The leading motherboard manufacturer in the world has already tapped in to the smartphone and wearable industry with its ZenFone and ZenWatch lineup of products, but the company's upcoming smartwatch, named the ZenWatch 2 will not be running the Android Wear platform, since the operating system is notorious for draining battery charge at an alarming rate.
During last month, it was rumored that the tech firm was working on the successor of its ZenWatch that would be boasting a battery life that would last up to seven days. While the smartwatch will not be running Google's Android Wear platform in its ZenWatch 2, it is highly likely that the device will be running a custom OS, one that will go easy on the overall battery life of the product. Furthermore, the smartwatch will be powered by a MediaTek chipset that is currently under development.
It has also been rumored that Asus plans to roll out two wearables; one that will be sport the Android Wear platform and one that will be running a custom operating system. The lineup of the ZenWatch 2 is expected to be released in Q3 2015. Unlike other smartwatches, which required to be synched to the owner's smartphones in order to receive a call, Asus' upcoming offering will be able to perform the aforementioned function without having to carry a smartphone around.
It is said that the ZenWatch 2 will feature its own SIM card slot in order to complete the calling function. The company's current wearable, named the ZenWatch, carries the following hardware specifications.
- Screen size: 1.63 inches with resolution of 320 by 320 pixels
- Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor
- Processor: 1.2 GHz
- RAM: 512 MB
- Storage: 4 GB
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.0 and microUSB
- Battery: 1.4 Wh
- Functionality: Built-in health-monitoring package and "OK Google" voice command support
- Price: $299
Pricing of the ZenWatch 2 is currently unavailable but Asus is expected to price it around the same range as the original ZenWatch.
