Asus first smartwatch dubbed ZenWatch

Asus has been teasing its first smartwatch dubbed ZenWatch in multiple teasers over the past few weeks. The company in one of the recent tweets even claimed that its Android Wear-powered Asus ZenWatch will be one of the highlights of its announcements at this year’s IFA.

Now, the company’s CEO Jerry Shen has spilled the beans about the pricing of Asus ZenWatch ahead of the official launch on September 3.

Focus Taiwan in a report has quoted Shen, who in a media briefing confirmed that the company’s new ZenWatch will be priced below $199 (Rs. 12,000 approximately), without revealing the exact pricing of the smartwatch. Shen is also quoted to have said the ZenWatch will come with a voice recognition feature, which will initially work in English only when the product goes on sale in October.

Chinese language support for the voice recognition feature on the smartwatch will be rolled out by the end of this year, though Shen added that the release will depend on Asus’ third-party developers. Further, the ZenWatch is said to hit the US market first in October alongside other selected markets and could be paired with any Android smartphone.

Some of the other smartwatches expected to be revealed at this year’s IFA include Moto 360, LG’s new G Watch R circular smartwatch and Samsung Gear S (both of which were announced recently).

If the Asus ZenWatch is launched at a price point below $200, it would become the most affordable Android Wear smartwatch available in the market leaving behind the Samsung Gear Live ($199) and the LG G Watch ($229).

For those unaware, Asus was one of the Google partners for the Android Wear project when it was announced in March this year. The unveiling of a smartwatch ties-in with a report in June that indicated Asus was working on a smartwatch running Android Wear that would be launched in September.

Notably, the company had announced its plans to enter the wearable segment in November last year.

Source-NDTV