Here at Goos3D, we like to keep our ears to the ground. All this week, when we haven’t been honing our Fantasy Football teams, we’ve been keeping a sharp eye on developments at IFA in Berlin. One of the first gadgets that caught our eye was the Asus ZenWatch 3.
Design
At first glance, the Asus ZenWatch 3 certainly has the look of a high-quality wearable device. At launch, it will be available in three different colours. Rose Gold, Bronze, and Silver, all of which will sport a premium stainless steel finish.
Previous iterations of the ZenWatch were rectangular in shape, similar in design to the Apple Watch. This time, Asus have gone with the more popular circular watch face, 1.39 inches in size, and carrying an AMOLED display. There are also three function buttons on the side of the display, giving the Asus Zenwatch 3 a real watch look and feel. The wearable is also IP67 certified, meaning it is water and dust resistant.
Functionality
The Asus ZenWatch 3 is the first smartwatch running Android Wear 2.0. While there are no immediate benefits, running Android 2.0 makes the Asus ZenWatch 3 future proof to any upcoming app developments on the Android Wear platform.
Under the shiny exterior, the Asus ZenWatch 3 is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 2100 chipset. The biggest difference this makes relates to the charging capabilities. Asus suggested that the battery would charge to 60% after 15 minutes. Hands-on tests at IFA would appear to confirm this.
The three buttons on the side of the display are all functional. The middle button returns the user to the main display. The top button initiates the fitness app, while the bottom button brings the user to the settings menu.
Price and Release Date for the Asus Zenwatch 3
There are no confirmed release dates for the Asus ZenWatch 3 as yet, but suggestions are that it will be available in mainland Europe from late this year. Pricing starts at US$ 229, making the Asus ZenWatch an affordable and stylish player in the wearable market.
