Asus ZenWatch will feature voice commands, sub-$200 price confirmed by CEO

While LG and Samsung already unveiled the new smartwatches that they’re going to bring to IFA 2014 next week (the G Watch R and Gear S, respectively), Asus prefers to wait until September 3 before fully revealing its first smartwatch. Even so, the company’s CEO, Jerry Shen, yesterday confirmed a few things about the device, which is called Asus ZenWatch.

First of all, according to Focus Taiwan, Jerry Shen confirmed that the ZenWatch would cost less than $199, and should be released in the US and other markets in October. We heard that the device may be offered for as low as $99, though $149 is a more realistic price. Either way, the Asus smartwatch will be cheaper than its competitors. Jerry Shen also said that the ZenWatch - which runs Android Wear - would feature voice commands, with voice recognition initially available only in English. Earlier this year, there were rumors regarding gesture controls, too, but these haven’t been confirmed.

From what the teaser images and video (embedded below) allow us to see, the ZenWatch seems to sport a slightly curved display - though not as curved as the screen of Samsung’s Tizen-based Gear S.


source: Focus Taiwan