[rwp-review id=”0″]
It’s interesting to see wearable tech evolve. Yes, Android Wear is here to stay. With Asus making some innovative things in the past, think the Asus Fonepad, it’s no surprise they have taken a gander at the wearable world with the Zenwatch and it looks that Asus will be staying with Android Wear for quite a bit. It got me curious and I’m no fan of wearing extra wearables and I was quite at odds how I could try and adapt to it. It’s also worth noting that the the Zenwatch is fighting for its place among the G Watch, Moto 360 and the Huawei watch, Sony’s smartwatch 3 and Samsung Gear Live and not to mention Apple Watch. what it does have going for it is the affordable price tag which has become reason for Asustek to come up with the Zenwatch 2 it is purported to have a much longer battery life which could run for days, though when that releases this year is anyone’s guess.
Focusing on the Zenwatch, I spent a greal deal with it and I’ll admit it took some time getting used to but I grew accustomed to it and felt great.
Display
The Zenwatch has a rectangular face with curved edges. And you’re probably going to skip on the watch on first glance by its shape, if personal taste dictates you don’t like square faces like me. However if you give it a chance, the screen’s display is alright to look at. However you’ll notice that the OLED screen tends to pixelate on a more concentrated viewing but since it runs at 320 x 320 (278 ppi) It’s still higher than LG’s G Watch but the screen does provide with robust and vibrant colors that make Google’s material design pop.
Now here’s where I take issue. There’s just too much bezel and at the very least the Zenwatch should have come with am ambient light sensor. You’re limited to five brightness levels which you choose manually and that can be cumbersome. However I didn’t find myself adjusting brightness levels as I was happy with the default setting which set the brightness halfway and it was fine to view it in both indoor and outdoor scenarios.
Design
The Zenwatch’s square face will give you an impression that it looks close to an Apple Watch and it certainly fooled a few people I knew on the street when I wore it. The coffee colored leather strap is comfortable, and very attractive. The rectangular face also happens to be more rounded. The brushed steel bezel give the watch the signature Asus look as well. The same bezel however throws away from the entire design which would have worked if the screen was a bit bigger. The 22mm strap has a clasp which you can adjust for different sizes and latch it in place.
The body surprisingly is also water resistant but as expected the leather isn’t. The display is tucked nicely with corning gorilla glass 3 so it will take accidental drops or bumps easy, so you could say Asus really prefered function and durability over form which isn’t wrong on their part but you can be sure this design language will change with the next generation of watches. A crown would have added on to the design but that would be cutting it to close to the Apple Watch’s design.
On the Inside
Hardware
The Zenwatch is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor clocked at 1.7 GHz. It comes with 512 MB Ram and 4 GB of on board storage, ideal for putting music. The curved screen as I’ve previously mentioned is a 320 x 320 pixel AMOLED and comes with Bluetooth , 369 mAh battery and the heart rate monitor along with 9-axis sensors.
Interface
The Zenwatch runs Android Wear and if you’re familiar with it, you’ll find nothing different. Basic information appears on screen through Google Now cards. Swiping left to right removes cards while the opposite direction gives you more options. The home screen watch face takes you the app menu and recent apps appear as well. There’s also settings which you can change, the steps you’ve taken as well as the daily calendar and alarm. You can interface with the watch through Android Wear but Asus has a third party app for that which auto installs when you launch the Zenwatch or sync it via Bluetooth.
The Zenwatch manager lets you customize the watch face and lets you put proximity warnings so you don’t forget your watch. You can also turn down the phone ring but clamping your watch. When I changed the watch face via Zenmate manager, it took a few seconds to sync and I found myself changing interfaces from the watch itself. The Zenwatch manager has a lot of apps that you can download right off the bat, including a remote camera, music and Zenwatch Wellness. Jawbone even has their UP app in there. I had no trouble at all in this department getting music to play from the watch. You can also chose to answer or decline calls using the watch and answering them means you pick up your phone again. It is useful to see who’s calling if your phone doesn’t happen to be on your or in your pocket and can mute calls by placing your hand over the watch. The Zenwatch has a lot of watch faces and I liked the aviator designs in particular, if that doesn’t suit your fancy you can customize the colors and Android Lollipop lets you add more faces too.
The heart rate monitor didn’t function for me at all and after looking it up, I realized the part of contact with my wrist is that hair kept getting in the way. Speaking of, hairy hands and wearables don’t seem to play nice. I didn’t actively use the Zenwatch wear fitness was concerned due to the concern of sweaty hands not being good for the leather and thus relied on Google Fit to remind me to keep moving and accomplish the steps for the day.
Battery Life
The Zenwatch is powered with a 369 mAh battery which should be sufficient enough to get you through a day and a half on a single charge provided you use it like a normal watch and not as a media device. Playing music or using the GPS reduce the duration but for an average user, I had notifications on, bluetooth was on until the end of the day and brightness set to default and I got it till 45 hours until it needed charging again. The Zenwatch has its own charging cradle which snaps to the back of the smartwatch and is plugged by a micro USB cord to plug into a power outlet and it charges back up pretty quickly.
The Verdict
I’m sold at the idea of a smartwatch and the Zenwatch is a solid device for the price you’ll be getting it at. The rounded square designed puts the Zenwatch squarely in direct contrast to the Apple Watch and it certainly got a few people noticed when I wore it. I do have minor issues with the bezel and could have used more of that space to give a larger screen. Where your money is concerned you can get your hands on the Zenwatch for less than 200 dollars and that’s saying something. It will be a safe guess to put the Zenwatch on the same tier as the present generation of smartwatches out there and I’d recommend you pick this up from Souq.com if you prefer Android Wear your and smartwatch squared.
