IFA 2014: Asus ZenWatch and MeMO Pad 7 hands-on

Asus ZenWatch hands-on

Not as impatient or ambitious as Samsung, Asus decided to wait for Google to make the Android Wear platform available before bringing its own smartwatch to the market.

Asus ZenWatch

The ZenWatch has a 1.63" AMOLED display with a resolution of 320 x 320px, resulting in 278ppi. Here's what the ZenWatch brings to the table.

Asus ZenWatch at a glance

• Form factor: 1.63" smartwatch with changeable straps
• Dimensions: 50.6 x 39.8 x 7.9-9.4mm Weight, 50g body, 25g strap
• Display: 1.63" AMOLED touchscreen with 320 x 320 resolution (278ppi), Curved 2.5D Gorilla Glass 3
• Chipset: Snapdragon 400; 1.2GHz, 512MB RAM
• OS: Android Wear
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.0, MicroUSB port on charding cradle
• Storage: 4GB built-in
• Battery: 1.4Wh
• Misc: IP55 rating for water resistance, built-in microphone

The watch feels extremely nice on the wrist, we can tell Asus took their time manufacturing the watch to perfection. The strap is exchangeable and made out of leather. It feels really premium and above the majority of smartwatch straps we've seen thus far. The strap is also easy to release with a latch on either side of it.

Asus ZenWatch

The display looks every bit as good as those from Samsung's Super AMOLED Gear series of smartwatches. Viewing angles, typical AMOLED, are really wide and retain contrast even at extreme tilt.

Asus ZenWatch

The bottom of the Asus ZenWatch is stainless steel and has pins where the charging cradle would attach. The latter has a MicroUSB port for charging.

Asus ZenWatch

Android Wear looks really good but the unit we had wasn't much more than a demo version and we couldn't really interact with the OS. It will sync calls and notifications on your smartphone, count steps, find places for you and more. Given the ZenWatch has a built-in microphone it will be able to take calls.

The Asus ZenWatch costs €199 and is expected to arrive on shelves by the end of the year.