Earlier this month, Asus (TWSE: 2357, LSE: ASKD) announced the ZenWatch 2 at Computex in Taipei. With this, leading e-Commerce retailers including, Amazon, NewEgg and electronics retailer Best Buy have now lowered the price of the first generation smartwatch down to $150. The first-generation ZenWatch is not a watch that boasts many features as such, but it is still a great device running on a 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 processor with 512MB of RAM.
The ZenWatch is powered by Android Wear and has recently been updated to Android 5.1.1 but due to the hardware limitations, it isn’t capable of supporting Wi-Fi functionality. Thus, you’ll have to carry your phone along with it in order to use all its features.
One might be confused between buying the ZenWatch and the ZenWatch 2, one of the peculiar difference that comes to mind is the revamped design and the availability of two size options with a 37mm face and a 41mm one. The watch is both water and dust proof. Also, the ZenWatch 2 has a magnetic charging system which allows for easy charging of the device.
Amongst all the other changes in the device, the ZenWatch 2 has an improved battery life that can last up to 4 days.
The ZenWatch isn’t the newest model in the market but the hardware specifications of the smartwatch make sure that it is good enough to handle Android Wear and its upcoming features for quite some while. If you can compromise on the few letdowns due to the hardware missing Wi-Fi capability and you like the $150 price point then it’s a deal you shouldn’t miss.
