ASUS - ZenWatch Smartwatch 40mm Stainless Steel - Silver/Rose Gold/Brown Leather

I received my Zenwatch yesterday and the setup was very easy and straight forward. The Asus phone apps work seamlessly with the watch without hiccups (so far). I have to get used to the heart rate monitor. At the beginning it worked every 3 or 4 tries (holding 2 fingers - one on each side of the side bezel). I noticed that if my fingers are a little moist (yes, I licked my fingers......lol) it works right away. I compared the heart rate results with my Note 4, which according to some real test against a professional heart rate monitor showed that the Note 4 is pretty accurate. Zenwatch and Note 4 results are pretty close. One of the features I really like is that I don’t have to unlock my phone if watch and phone are close together. Or the one where I can mute my ringing phone by covering the watch face with my hand. Google Now (Ok Google) also works great. There are many more features and all are pretty useful I found. Time will tell…………. Now to the part I don’t particular like. You put the watch in a (rubbery) charging cradle and connect the USB cable on the side of the cradle. Since the leather band of the watch is like a loop (can’t lay it flat), you have to lay the watch on the side while the USB cable is pointing to the ceiling and then looping down to the outlet (see picture). Not very elegant I must say. They could have built a little stand with a build in USB receptacle so you just connect the cradle to it and attach the watch into the cradle. Oh well, nothing is perfect. But the watch looks great on my wrist………

Among the few Android Wear watches currently available the ZenWatch stands out. It has the highest screen resolution at 320x320 pixels along with the Samsung Gear Live but a better charging dock than the Gear Live. No wireless charging as the Moto360 has unfortunately. The charging dock connects to the watch with contact pins and to the charger with a micro-USB connector so you can leave the dock always connected to the charger to save a daily step. The dock has a LED to indicate charging. It's my first smart watch so just a couple of comments on Android Wear. I found the voice commands error prone so generally I don't use it. Alternately, accessing the installed apps by the list method is a pain as it takes too many taps/swipes. On day one I installed an Android app launcher (Wear Mini Launcher) which saves the day. ASUS offers three ZenWatch-companion apps for additional features. The only one I installed is ASUS Remote Camera which uses the watch as a remote phone camera viewfinder and shutter release. There are other apps that do the same, still it's very cool. So, after 3 days of use here's my assessment: The design is very nice, not too nerdy. It looks like the recessed charging pins could accumulate dust over time but I would rather clean them than have a cover to remove every night. The Bluetooth connection with my Galaxy S3 phone range is about 20 feet so I don't have to keep the phone on my belt at home or office to keep the connection live. If I step out of range it reconnects when I'm back within range automatically. The build quality is excellent for the watch case, leather band and charging dock. By the end each the day the battery life has been about 15-20%. The watch has so many features that I want to use it often but need to back off if I want the battery to last until I get home from work. Of course for the battery to last more than one day would require an impracticably large watch so I think ASUS struck a good balance for size vs battery life. For daily wearability, I'm a man with small wrists and I find it comfortable enough. It feels just a little heavier than my normal steel case watch. The OLED display is always on and goes to dimmed mode after 3 seconds. Display visibility in sunlight is poor--no getting around that. There is no photocell to sense day or night to adjust the display brightness so to avoid having to adjust it when outside I keep it set for an indoor level to conserve battery life. Indoors the display is very good. To summarize, the functionality, style and engineering are all excellent. It exudes quality and thoughtful design and is at the same time one of the cheapest smart watches available. Great deal. It is one well-designed product.

Let me start off with some assumptions about why I bought this watch: I wanted a watch that coupled with some features that make smartphones convenient, i.e. voice commands to set timers, notifications, read emails, etc. I considered the Pebble Steel as well, but ultimately decided to buy this one due to the touch screen and the visual appeal. Now for the review: This watch out of the box looks very nice. It looks very slick and goes very well with my typical apparel (Polos, button-down shirts, etc). The leather band is very high quality. At first i was not a fan of the golden brown color, but it grew on me, because it looks more formal. I also like how it is a touch screen, like any other android wear watch. I can easily give voice commands to set timers if I am working at home and know I need to leave for somewhere, check on food, laundry, etc. I can also manage my tasks, read texts/email, etc much like I am accustomed to do on a smartphone. The size of watch is slightly large in my opinion, which is something to definitely consider, because while I don't have the biggest wrist circumference, I consider myself to have a larger than average wrist size. The fact that this watch is a touch screen is also a con when it comes to watch face appearance. Most of the watch faces have a very basic appearance when not actively being viewed, which is because the display can burn in. I am a big fan of the "Modern" watch face of the Pebble, which has 12, 3, 6, and 9 listed with ticks for the other hours. Pebble can get away with this, because of its basic black and white screen, so it is largely a trade off between screen quality and overall resting screen display. While active, many of the watch faces look very nice, but this is not the view that is visible most of the time. To prevent display burn in, the ZenWatch shifts the watch face slightly every once in awhile. At first this caught me off guard, but its roughly a 5-10 pixel shift. I only noticed it, because the "silent notifications" bell icon in the top center of my watch face was cut off. The screen returns to its proper center orientation when you look at the watch. I also dislike how the screen automatically brightens and shows more information if it detects certain positions of your wrist. Many times when I am sitting at a table, I notice my screen brighten up, the second hand appear, and the month/day display appear. This was probably because I was always looking at the watch as I sat in meetings and at lunch. Still, I wish there was an option to disable the orientation detection and only show more info if you tap it. The fact that most have the recharge the watch every night is also something to get used to, but I figure most are used to recharging their phones anyway. If this is a bad thing, but still want something to interface with your phone, I have found that muting notifications extends the battery life. I have had my watch on for 24 hours (minus ~6 hours of sleep) and am at 42% battery. If you want a smart watch that can interface with your phone that you don't need to recharge daily of bi-daily, consider a pebble steel, but note that there is a trade off between battery life and screen usability.

I have had this Smartwatch for a few months now and feel comfortable giving it a solid review I had been searching for a SmartWatch ever since I saw the first Sony one (being a lifelong fan of Sony) I stopped myself from making a rash purchase and waited... Seeing 1st and 2nd Gen watches come out, and even seeing the separation between the traditional Android Smartwatches and the new "Fitness Trackers" When the Moto 360 flashed in a commercial I realized I just couldn't wait anymore, but I was VERY disappointed once I "test-drove" one at BestBuy, it felt, clunky, big and even though it had all the Android functionality (with the limited software limitations currently put in place by AndroidWear) It just wasn't what I wanted. I realized that if I wanted a SmartWatch now, I would have to sacrifice looks... but then... 2 new contenders appeared. The LG R and the Asus ZenWatch. I tried both, both and in fact found them both Amazing in their own rights, there had clearly not been any "copying" from either company and they each had the one thing I was looking for. STYLE. In the end it came down to price and the fact I tend to wear more dress shirts and ties than jeans, so I ended up going with the Asus. It is fashionable, functional and the perfect size. The curved glass is unique and gives it a flair that draws attention. The OS is the same as the others, the square screen does tend to make it easier to display and read the messages and notifications. The ONLY complaint I have, (and why it lost 1 star) and I know many others have the same; is the charging "dock"... honestly I really dont know what they where thinking. I've made do with it, and have kept it in a place where it can't possibly be knocked down (I have mischievous cats) Apart from that the only thing I would recommend is getting a screen protector, since it is a curved glass you'd be surprised how often you rub it or just glance it off clothes or objects, my screen protectors have saved me from several scratches already!

I got the watch as a Christmas gift and I love the design. It doesn't feel overdone or flimsy. It has the perfect weight and feel to it. My one complaint is I have an 8 inch wrist and the watch kinda hurts to wear. The part where the strap attaches to the watch is angled awkwardly so the band has a boxed fit on my wrist (just picture putting a rectangle on your wrist and its moving around) and hurts when the watch moves around. I'm trying to stretch out the band make it rounder to see it helps. As far as features go android wear is new, so the features we can use are limited but should suffice for basic use. The asus apps are nice but also limited, especially when compared to the android wear options. If you have a wrist smaller than 8 inches I would recommend for sure or I advise you go to Best Buy and try it on first.

All current Android Wear function nearly identical, what sets the Asus ZenWatch apart from the other Android Wear crown is it's looks and lower price. I'm my opinion the ZenWatch is the best looking watch of the bunch. Yes the roundness the the Moto 360 is nice, but it very thick while to ZenWatch is svelte by comparison. The ZenWatch has the more expensive Moto 360 beat in: 1. Processor 2. AMOLED screen (with Gorilla Glass 3) 3. Battery life The batter life of the ZenWatch last me through a day easily, and I could probably make it into the next day if needed. I owned a Samsung Gear Live and the Zenwatch is not only much better looking it battery last longer as well. The Gear Live charging clip broke, apparently a common problem, but worse of all is one of the aluminum arms that hold the spring pins in place broke and now I can't wear it any more. The stainless steal body of the ZenWatch is much superior. Despite the ZenWatch only having an IP rating of 55, I think it the best Smartwatch (Android Wear) for a more elegant dressed up look. I don't plan on going swimming with it or a raging sand storm. It more than rugged enough for day to day wear (and not break as easily as the IP67 rated Gear Live). For fitness enthusiast I recommend the Sony Smartwatch 3. It IP68 rating is the best so far and it's rubber wrist band (stainless steal will soon be an option) is perfect for working out. It is also the only Android Wear watch to include a built in GPS at the time of this review (also has NFC for easy pairing and built in WiFi for future implementation).

I was VERY skeptical and I truly expected this watch to have major shortcomings. My biggest concern was battery life. I have read reviews in other sites, but I have no battery problems whatsoever. I usually have 40-50% battery life before I plug it into the charger. I have downloaded a few Android Wear apps that have fixed Wear issues (how to keep an app open on my watch when the phone's display goes to sleep as an example). This watch is amazing and I have received many compliments and iPhone users asking me about it. Their response is usually "I'll wait for an iWatch", but they have no clue that you can customize this watch and download apps that will provide even more functionality! You really cannot beat this watch when it comes to price, looks, and build quality. You will definitely not be disappointed if you decide to purchase this amazing smartwatch. I strongly feel that it looks even better in person.

I bought the ZenWatch after trying a Moto360 and discovering that the battery of the latter was down to 32% after being removed from the charger. The ZenWatch on the other hand would still have 28% after 24 hours... Add the fact that the Moto360 screen was only on when you turned your list, where the ZenWatch was on full time (but dimmed when your wrist isn't positioned to view the watch) that is quite impressive There are a couple of downsides: 1. The pulse monitor requires you to be touching the sides of the watch... Not exactly convenient when exercising 2. Asus has yet to respond when asked if and when this watch will have WiFi enabled. 3. Requires a proprietary cradle for charging. Additionally it is possible to put the watch in the cradle backwards, and it won't charge 4. A recent software update seems to have drastically cut the battery life (I've got to confirm what is actually causing the issue).