Asus

ASUS has officially launched its much-teased ZenWatch at IFA in Berlin, revealing that the rectangular smartwatch has a curved face, a brushed stainless steel body and a leather strap – but is pricier than expected.

Specs are pretty much as expected and in line with the Samsung Gear Live and LG G Watch: an Android Wear device with 1.63-inch 320×320 AMOLED display, 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 chip, 512MB RAM, 4GB storage and a fitness functions. The watch is waterproofed to a relatively weak IP55 standard, defined as resistant to water jets but not full immersion … 
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As reported by Taiwanese publication Focus Taiwan, the CEO of Asus Jerry Shen has reportedly said in a media briefing that the company’s upcoming ZenWatch Android Wear-powered smartwatch will indeed be shipping at a price point below $200. Shen also mentioned that—as expected considering the device runs Android Wear—we’ll be seeing English-enabled voice recognition when the device goes on sale in October.

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IFA 2014 is almost here and we’ll be out in Berlin bringing you full coverage of the show. If you’ve never heard of IFA, it’s a Berlin based trade show that’s similar to CES. IFA is up there as one of the largest trade shows of the year which normally brings a handful of exciting announcements in all areas of technology. While September may be a fruit company’s only time to shine, the rest of the major tech giants are busy finishing out the year with a bang…

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ASUS recently teased its new smartwatch by showing off some renders and today the company is turning things up a notch by releasing a brief preview video of its new timepiece. At just over a half a minute long, the quickie trailer doesn’t show much, but it does reveal that the watch will be called the ZenWatch, completely removing our Transformer theory out of the equation.

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Last week ASUS confirmed that it will unveil its new smartwatch on September 3rd at IFA in Berlin, and today the company shared a glimpse of what we can expect to see next week. Taking to its official Facebook page, the Taiwanese electronics maker posted sketches of  of its forthcoming smartwatch. Accompanied by a quote from Khalil Gibran, that was used last week to announce the device’s IFA event, the image’s text reads: “Time has been transformed, and we have changed.”

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[tweet https://twitter.com/ASUS/status/501668895074181120/]

ASUS has officially confirmed that it will be unveiling its Android Wear smartwatch at the IFA next month, with a teaser tweet showing a smartwatch face displaying the quote “Time has been transformed and we have changed” … 
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LG’s G Watch and Samsung’s Gear Live

When Google unveiled Android Wear, it said that ASUS was among the partners signed up to release a wearable device, but since then, both companies have been quiet on the matter. In June, rumors started circulating that ASUS was working on a smartwatch that would be low-cost and appealing to consumers. Now, according to quotes from Focus Taiwan, ASUS may launch its Android Wear device as soon as next month at IFA next month.

ASUS CEO Jerry Shen told an investors’ conference Tuesday that his company could debut its smartwatch as early as September at the IFA electronics trade show in Germany, with aggressive marketing efforts to promote the device.

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Samsung and Apple will largely own the smartwatch market between them, predicts Jackdaw Research chief analyst Jan Dawson in a report being issued later today and seen by Re/code.

Dawson said that new players should “stay out of the market,” and existing players should scale back their plans.

“We do not recommend that existing vendors should maintain current levels of investment when market growth and the overall revenue opportunity remain poor,” Dawson said. “It is unlikely that more than one or two small vendors will be able to make a sustainable business out of smartwatches in the face of competition from Samsung and […] Apple” …

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Image via <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml1LzNFn8kc">TechSmartt</a>

According to figures released by market research company BCN, Asus sold more tablets than Apple during the first half of 2014 in Japan. Asus’ market share rose 8 percent year-over-year during the first half of 2014, the report claims, giving it a 38.9 percent portion of the tablet market in Japan. Apple, on the other hand, holds a 36.4 percent share (via Nikkei). This is the first time Asus has ever held the top spot in Japan, according to the report.
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Attendees at Google I/O are busy pawing smartwatches made by LG, Motorola and Samsung, but obviously there are other companies ready to jump on the Android Wear bandwagon. One of the firms currently drafting up a plan is Taiwanese computer manufacturer Asus, which will release a smartwatch sometime this fall, according to TechCrunch. Powered by Android Wear, the high-tech timepiece will reportedly feature an AMOLED display and ship with a price tag between $100 and $150.

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Asus today announced a number of new Android tablets for Computex 2014 including a new lineup for the MeMO Pad Series, a next-generation Fonepad, and a hybrid tablet/laptop/smartphone Transformer Book that runs both Windows and Android. Head below for all the details. 
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The Nexus 7 might be due for a replacement, however UK residents who have their eyes on last year’s model can score a deal on Google’s reigning 7-inch slab. The search giant has partnered up with Asus to offer £50 in Play Store credit to people who purchase a 16GB model of the 2013 Nexus 7. The offer is available from now until June 1st from the following retailers:  Asda, Carphone Warehouse, Currys and Tesco. 

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After first announcing last month that its smallest-ever Chromebox would be arriving sometime in March for $179, Asus today started accepting preorders for the device through a number of online retailers. Amazon is currently accepting orders and listing an expected release date of March 17th for the new Chromebox.

The new Chromebox from Asus will actually arrive in three CPU configurations. Preorders today start for the dual-core 1.4GHz Celeron 2955U model, while an Intel Core i3 will also arrive March 14 as will an i7 model for outside of North America. Other specs include 2GB RAM, a 16GB SSD, 4 USB 3.0 ports, SD card reader, HDMI, DisplayPort, Bluetooth 4.0, and dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n. That’s all inside a case that measures 4.88″ x 4.88″ x 1.65” and comes in at 2.2 pounds. 
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DigiTimes, a site whose supply-chain-based rumors have a rather variable record of reliability, claims that Asustek is working on a new 8-inch Nexus, to replace the Nexus 7 at the end of April.

Google is no stranger to the form factor having just recently Play-editioned the LG 8.2″ G Pad  which has gotten some stellar reviews.

It’s suggested that Google feels the 7-inch market is too crowded, especially with 5- and 6-inch phablets cannibalising some of the 7-inch market … 
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HP previously teased that it would be releasing a Chromebox this spring, but has today announced a few more details about the box, in addition to some images. HP’s Chromebox will come in four colors including white, black, silver, and turquoise. The device will be marketed towards homes and businesses, seeing that it will be more powerful than some of the other Chromeboxes we’ve seen so far this year (via Engadget).

HP’s Chromebox features an HDMI port and DisplayPort, in addition to four USB 3.0 ports. The device will be powered by a fourth-generation Haswell-based Intel Core i7 processor.

Missing from the details announced today is pricing. ASUS’ new box will come in at $179, although it is less powerful. Either way, HP will certainly have some tough competition in the Chromebox space. The company’s box is set to be released in spring.

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Just a few minutes after announcing the hybrid Transformer Book Duet, Asus has unveiled an entirely new line of Android devices dubbed ZenFone. Asus hasn’t had much luck in the Android phone market, due in large part to its odd choice to only release phones that dock in tablets. The company hopes that these ZenFone devices will bring it some commercial success, though.

The ZenFone devices will come in three sizes, 4-inches, 5-inches, and 6-inches. All models will be powered by a dual-core Intel Atom processor and be available in a wide-variety of colors. The devices will ship with Android 4.3 on board, but don’t get too excited, as Asus has decided to overlay its ZenUI on top of the operating system. Asus promises that ZenUI will be simply, beautiful, and easy to use. One feature Asus is heavily promoting is a What’s Next feature that keeps track of your daily schedules.

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Hybrid devices that dual-boot both Android and Windows have become all too common over the past year or so, and as the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show kicks into full force, it only seems fitting that we’d see just a few more. Asus has just announced the Transformer Book Duet TD300. As the Duet name implies, the device is a convertible laptop and tablet hybrid that dual boots Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and Windows 8.1.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1QVpWpL19g&w=600&h=400]

By all accounts the Consumer Electronics Show kicking off in the next 10 days is looking to be fairly tame. While its true there could be dozens of surprises in store, the hype thus far has been pretty timid and I don’t see many of my colleagues expecting a wild ride as has been the case in years past. That’s not to say CES won’t be filled with exciting announcements of new products by hundreds of companies all converging on Las Vegas for one week in early January.

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Google is making moves this week to protect its Android partners as the Apple, Microsoft-backed “Rockstar” patent group seeks to sue numerous Android partners. Google has asked a San Jose court for a declaratory judgement to rule that Google and thereby the Android ecosystem does not violate seven of Rockstar’s patents.

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The ASUS PadFone may be a relatively unknown name in the US outside of the tech-savvy circles but the company hopes to change that next year. With big ambitions for its phone-to-tablet convertible device, the company looks set to finally enter the ever-important US market next year.

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