The Asus ZenWatch surprised a lot of people as one of the best Android Wear devices of 2014. It was one of the more attractive square watches and very affordable. What will Asus do to follow the success? We’ll have to wait a bit longer to find out.
Asus CEO jerry Shen reportedly told NDTV Gadgets that they are working on a new smartwatch, but they don’t plan to launch the ZenWatch 2 in 2015. However, he didn’t say it won’t be announced, so hopefully we’ll hear something about it before the calendar flips to 2016. Shen also revealed that the watch will come in two different sizes for men and women, similar to the Apple Watch.
There will be many new smartwatches announced before the end of the year. Hopefully Asus doesn’t fall too far behind by waiting until next year. What did you think about the Asus ZenWatch? Are you interested in the ZenWatch 2, or is that too long to wait?
ASUS showed up at Computex 2015 as they always do (considering it’s the premier tech event in their own backyard of Taiwan), and they didn’t disappoint with a few nice announcements. One of the devices on tap was a new smart watch.
It’s the ASUS ZenWatch 2, and the rumors were true. ASUS cooked up 2 different sizes, one for those who prefer a little bulk and the more petite option that most women might prefer. The company is still going with a square watch face, though the chassis isn’t without a round nature.
The ZenWatch 2 features a physical dial (which we imagine can be used to navigate the system), an OLED display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, Gorilla Glass 3 and IP67 specification for dust and water resistance. You get a magnetic mechanism for charging the device, which is a great feature as no one wants to have to clasp their smart watch into a bothersome cradle every night.
On the presentation side, there will be a wide range of wrist bands available post-launch — some in rubber, leather and even a special edition Swarovski set featuring actual Swarovski crystyals — though the device comes with stainless steel straps as standard.
For software, you can expect the latest version of Android Wear and improved wellness and remote camera apps, though ASUS didn’t go into detail about what, exactly, was different. We’re not sure if the watch will support Android Wear’s new WiFi support (the initial spec list doesn’t mention one) so we’ll have to dig for more to see if this thing can offer the same level of connectivity as LG’s Watch Urbane.
And that’s about all we know. ASUS didn’t have pricing or availability to mention, which makes us feel as if we won’t be seeing a product ready to buy until late Q3 at best. Let’s hope we’re wrong, though, because the ZenWatch 2 doesn’t look half bad.
