philosophy of the platform, pure and unskinned by any manufacturer. We had heard that the watch would feature the ZenUI of Wear, but on the store page, we have that clarified completely. The ZenWatch will run pure Android Wear, obviously, but it can also work in conjunction with Asus’ smartphone interface to extend ZenUI’s functionality to the ZenWatch.
That should definitely add some value to the watch, given that its design is really unique with a curved, rounded-pebble-esque body and leather straps. With the ZenWatch, we also see some extended Asus features that use the watch, so Asus smartphone users look into what it offers. As per usual, let’s run down the internals of the ZenWatch for you spec junkies.
It’s got a 1.63-inch AMOLED display sitting at a resolution of 320 by 320. It’s got an IP55 water and dust resistance rating. The watch has a 1.4 Watt-hour that powers the Snapdragon 400 processor and its 512 megabytes of RAM so it should work just fine. It only weighs 75 grams, so it should feel substantial but not too weighty. Regardless, it will be an interesting device to track and catch on release.
Knowing how the Wear competition is right now, do you think the ZenWatch will succeed or garner any real demand, even given the price tag? The Android Wear ecosystem has been very much a pure experience, so it should be interesting to see a specifically targeted set of features and add-ons on a Wear watch. Would you consider picking this one up, especially if it comes out in time for the holidays? Let us know down below.