Asus to Launch Zenfone 4, 5 and 6 on 11 April in China; Specs Details
Asus to Launch Zenfone 4, 5 and 6 on 11 April in China; Specs Details Reuters

The Asus ZenWatch which was first unveiled during the IFA tech trade show in Sept this year is all set to release in the U.S. today with a price tag of USD 199. The smartwatch built by the Taiwanese tech company is powered with the Android Wear OS. The Android Wear platform was first revealed during the Google I/O event that was held in June.

According to TechCrunch, starting on Nov 9, the Asus ZenWatch will be available for the U.S. audience through Best Buy. Even Google Play Store will start selling the ZenWatch very soon states the same source.

PhoneArena cites that the Asus ZenWatch has couple of attractive features which makes it stand out from the likes of Motorola Moto 360, LG Watch R and Samsung Gear S. It has a impressive rectangular screen which features a circular metallic face.

Google had previously stated that it won’t allow OEMs to customize the Android Wear OS. However, it has started allowing customizations just as the Android OS is customized by smartphone manufacturers. Hence, the Android Wear OS on the Asus ZenWatch will be overlaid with ZenUI. One of the features that Asus adds on to Android Wear is covering the display of the smartwatch by using palm to silence a phone call.

On the hardware front, the Asus ZenWatch is powered by a Snapdragon 400 chipset along with a 512 MB RAM. It comes with an internal storage space of 4 GB. The display screen of the Asus ZenWatch measures 1.63-inch and it supports a display resolution of 320 x 320 pxiels.

Since the Asus ZenWatch has only IP55 certification, it does not offer complete resistance to water and dust. GSMArena claims that the Asus ZenWatch has couple of sensors onboard such as heart rate monitor and stress level calculator. The device lacks features like ambient light sensor and GPS.

Tech Crunch claims that the AMOLED display of the ZenWatch is power efficient. Apart from customized appeal to the Android Wear, users will be able to personalize the sm artwatch by using from different strap options.