Asus is once again lives up to its reputation as a tech company which can offer a product that has high-end specifications but very competitively priced when it officially released to the retail markets the ZenWatch 2 on October 9.
For a retail price of $149, the Asus ZenWatch 2 is certainly a great option especially for those looking for their first Android Wear device, notes the Franchise Herald.
Accordingly, it will hit the European market later this month at a slightly higher retail price of $168.
The good news, as far as consumers are concerned, is that the Asus ZenWatch 2 actually undercuts its Android Wear rivals while keeping the features that the other smart wearables have.
The Asus ZenWatch 2 is a modest update from its already solid Android Wear smart wearable released last year. In addition to a hardware button on the side to wake and sleep the device, there is hardly any physical change on the second iteration of the ZenWatch, notes Android Central.
While it may not be the flashiest smartwatch in the market today, but it’s price is the difference-maker among competitors.
The two sizes of ZenWatch 2
The Asus ZenWatch comes in two sizes. The larger one sports a 1.63-inch display with a 320 x 320 AMOLED resolution while the smaller one features a 1.45-inch display with 280 x 280 screen resolution.
The larger one also has a 400 mAH battery while the smaller one makes use of a 300 mAH battery.
But both variants of the Asus ZenWatch 2 are powered by the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor that has 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage.
The smart wearable comes in three stainless steel colors – gunmetal, silver, and rose gold. But its straps come in 18 colors and material combinations.
Bundling the Asus ZenWatch 2
It may be a soft sell for interested consumers to bundle the new Asus ZenWatch 2 with the many variants of the Asus ZenFone 2 now out in the global retail markets, but according to Asus executive Jonney Shih, the second-generation Asus smartwatch is a perfect companion to a smartphone.
Shih went on to explain that as a companion device, the central processing unit and operating system of the Asus ZenWatch 2 still has a lot of room for improvement. He believes that those two facets of the smartwatch running on Android Wear can still be simplified so that its battery life can last up to seven days,
The existing Asus ZenWatch 2 has a battery life that last for four full days before requiring a charge. Its battery life is actually one of the best in the market today.
It seems that the Asus executive is looking to further improve on perfection. But his idea seems feasible since the Taiwanese tech company has already done it with the VivoWatch, which it launched early this year. The VivoWatch runs a simpler operating system but boasts of a 10-day battery life.
The Asus ZenWatch 2 is cheaper than the Motorola Moto 360, but it really looks good. Though it is not yet in the caliber of a James Bond wrist phone, there is a good chance that Asus and other smartwatch makers would soon come to that in the very near future.
It’s an entry-level smartwatch so for those looking to have a gadget for fun, then the Asus ZenFone 2 is the best device to start with.
The smartwatch has all the typical amenities a user would expect from a smart wearable including Bluetooth 4.1 and Wi-Fi, onboard sensors that detect user gestures and movements, and even water-resistant too.
The entire assembly is encased in a rectangular bubble made of hard Gorilla Glass so the smartwatch really feels solid and scratch-resistant too.