Hs-on with the Asus Zentch: a seriously stylin’ smartwatch

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Published 3 Sep 2014

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Asus’s Zentch is a welcome respite from the growing glut of smartwatches, because unlike so many of them, it’s honestly a stylish piece of wristwear. ed, it does have some drawbacks (it’s still too large for small wrists), but its overall look feel almost makes up for where it falls short.

Designed to look good

I was thoroughly impressed by the Asus Zentch. Its vibrant 1.63-inch screen is contained in a sleek body that almost perfectly curves around your wrist, its caramel-colored leather b feels premium soft to the touch. It looks more like a fashion watch than a device running Android, thankfully it’s not just geared towards men. It is gender-neutral with swappable bs, so if you really don’t like the European look of its confusing traditional-yet-modern design, you can change it. 

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This is the watch on my wrist I was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable it was to wear.

I personally like the look of the watch, but its clashing aesthetics could be polarizing to some. The leather strap old-school strap lugs have an air of retro sophistication, but the Zentch remains inescapably rectangular, that could be a problem for Asus when circular Android ar watches like the Moto 360 G tch R emerge. so, the display is surrounded by a huge bezel that will perpetually classify it as a nerd’s toy rather than a sophisticated watch for the everyman. 

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The one unstylish part of this watch: the garish Asus logo on the clasp.

The clasp is easy to open close, but a bit of a struggle to adjust. Still, the watch is comfortable to wear, with a little wiggle room at every size. Until processors get smaller, however, the actual chassis that houses the smartwatch’s internal bits will get in the way for those with smaller wrists. I still can’t see myself getting used to this watch, even if it is more stylish than the others.

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The watch without a wrist.

Unfortunately, the Zentch I wore was in Android ar demo mode, so I was unable to actually try out the ZenUI that Asus announced it would bundle with its smartwatches. The software will include some interesting features, however, like tch Unlock, which lets you unlock the device by touching its face, Tap Tap, which is a double-tap action you can set to do a variety of things. There’s also Cover to Mute, Remote Camera, esentation Control, Find My one functions that Asus made special note of as marquee features in its presentation. 

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A quick glimpse at its back side.

’ll find out later if those software features are worth the €200 (about $260 D, though prices often vary by region) price tag when the device goes on sale, but if you’re looking for a smart Android ar watch that’s stylish too, this is too pretty not to gawk at.