Asus is Working on a Smartwatch that Will Feature Gesture and Voice Guided Navigation

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We've heard some inklings of rumors in the past suggesting that Asus might be getting into the smartwatch game. The newest info comes from the source. Asus CEO Jonney Shih announced last month that the company is considering getting into the wearables market. Shih recently shed new light on this potential during an event conducted by the National Taiwan University. He indicated that Asus plans to be very aggressive on pricing to make it much more affordable than other offerings in the market currently. He also added that the device would use gesture and voice guided navigation. Here's a quote with a few more details,

New information regarding the smartwatch states that it would work with customizable hand movements and voice commands. ”There would be more natural user interfaces such as voice or movement controls, although more breakthroughs are needed in these areas,” Shih said during an event conducted by the National Taiwan University.

It is unclear as to how Asus will include this functionality. To provide an always-on listening mode on the Moto X, Motorola has included an additional low power processor dedicated to listening for voice commands. Asus might use a similar technology, but needs to figure out how to integrate it in a device that has one-tenth of the battery life of a mobile device.

Another issue that Asus faces is that of pricing, but Shih mentioned that it will not be an issue. He said that the smartwatch will be launched with “attractive prices” and that Asus will target the wearable segment aggressively, which means that the smartwatch may just be the first wearable device from the Taiwanese manufacturer this year.

What do you guys think? Can the makers of the Nexus 7 create a compelling and affordably priced smartwatch?

Source: News360