With its stylish good looks and a retail price just under $200, the Asus ZenWatch pleasantly surprised a lot of critics when it launched. Now it looks like Asus is preparing to launch another model, the VivoWatch.
Today, a new entry from Asus appeared in the Bluetooth SIG database. As is usually the case, there aren’t a lot of details about the device — only that it’s called the VivoWatch, that it’s made by Asus, and that it supports Bluetooth 4.0. There are loads more technical details about which particular bits of Bluetooth functionality it can handle, but no additional hardware information.
The listing does specify, however, that the VivoWatch is “a health watch that can detect heart rate and sleep data.” It’s possible, based on that brief description, that the VivoWatch will be more like the Microsoft Band than the ZenWatch when it’s finally revealed.
And speaking of Microsoft, some are speculating that the fact that Asus has chosen to call this new wearable the VivoWatch is a sign that it will actually run Windows. It’s no secret that Microsoft wants Windows everywhere — they’ve even promised to offer Windows 10 for free to Raspberry Pi 2 owners — but whether one of its embedded flavors would make a logical choice to power a device like this remains to be seen.
Another question that needs answering is how Asus plans to price the VivoWatch. Typically, Asus attaches the Zen name to its higher-priced device and Vivo to its less expensive ones. But based on additional details that Notebook Italia stumbled across — like the fact that the VivoWatch will come with a GPS, something that usually pushes the price of a wearable a fair bit higher — it may not wind up being that much cheaper than the ZenWatch.
With the VivoWatch popping up now, there’s a good chance that Asus might have it on display at MWC 2015. It’s less than a month away, so we won’t have long to wait if that’s the case.
How about a smart watch “extender” that can provide a larger touch screen and the ability to perform useful tasks?
That way we can have the smart phone that already does it all, the needless fashion extension and then successive extensions to increase profitability…err the user experience.
Yeah, that’s the ticket!
“Needless fashion”?
Isn’t fashion inherently needless?
Just because fashion isn’t important to you (obviously) didn’t mean it’s needless. It’s nowhere close to needless, whether you like it or not fashion is everywhere, and is a huge industry. Get off your high horse, and away from the assumption that your opinion is the only thing in the world.