14 DAY TRIAL // Since LG and Samsung already took the cat out of the bag, smartwatch-wise, before IFA 2014, the path has been cleared for ASUS to attract all smartwatch lovers' eyes present in Berlin next week.
The company certainly knows how to keep fans interested, and in the last few days we have seen a bunch of teaser images and videos arrive in the wild, designed to keep our imagination busy until the real deal comes along.
Up until now, we didn't know much about the specs the ZenWatch will bring to the table, but as the launching date draws near, so does ASUS’ willingness to provide us with some answers.
Now, ASUS CEO himself, Jerry Shen has talked to Focus Taiwan and confirmed a few things for us. For example, until now the consensus on the street has been that the ZenWatch will sell with a price tag between $99 and $149 / €113 and €106.
Shen says the watch will be marketed for a sub $199 / €151 rate, which makes us think we’re going to see the product arrive in retail for around $140 / €113.
Another clarification we get today is that the ZenWatch will run Android Wear out of the box, making it the cheapest watch to run Google’s own wearable platform.
On top of that, the ASUS official said the device would feature voice commands with voice recognition being available only in English initially.
Earlier rumors also claimed that the intelligent timepiece would come with a distinctive property that should set it apart from other similar devices and we’re talking about gesture controls, which is something we’d certainly love to see.
Sadly, Shen didn't mention anything about this matter. We guess we’ll just have to wait and see on the day of the big event.
Another aspect we extrapolated from, looking at the sketches teased by the company a few days ago, is that the ZenWatch might arrive with a curved display, something in the vein of the Samsung Gear S. No clarification on this matter was given either.
Last but not least, Shen reveals that those located in the US and other select markets will be able to pick up a ZenWatch of their own starting with September.
At this point, there are a lot of things left to be answered, but at least we know that if the LG G Watch R or Samsung Gear S turn out to be too expensive, the ZenWatch will be there to fill our void.
