New Delhi: Asus has announced that it will not be using the Android Wear OS for its future smartwatches but will incorporate it for the upcoming second-gen ZenWatch model.
Asus CEO Jerry Shen attributed OS reconsideration to the concerns about battery life of the smartwatch. Shen said that in order to achieve longer battery life, they might turn to an alternative operating system.
Shen further revealed that the non-Android Wear smartwatch might run on MediaTek's still under-development system-on-chip.
Launched later last year, the first-gen ZenWatch runs on Android Wear and features a 1.63-inch AMOLED touch display, curved glass, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 1.2GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal memory and a 9-axis sensor.
It was during the product's launch event that Asus had revealed that it was planning a 2nd-gen smartwatch for the third quarter of 2015 which might have a battery life of up to seven days by using simplified chipset and different OS.
The first-gen Asus ZenWatch will be introduced in India by March-end and will be priced under Rs 20,000, said Peter Chang, country manager, Asus India, in an interview with IBNLive.
The ZenWatch, which is also Asus' first wearable device, sports a curved display, leather watchband and a quick-release clasp design. This device pairs with a smartphone running Android 4.3 or higher.
In India, the ZenWatch will compete with the Moto 360, LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live. Users can reject or mute a call with the watch. Its remote camera feature lets you control your phone's camera.
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