Earlier this week Asus announced its VivoWatch, the first Asus wearable designed for fitness tracking.
Uh, no. It's not even a "smartwatch", DennisW. It is merely a fitness tracker that doesn't even transfer any functionality from a smartphone. It may transfer data back to your smartphone. . . but according to reports there is no interactivity,
Vivo Watch from ASUS is designed to monitor physical activity
— SZLifestyle — Nicolas T. — April 15, 2015
During the ‘Design Week 2015″ in Milan, Italy, held from 14 to 19 April was held and Zensation event of Asus, which introduced new smart watch – Vivo Watch.
ASUS Vivo Watch it’s not a typical smart-watch, but rather fitness tracking device. He (sic) not use Android Wear, but own develop operating system from Asus. This OS is mainly for monitoring physical activity and health, and not transferred functions of smartphones on the small screen.
Vivo Watch is equipped with a three-axis accelerometer and heart rate monitor, which monitors physical activity and heart rate at any time of the day. It has a LED screen with a resolution of 128 x 128 pixels, covered with Gorilla Glass 3. (The Apple Watch has a screen resolution of 320 x 390 pixels — Swordmaker)
Connecting with your smartphone is through Bluetooth 4.0 (Low Energy), and synchronization – through special application ASUS HiVivo. HiVivo allows the user to view all data recorded by the fitness device. Asus also embed social opportunities, giving owners of Vivo Watch to monitor the data of your friends or family members.
Other features of this device are the presence of ambient light sensor, which allows the watch to automatically adjust screen brightness depending on the light level in the surrounding environment. There is also a sensor tracking UV index of solar radiation. But one of the most pleasant surprises of Vivo Watch is battery life. According to data from Asus single charge should be able to provide up to 10 days in moderate use.
As you can see, Vivo Watch has a very nice and simple design. The device has clean lines and slim profile. Not least Vivo Watch has IP67 certification for dust and water resistance, which they ensure the sustainability of water immersion in one meter for thirty minutes. The strap is a standard 22 mm size, so customization is very easy and you do not need to buy special chains from Asus.
The only area in which the VivoWatch has an advantage is in battery life, and that is because it doesn't do much and is driving a low resolution screen. There apparently is no way to download any additional apps for the VivoWatch beyond what are already installed on it. Oh, and it has twice the water resistance. It is, for all purposes, a dedicated fitness watch, not a smartwatch. . . and is in now way comparable to the Apple Watch and it is certainly not "superior" to the Apple Watch.