Asus VivoWatch to focus on fitness tracking with 10-day battery

[Shawn Knight]

Great battery life is one of the features that recently propelled the Pebble Time to the top of Kickstarter’s Most Funded list with over $20.3 million in pledges. Asus’ stylish ZenWatch can last for about a day or two depending on use which is unfortunately the standard for most smartwatches these days.

The company’s upcoming VivoWatch could extend that battery life to a full 10 days if the latest scuttlebutt from Engadget’s sources is accurate. Here’s everything we know thus far.

For starters, the VivoWatch is said to be a device that’s more focused on health and fitness. It reportedly has a stainless steel body, an IP67 dust and water rating, a heart-rate monitoring sensor and the ability to track sleep. Key to that great battery life appears to be the use of a black-and-white display with a separate colored indicator bar below it.

As a fitness tracking device, this level of battery life is expected. In the same respect, dedicated fitness trackers usually don’t look too great. If the image we have here is accurate, it shows a watch with respectable aesthetics.

Others are reporting that the VivoWatch may also have smartwatch-like functionality such as the ability to display notifications for e-mails, texts, calendar alerts, alarms, calls and more.

Ultimately, the device’s success or failure will hinge heavily on the price point. If pricing is comparable to other fitness trackers, it could be a success for Asus. Anything higher, however, and it’ll be yet another yawner to look past.

More information on the VivoWatch is expected at Milan Design Week which kicks off tomorrow.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/60348-asus-vivowatch-focus-fitness-tracking-10-day-battery.html

 

[seefizzle]

If the thing ran Android and was around $250 it would be a homerun.

Without Android if it's less than $150 and has a few good extra features it would be solid.

If they try to sell it for north of $250 without some major smartphone features and a custom OS it won't be a worthwhile device. There's too much stiff competition and better offerings.

I still stand by my notion that we need to wait for the third or fourth generation of wearables before the tech is really top notch. If you buy now you're wasting your money.