Asus have been struggling to get the ZenWatch in a good position on the market. The line has generally been met with mixed responses from critics and fans alike, and even though the company introduced various improvements with the release of the ZenWatch 2, that was still not enough. The form factor was one of the common complaints, and a recent alleged leak of the ZenWatch 3 seems to show that Asus have finally decided to go round with their design.
We don’t know if the pictures are real or not, although they’ve already been discussed by various publications, and needless to say Android fans are all over them as well. Could this finally be a winning entry into the market for Asus?
It should go without saying that the pictures are not confirmed, but they do coincide with another recent leak about the device, its FCC filing. It’s starting to look more and more credible that Asus are indeed going with a round design this time, but what else could they be planning for the ZenWatch 3?
After all, changing the form factor of the device would be an obvious plus (at least with regards to the feedback they’ve been getting before), but that wasn’t all people complained about in the previous editions of the ZenWatch. Some internal hardware changes will be necessary as well, and last but not least, Asus should revise the interface of the device to some extent if they want it to be properly recognized this time.
There isn’t much time left to go before Asus are supposed to make the big announcement, so we’ll find out if the leak was genuine or not soon enough. And if the ZenWatch 3 comes with any special changes to its hardware and/or software, the company will obviously focus on those in their presentation as well. August 31 should be an interesting day for Android fans looking to get a new wearable, as well as those who’re interested in joining this trend for the first time too.
This is actually not a bad time to make that unveiling, as the smartwatch market has been relatively quiet recently. All major players seem to be keeping their developments private for the time being, so Asus are in a good position to make a big splash once they unveil the ZenWatch 3.
Some common requests we’ve seen in fan discussions about the device seem to concern its charging capabilities and battery life. It’s implied that we’re going to get a watch that supports fast charging, although it may still be a wired solution, or it will require at least some form of physical contact. That’s not such a major problem if the docking station is designed in an intuitive way though, and if Asus are making major revisions of the physical design of the ZenWatch, they could take the time to come up with a clever solution for that as well.
One thing that’s a bit confusing from the pictures of the device is an apparent increase in size compared to the previous ZenWatch. It’s not clear if this is actually the case, or if the pictures were just taken at a peculiar angle, but the watch still doesn’t look bad even in this context. It will probably be criticized a bit if it’s indeed larger than before, but as long as there is some justification for the increase (such as additional sensors) customers should be happy.