Asus will be ushering the first Windows-based smartwatch in the global retail market with its plan to launch the second generation ZenWatch during the Milano Design Week (MDW) 2015 in Italy scheduled to start this week.
In October, the Taiwanese tech company launched the first ever ZenWatch in Japan but it was Android-based.
The first ZenWatch featured a 1.63-inch display screen that runs on Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, with 4GB of internal storage, and a continuous heart rate monitor on the side, notes PC.
It also comes with a 396 mAH battery that delivers two days of battery life, which is one of its major downsides as an Android watch.
Longer battery life
Asus’ second-generation smartwatch particularly addresses the battery life issue of its predecessor.
Known as VivoWatch, the ZenWatch now boasts of a 10-day battery life that is perhaps one of the longest, if not the longest, among Android watches available in the market today.
While many of the fans of the ZenWatch were expecting that the VivoWatch will be the usual Android Wear like its predecessor, Asus may pull off a surprise by launching the ZenWatch running on Microsoft’s Windows for Wearables operating system for its software.
Although Asus has yet to confirm that its next smartwatch will be Windows-based, there is a report that came out which said that the Taiwanese company made a trademark filing on January 29 for VivoWatch.
Asus has traditionally used the ‘Vivo’ name for its Windows-based products like the VivoTab and VivoPC.
Regardless of whether the second generation ZenWatch will be based on Android or Windows, the news already had some of its fans excited and can hardly wait to see how the new Asus smartwatch would look like. There are reports saying that Asus is planning to release a teaser video for the ZenWatch at the MDW 2015 event this week.
Hints on the ZenWatch
Asus has released a cryptic teaser on its ZenWatch just days before the start of the MDW 2015 in Italy.
The teaser lets everyone in on the company’s vision inspired by Zen and it features a martial arts master doing his craft in serene, natural environments as a piano plays in the background. Then the words vision, harmony, simplicity, inspiration, emotion, and mastery fades in and out to the video.
The end had the phrase ‘see what we see,’ which already hints of the unravelling of the next generation of smartwatch from the Taiwanese tech company as inspired by its Zen line which have also used in its smartphones. The promo however did not disclose any specific about the ZenWatch.
With the Apple Watch making it to the market last week, the second generation ZenWatch is likely to give it a quiet run for the money the way that its ZenFones had over the iPhones and the other flagship devices from other smartphone makers.