Full review of the compelling ZenWatch 3 smartwatch from ASUS

Comparison with previous models

The previous generation of smartwatches from Asus, represented by the ZenWatch 2 model, was notable for its accessibility. Its price in retail chains did not exceed 15 thousand rubles. The third modification was not aimed only at a wide range of consumers. With its help, the manufacturer decided to strike a balance between cost and design. This time the shape of the body has changed. It became round, and the price of the device increased, but still could not outshine devices such as Moto 360 (2), Huawei Watch or Samsung Gear S3. Accordingly, those who dreamed of purchasing a stylish device at a low price preferred Asus ZenWatch 3.

ASUS ZenWatch 3: Design

ZenWatch 3 is a beautiful smartwatch with a round design (a first for Asus); rectangular, fortunately, is a thing of the past. Indeed, on the third attempt, Asus has come up with a very interesting device in terms of appearance, although a little bulky when compared to the Samsung Gear S3 - even if they will be a little wide for some.

When the ZenWatch was first unveiled to critics at IFA 2020, neither the silver nor white colors impressed, but the gold with Italian leather strap did. Unfortunately, the ZenWatch 3 only supports its own replacement bands.

At 45mm wide, the ZenWatch 3 isn't exactly small, but it's thin enough (9.95cm) to be classy and elegant. It's just a shame that the large metal lugs make it difficult to position the watch flat, causing the watch to stick out a little. They also have a very stiff strap, which is worth considering for those with thin wrists.

The 400 x 400 AMOLED display is quite bright and has three buttons on the side. However, the middle button when scrolling does not work like Basel on the Apple Watch. However, it makes ZenWatch 3 feel like a real analog watch.

The top button is used to bring up the default Asus ZenFit app, the bottom button is used to switch the watch to Eco Mode (just a fancy name for airplane mode), but the user can assign other apps to these buttons if they wish.

Equipment

The packaging for the device at first glance demonstrates its claim to modern style and luxury. The dark blue square box contains:

• smart watch;
• power unit;
• brief instructions;
• USB charging cable with magnetic cradle.

This package is a little short of a flagship device. It lacks additional accessories or ultra-sophisticated interior packaging design. Most likely, due to this, it was possible to maintain the low cost of these products.

Smartwatch manufacturers are testing various ways to attract the attention of consumers: expensive design, a lot of functions, a round dial, sensors, etc...

Technical specifications:

• Android Wear (a variant of the Google Android operating system created for smart watches);
• Snapdragon Wear 2100 (Qualcomm single-chip system designed for wearable electronics);
• RAM – 512 MB;
• display with active matrix organic LEDs 1.39″ (400×400);
• portable flash memory card used for repeated recording and storage of information with a capacity of 4 GB;
• case material: stainless steel;
• interfaces: Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1;
• dimensions: 45x45x9.5 mm;
• battery capacity 340 mAh.

ASUS and Samsung showed new watches, so which one is better?

ASUS and Samsung showed a pair of new watches on the same day, what's so interesting about them? ASUS, in my opinion, is more practical, there is a lot of software, while for Samsung there are still few applications. But Samsung has very convenient controls, and in addition, there is a microphone and a speaker - you can talk for hours.

ASUS ZenWatch 3

Asus ZenWatch 3 has a metal case, protected from water and dust. With its round screen, metallic finish and leather strap, it looks more like a classic watch than a geeky toy. You can choose between several straps made of leather and rubber, and also decide on the color of the case: silver, dark gray or rose gold.

The round AMOLED screen with a resolution of 400x400 pixels is covered with Gorilla Glass 3; it’s a pity, but they did not receive the completely new coating presented earlier. The watch runs Android Wear, has a large app store, as well as more than 50 skins with watch faces from ASUS.

For the first time on an Android Wear device, the watch has a third button on the side; you can assign it to launch an application. But there is still no heart rate sensor here. It’s strange, because the sensor turns the watch into a useful device; you can either do fitness or just monitor your health. In terms of hardware, the new ASUS watches are no different from their modern Android counterparts: Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor, 512 MB/4 GB of memory, Bluetooth 4.1, Wi-Fi. They will be available in October and will cost $255.

Samsung Gear S3

The updated watch looks like the old generation, but nothing has changed significantly. As before, the watch comes in two versions: Frontier and Classic, the first with a rubber strap, and the second with a leather strap. Moreover, the Frontier version comes with a SIM card and LTE, while the Classic does not have such an option. Samsung Gear S3 was the first watch on the market with the new Gorilla Glass SR+ coating, I wonder how much better it is than the sapphire in the Apple Watch. The screen has a 1.3-inch diagonal and an AMOLED matrix with a resolution of 360x360, the screen is round, and for control there is a bezel frame that rotates left and right. I really liked this way of navigating the menu.

According to the characteristics, a Samsung watch looks more like a simple smartphone than a wearable electronics device, a very sophisticated device: 768MB/4GB of memory, 1 GHz processor, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, GPS and GLONASS, IP68 protection. There are no exact prices yet. The watch has a bunch of sensors, including the speedometer and heart rate monitor; they also show blood oxygen saturation. They also increased the battery, they should work longer than the old generation, they promise up to 4 days in active mode.

The problem with Samsung watches is the software; while there are a lot of applications for Android Wear, the developers do not favor the Tizen OS. They promised that the Gear S2 would work with iOS since last fall, but as far as I understand, they are still not friendly with Apple technology. Not adding iOS support in a year?! It seems like the Gear S3 will make friends with iOS, but again, no one has checked this fact yet, so I don’t really believe such predictions.

I really liked the Gear S3 in terms of characteristics and design, but I wouldn’t buy them for myself, the developers won’t support the platform, and without applications, the watch will quickly get boring. ASUS are nice, but now there are more and more round watches on the market, and they don’t have any original features (except for the third button).

CPU

The third modification of Asus Zenwatch contains the Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor. It was developed specifically for wrist devices and is an adapted variation of the Snapdragon 400.

Chip characteristics:

• compared to the previous model, energy consumption is reduced by 25%;
• the chip has become 30% more compact than its predecessor.

We can't talk about performance yet. However, the smoothness of the interface and the stable functioning of simple games are noticeable.

Modern smartwatches offer a fairly wide selection of designs - from natural electronic gadgets to classic chronometers

Appearance

The bane of modern smartwatches is their bulkiness. This is due to the large number of elements that have to be contained in a thin body. Asus engineers tried to improve these characteristics, thereby getting ahead of the competition. Thus, the thickness of ZenWatch 3 is 9.95 mm. This is a good indicator, which gives an advantage over devices such as Moto 360 (2) and Apple Watch Series 2, where such parameters were 11.4 mm, LG Watch Urbane - 11 mm, and Huawei Watch 2 Classic - 12.6 mm . At first glance, the difference may not be noticeable.

The developers worked hard on the design of the new product, which received a streamlined shape, complemented by beveled edges. And the small thickness is emphasized by the display recessed inside the body. This device looks great on both men's and women's wrists. The design was developed under inspiration from a solar eclipse.

This natural phenomenon can be recognized in details such as the dark gold bezel, which fits perfectly between the black circle of the darkened display and the steel body.

The material for the case is stainless steel. The model is available in several colors:

• metal;
• pink gold;
• silver.

For the production of the strap, genuine leather was used, processed using Italian technology. It has an unusual mount and comes in the following colors:

• dark brown;
• light beige.

There are also models with a silicone strap.

We should also note that the ZenWatch 3 is quite thin at just 9.95mm, so it looks much more compact than many of its competitors.

There are three physical control buttons on the side of the watch face:

1. The top key is responsible for the Asus ZenFit fitness tracker. You can install it to quickly launch any other application.
2. The middle one functions as the Home button.
3. When you press the bottom button, the device goes into energy saving mode.

The back of the case is equipped with speaker holes and a charging connector, which, using a magnetic fastener, easily snaps into place.

Design and ergonomics

Smartwatches rarely boast of being compact. Still, technology does not yet allow us to cram all the hardware into an ultra-thin case, however, compared to competitors, Asus ZenWatch 3 looks advantageous in this parameter. Their thickness is 9.95 mm, which is very good for such accessories. From this we can immediately conclude that the watch developers have seriously worked on the design of the device.

The designers weren't idle either. They coped with their difficult task perfectly, so the appearance of the Asus ZenWatch 3 evokes extremely positive emotions - streamlined lines, slightly beveled edges, as well as a display slightly pressed into the body, look simply great and all this together gives the gadget a not at all bulky appearance . I would also like to note that the Asus ZenWatch 3 will look quite organic both on a man’s hand and on the thin wrist of a beautiful lady.

The accessory, whose case is made of stainless steel, comes in three colors - “metal”, “silver”, “rose gold”. The material for the strap was genuine Italian leather. She, in turn, has only two colors - light beige and dark brown.

Three keys that control the gadget are located on the side. The one in the middle resembles a wheel in shape; it performs the “Home” function. The element located below switches the watch to an increased energy saving mode; the topmost mechanism allows you to quickly launch any of the installed applications. By default, this is a standard fitness tracker. The lower part of the case is equipped with a charging connector and a speaker cutout.

Screen

The AMOLED display used in the presented device is a significant plus for wearable electronics. It uses a small amount of charge when displaying dark tones. The third modification of ZenWatch uses a 1.39-inch rounded screen with a resolution of 400x400 pixels. These parameters are considered quite good for a smartwatch, however, upon closer examination, you can still notice fine graining.

The display has large viewing angles. When tilted, characteristics such as brightness and contrast are not reduced. Positive impressions are also caused by natural color rendering, in which there is no excess “acidity”. Black and white colors are displayed clearly.

Brightness adjustment is performed not only in manual mode, which has 5 positions. In notifications you can find a function to increase these parameters. In bright sunshine or in a dark room, the light sensor is triggered.

ZenWatch 3, more than any other smartwatch, is packed with different functions

Autonomous operation

The Asus ZenWatch 3 can be called a truly mobile device thanks to its long battery life and fast charging capabilities. This device will always be ready to work due to the use of the Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor. You can also increase autonomy due to the energy-saving mode. At the same time, less energy is consumed due to the disabling of all wireless interfaces. At the same time, the main tasks of the fitness bracelet are performed. You can reduce power consumption by turning off the display completely in sleep mode.

Fast charging allows you to replenish the battery by 60% in just 15 minutes. To fully charge the battery you will have to spend 55 minutes of personal time. A convenient element is the magnetic mount, which allows you to quickly and easily connect the charging cable to the device even in the dark.

The manufacturer decided not to add an inductive device, which is fashionable today, as in devices from Apple or Samsung.

Dials

The device has a large number of different dials from Asus designers. You can also select some options in the Google Play app. In addition to this, almost every watch face you choose allows you to choose from a variety of color schemes. Software from Asus allows you to modify the appearance of branded displays, as well as create your own variations.

The device screen has 2 advantages. Firstly, this is an absolutely round AMOLED matrix with a light sensor

The dial in the Asus ZenWatch 3 smart watch has several modes:

• active, in which you can view the data on the screen by raising your hand;
• sleeping when the screen displays limited information and lacks fine detail and contrasting colors. This allows you to reduce energy consumption.

The appearance of the displays is complemented by widgets and active zones. In addition to the time, the dial may contain the following information:

• weather forecast;
• current number;
• the sum of steps taken per day;
• number of unviewed emails;
• phone battery percentage, etc.

Google Play offers watch faces that can be called full-fledged graphical user interfaces, where there are elements such as:

• quick launch icons;
• controls;
• additional menu, etc.

Asus ZenWatch Smartwatch: Review

Design, appearance

The Asus ZenWatch smartwatch looks attractive, even businesslike. Perhaps this is due to the leather strap, which also makes the device comfortable - it is comfortable and pleasant to wear on your hand. It uses the same latch as the Sony Smart Watch 3 - with a pair of buttons, by pressing which you can easily remove it from your hand. At the same time, the leather strap is not the longest; for those with wide wrists, it may be too small, so be sure to try on the watch before purchasing. The mechanism for attaching them to the case is typical - it can be easily detached from the watch and replaced with any other.

The Asus ZenWatch case is made of stainless steel, as expected, it is protected from water and dust according to the IP55 standard. This is not the most advanced level, but it promises protection against water jets from any direction. In addition, in hot weather, steel can become noticeably hot and cause slight discomfort. The dimensions of the watch are 51x39.9x7.9 mm, which can be called relatively thin, at least compared to the Huawei Watch. Weight without straps - 50 grams, with them - 75.

The type of screen used is AMOLED, it is covered with Gorilla Glass protection, slightly curved at the edges, which looks beautiful. The display is easy to read in the sun, it has an oleophobic coating - thanks to it, the screen gets less dirty and can be easily cleaned of fingerprints. The only drawback is that the resolution is not the highest, only 320x320 pixels; taking into account the 1.6-inch screen, the pixel density is 278 per inch (like many tablets), so the picture does not look clear up close.

In our opinion, the ZenWatch looks quite nice, it can also be called a unisex watch, so it is suitable for both men and women.

Interface

The watch is mainly controlled using a touch screen. In addition to it, there is also a control button on the back of the watch - it turns on the screen, but the same can be done simply by touching the screen itself. A long press on the button takes you to the system settings. What its meaning is is unclear; the same thing can be done using the screen, and besides, it’s inconvenient to reach out and press. The interface on the ZenWatch is typical, as it uses the same Android Wear operating system as many watches, for example, the Motorola Moto 360 or the LG Watch Urbane. Working with it, at least for now, is not immediately clear; the controls will take a little getting used to.

One of the advantages of the watch is that it supports not only Bluetooth 4.0 LE, but also NFC, as well as the presence of its own GPS module. Thanks to the Android Wear system, the watch is compatible with smartphones running iOS (version 8 and later) and Android (version 4.3 and later).

Hardware and Applications

The Asus ZenWatch smartwatch and all available applications usually work quickly and do not slow down. The device is equipped with a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor operating at 1.2 GHz - a typical solution even for 2015-2016 watches. Similar chipsets were used in smartphones a year or two ago. This model has 512 MB of RAM and 4 GB of permanent memory - these are again the same figures as most competitors.

In addition to the standard Android Wear software, Asus has added about 20 different watch faces to choose from. It also offers several native apps: Wellness, ZenWatch Music and Remote Link. The first is for fitness, the second is to listen to music from the watch via a Bluetooth headset (yes, exactly from the watch, without a smartphone). Remote Link turns the watch into something like a control panel for presentations. In addition to them, in the list of applications recommended for installation from ASUS you can find ZenWatch Remote Camera (control your phone's camera from the watch) and Zenfone Manager (customize the display of information on the watch dial). In the application store you can also download more than 4,000 applications of various usefulness: watch faces, news feeds, social networks and instant messengers, fitness software and even simple games.

Fitness

Asus ZenWatch is equipped with an impressive set of sensors - accelerometer, gyroscope, light sensor, digital compass, heart rate monitor and GPS module for route tracking and track recording. True, the pulse is measured in a rather unusual way: you must wear a watch on one hand, and with two fingers of the other you need to press the frames around the device’s screen.

Especially for sports, ZenWatch comes pre-installed with the proprietary Wellness application, an analogue of Google Fit. It monitors your physical activity and heart rate throughout the day. To do this, simply enter your data (weight, age, height), set goals for each day (number of steps) and monitor their implementation.

Despite the abundance of sensors, the watch is not so well suited for sports - the pedometer and heart rate monitor are a little fiddly when tested, each time in a different direction.

Functions

The third generation Asus Zen Watch is equipped with many useful features that are found in both a smartwatch and a fitness tracker.

At the moment, the ASUS ZenWatch 3 smartwatch is the most advanced Android Wear device

Device capabilities:

• the watch can be used as a navigator while cycling;
• built-in sensors for preparing and processing statistical data in third-party applications (for example, the Sleep as Android smart alarm clock tracks sleep phases);
• a smart device will be a good alternative to a fitness tracker;
• managing music from Google Play, for example, switching tracks;
• wireless payments Android Pay;
• viewing notifications from social networks;
• smart home control.

ASUS ZenWatch 3: Specifications

Zenwatch 3 runs on Android Wear and has several specialized features that set it apart from other smartwatches or analog watches. However, their functionality is limited.

So, ZenWatch will not support Android Pay, even if it is updated to Wear 2.0, simply because it supports NFC technology. They also do not have a heart rate monitor and no GPS. ZenWatch 3 is suitable for those who are interested in a forward-looking smartwatch rather than a regular fitness tracker, because in such devices the fitness functions become redundant.

When you take the device out of the box, you'll find the Asus ZenFit app pre-installed, which tracks your activity throughout the day in the background. The watch boasts an accurate count of the number of steps taken, but you can also start tracking runs, walks, and time of inactivity. Plus, you can see all your important notifications right on your wrist.

Without GPS, distance is measured by motion sensors, so it's not the most reliable way to track how far you've traveled. Minor inaccuracies have been reported regarding inactivity time tracking, but in general, users rarely pay attention to such things.

If you do decide to fire up the device (please swap out the leather strap for a sporty one first), the 4GB of onboard storage will allow you to download your tunes, and you can also connect a pair of Bluetooth headphones to the device. Don't get the watch wet; although the watch is rated IP67, it can only withstand raindrops and a couple of splashes. Again, if you are looking for a fitness watch, then you should look among other lines of wearable electronics.

There are other Asus apps on the device, including the Asus Weather widget, remote connection, and even a flashlight that can be installed through the app manager.

The watch's chip is quite fast - Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100, which, however, sometimes does not work without complaints. However, it is 25% more energy efficient and 30% smaller, allowing manufacturers to install a larger battery or reduce the size of the case for a sleeker look.

The device freezes when the number of notifications increases, but there are no complaints about the hardware. There are also slight jumps in the image when working with the menu, but this defect is promised to be eliminated with the release of Android Wear version 2.0. Such defects do not cause any particular problems when working with watches.

Applications

The new Asus ZenWatch has access to a list of proprietary applications from the manufacturer, for example:

• ZenFit is a fitness app that monitors your activity. It is initially installed in the watch and can work without a smartphone. However, for convenience, the developers strongly advise installing its “full” version on your phone, as well as constantly synchronizing information;
• The ZenWatch manager is installed on a smartphone and makes it possible not only to fine-tune the watch, but also to add new functions to the device.