This Is The New ASUS ZenWatch 3

Just as they had previously teased, Asus has unveiled its new ZenWatch 3 smartwatch at the IFA 2016 show in Berlin this week. Like last year's model, the ZenWatch 3 remains powered by Android Wear, but the obvious difference is that it sports a round casing, offering a more handsome, traditional look to the watch than the squarish, utilitarian face of the ZenWatch 2.

Inside the stainless steel case is Qualcomm's Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor. This powers the ZenWatch 3's 1.39-inch AMOLED display, which in turn is protected by 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass. There are three color options — Gunmetal, Silver, and Rose Gold, while the case measures just 9.95mm thick and features a narrow rose gold bezel.

For watchbands, wearers will have a choice of stitched Italian leather in matching colors, or a high-quality rubber band in dark brown or beige. The customization continues with over 50 watch faces pre-installed, each with support for different widgets including weather data, step count, missed notifications, and more.

The three crown buttons on the ZenWatch 3 allow quick access to functions like adjusting the display mode, a favorite or most-used feature, and the ZenFit activity tracking. Fitness tracking features include step counting, which Asus boasts is 95% accurate, along with things like walking, running, push-ups, and sit-ups. It's also IP67 water resistant, so there's no need to worry about sweat during workouts.

Use of the new Snapdragon Wear 2100 chip allows the watch to use 25% less power than the previous model, giving the ZenWatch 3 a battery life of up to 2 days. We'll have to wait and see if that's true in real-world conditions, but even then the watch features HyperCharge technology, allowing a 60% charge to be achieved in as little as 15 minutes.

Asus has said the ZenWatch 3 will be priced at 229 Euros in the European market, but we don't yet have US pricing or release date details. We'll keep you posted as soon as we hear more.