ZenWatch

As we approach the Holiday season, what would a week be without another smartwatch launch! This time it is Asus’s turn; the Asus ZenWatch 2 will be available in retail beginning Friday, October 9th. While we were a fan of the design of the original ZenWatch, we were less than excited when the followup was announced this summer. The company took everything we loved about the original design and made it worse and did not address any of the visual shortcomings (we are looking at you, giant bezel). Hardware wise, little has changed except an improved charging system. Asus is boasting improved software but that is most likely due to improvements of Android Wear over the past year. There are two pieces of good news though. First, there will be a 36mm version, which is downright tiny for an Android Wear device. Second, it will be one of the least expensive current model smartwatches for the Holidays: $149.

With the 2015 versions of several smartwatches costing more than their predecessor, it is nice to see that Asus has actually reduced the price of the ZenWatch 2 by $50 versus the original. Incorporating such minimal hardware updates and lazy design decisions, it was probably smart of Asus to go after the lower end of the smartwatch audience. Despite once being a flagship product, Asus seems to recognize that it is not going to be able to successfully compete against the Apple Watches and Moto 360s of the world. While from a wearables perspective we are not impressed with the new smartwatch from Asus, it will serve the $150 price point well and could prove to be a vehicle to spur an uptick in the adaption rate of connected watches.

This week at Computex, Asus showed off their new ZenWatch 2 smartwatch. The original ZenWatch was released last fall and was easily one of the best looking smartwatches that had been released at the point. It featured a beautiful, slightly curved, square screen and impressive detailing along the sides. The Android Wear device’s biggest issue, stylistically, was its large size and the giant ugly bezel surrounding the screen. Our hope at the time was the when version 2 hit, Asus would trim down the size and the bezel.

Well, we got one of our wishes; the ZenWatch 2 now comes in two sizes, 45mm and 49mm, both of which are smaller than the original’s 51mm size. Considering that a lot of people felt the 38mm Apple Watch was too large, these sizes will not work for everyone. Also, we are left wondering who the person is that feels like a 45mm watch is just not large enough for them. The bezel, on the other hand seems, to only have gotten bigger. And, man is it ugly. In fact, the whole watch seems to have got uglier. Gone are the beautiful recessed metal side, replaced by a disproportioned “digital-crown” knock off that makes the whole watch look cheap. With the ZenWatch 2, Asus seems to have only emphasized the things we disliked about the original. That combined with the knock off product video of watch bands connecting while floating in a white space and rumored near-identical tech-specs, we are left with a bad taste in our mouths. Head past the break to see the video: (UPDATE: someone must of agreed that the product launch video seemed a little too copycat; it has been removed from YouTube. Thankfully someone has reposted it. Video is now working again after the break)  

Asus has announced that its Android Wear ZenWatch will be launching November 9th in the US at Best Buy. The stylishly square Android Wear device has a more elegant look than a lot of its competition, closely resembling the Apple Watch. The $199 device features a 40mm face which houses a 1.56 inch AMOLED display. While the device does feature a heart rate monitor, it lacks built in GPS. The ZenWatch is the first Android Wear device that features a customized software set. For the first round of Android based wearables, Google wanted to tightly lock down the user experience. It will be interesting to see what Asus is able to do with that new found freedom. The ZenWatch will also be available through the Google Play store at a later time.