News & Reviews:   ASUS smartwatch

Most Android Wear smartwatches these days are round and don’t do much more than what Android Wear allows you to do. Granted, you can do a lot more than before but if you’ve already tried out and Android Wear smartwatch, chances are the experience is more or less the same for most devices. Standing out from the growing crowd of round smartwatches is the ASUS ZenWatch 2, which retains its thin, slim and sleek rectangular body with a curved glass touchscreen. Filled with a whole bunch of new gesture driven commands and priced well below RM1000, is the ASUS ZenWatch 2 worth your while? Find out in our full review of the ASUS ZenWatch 2 below.

ASUS recently announced their new ASUS ZenWatch 2, the second generation in the ASUS ZenWatch series (which didn't manage to make it to Malaysia officially last time). While keeping the same beautiful curved glass look and design, the new ZenWatch 2 offers a different size and many other options to customize the smartwatch according to your tastes. The ZenWatch 2 will come in the original size with a 1.63-inch display at a 320 x 320 pixel resolution, but there is now a smaller version with a 1.45-inch display and 280 x 280 pixel resolution. Both feature the same tech specs which include a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, 512MB RAM, 4GB storage and a 400 mAh battery for the larger version and 300 mAh battery for the smaller version. Both use a magnetic connector to charge and are expected to launch in October although there are no specific Malaysia release dates just yet. You can customize the ZenWatch by choosing from a silver, gunmetal grey or rose gold body, various watch straps and using a watchface-creation tool. International pricing begins at €149 (RM702) for the larger version and €169 (RM796) for the smaller version.

While the ASUS ZenWatch (W1500Q) has not been made officially available in Malaysia, third-party sellers like SatuGadgetDotCom and DirectD are now selling the smartwatch from RM799. Other third-party sellers can also be found selling it for as low as RM769 which you can see with a quick visit toLelong.com.my. As a refresher the tech specs for the ZenWatch include a Snapdragon 400 processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage and a curved 1.63-inch display with 320 x 320 pixel resolution covered by a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Available in rose gold and silver, the ZenWatch comes with a leather strap and is compatible with devices that can run Android Wear. 

ASUS Malaysia recently announced their Face the Future global contest for their ASUS ZenWatch smartwatch. Beginning from 10 January 2015 (today) to 10 February 2015 you can send in your own ZenWatch watch face design which could become one of the standard watch faces included with the ASUS ZenWatch. Winners will win the ASUS ZenWatch with a prize for 6 categories including Overall Gold Medal, Best Beauty in Design, Best Practical Design, Best Creative Design, Best Student Design Award and Fan Favorite. In addition, 3 more ASUS ZenWatch smartwatches will also be up for grabs in a lucky draw for users who vote for their favourite designs, so everyone wins. Check out the ASUS ZenWatch site for more details or go and download the ASUS ZenWatch Watch Face Template for your entry in the Face the Future contest. Still no news on Malaysia release dates, but considering this Face the Future contest we expect the ASUS ZenWatch to make an appearance in Malaysia soon, probably after the contest ends, so stay tuned for more developments. 

ASUS Malaysia recently announced their Face the Future global contest for their ASUS ZenWatch smartwatch. Beginning from 10 January 2015 (today) to 10 February 2015 you can send in your own ZenWatch watch face design which could become one of the standard watch faces included with the ASUS ZenWatch. Winners will win the ASUS ZenWatch with a prize for 6 categories including Overall Gold Medal, Best Beauty in Design, Best Practical Design, Best Creative Design, Best Student Design Award and Fan Favorite. In addition, 3 more ASUS ZenWatch smartwatches will also be up for grabs in a lucky draw for users who vote for their favourite designs, so everyone wins. Check out the ASUS ZenWatch site for more details or go and download the ASUS ZenWatch Watch Face Template for your entry in the Face the Future contest. Still no news on Malaysia release dates, but considering this Face the Future contest we expect the ASUS ZenWatch to make an appearance in Malaysia soon, probably after the contest ends, so stay tuned for more developments. 

ASUS have officially announced the ASUS ZenWatch (WI500Q), confirming a curved screen, premium look and gesture-based shortcuts. The overall design of the smartwatch is definitely premium with a classy metal chassis that is both thin and shiny right down to the chrome finish. Measuring in at 50.6 x 39.8 x 7.9-9.4mm and 75g the ZenWatch is quite slim and trim. Tech specs for the ZenWatch are not bad at all with a Snapdragon 400 processor,  512MB of RAM,  4GB of storage and a curved 1.63-inch display with 320 x 320 pixel resolution covered by a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The watch has a leather strap and IP55 water resistance certification.  This means that it can probably take a shower or some rain but may not survive a swim. The ZenWatch runs on Android Wear with the ASUS ZenUI user interface but we're not sure if this also means that the watch may only have 1GB of storage left due to all the ZenUI apps. According to ASUS,  they have more than 100 watch faces but one of the more notable features is gesture-based system of shortcuts such as covering the watch to mute it and so forth. While there are still no Malaysia release dates or pricing details yet,  early estimates have it priced at around $260 (RM823) which places it on par with other smartwatches in the country. Hopefully, the price comes down a little for it to remain competitive.

ASUS has confirmed that their upcoming smartwatch will be called the ASUS ZenWatch in a new teaser video. While the official announcement for the ZenWatch remains 3 September 2014 at the IFA 2014 event, the video does reveal the curved look of ASUS's upcoming Android Wear smartwatch. So far, there are still no confirmed tech specs or features yet but the teasers have revealed that it could come with a "smooth shell", "front camera" and "genuine leather" strap. No news yet on pricing but many are expecting it to cost around $99 (RM313). Stay tuned for more developments.

ASUS recently showed a teaser image of what could be their first Android Wear smartwatch, set for the upcoming IFA 2014 event on 3 September 2014. Recently, ASUS have revealed another teaser image, this time showing design sketches and notes. While there aren't any specific tech specs the design sketches show a curved display while the notes mention features like a "smooth shell" and "front camera" along with a "genuine leather" wrist band. Overall, it looks very nice and rumours indicate that it could be priced from $99 (RM313). This would definitely make it more attractive than many other smartwatches here, most of which are priced around RM899. No news yet on Malaysia release dates but we should find out more next week so stay tuned.

ASUS recently posted a teaser image for what "incredible" things they may bring to IFA 2014 and the teaser image clearly shows what we assume to be a smartwatch face. The quote that came with the teaser, "Time has been transformed, and we have changed, Khalil Gibran" also points towards an ASUS smartwatch. Previously, when we asked our ASUS Malaysia peeps they said ASUS is interested but didn't have anything concrete yet, as such we also don't have any tech specs or details to share. As it is, we assume it will run Android Wear and hopefully be priced affordably enough to make it attractive. The IFA 2014 event will start on 3 September 2014 so stay tuned for more developments.

Word that Google was working on an extension of Android designed for wearables has been around for quite some time. In a surprise move, Google have announced Android Wear, a mobile operating system for wearables. The main focus of Android Wear looks to provide location and context related information when and where you need it while offering voice commands, much like the current Google Now. Rather than use buttons, most of the interface that we could see relies on gestures like swipes. Both LG and Motorola have already announced their Android Wear driven smartwatches and we're thinking other smartwatch devs like ASUS, Samsung, HTC and Huawei could be developing Android Wear wearables as well. So far, most Android Wear devices seem to be smartwatches, and there is no information yet on how it might run smartglasses or a different kind of wearable, but these are still early days. For now, check out the videos in this article.