Samsung Gear S3 and Asus ZenWatch 3 are recent additions to the smartwatch families, and users might wonder which one of the two fits their needs best.
We pitted the two devices against one another in a fair and not-so-square competition, so you know which one of the latest round smartwatches you should purchase.
Design
The ZenWatch 3 offers color customization based on three color options: silver, gunmetal and rose gold. Regardless of the color of choice, each variant of ZenWatch 3 holsters a rose gold bezel. Albeit pretty and posh looking, this aesthetic choice might not be everyone's cup of tea.
Customers get to choose between an Italian leather strap and a rubber one. Sporty types might prefer the rubber strap, as it is durable and seems to be designed with athletic activities in mind.
When looking at form factor, Samsung beefed up its recent Gear S3 smartwatch due to a significant number of capabilities crammed under its screen. But all this puts more bulk and weight to the smartwatch, and some users might not appreciate the extra grams.
The Gear S3 is quite plump at 12.9 mm (0.50 inch), while the ZenWatch 3 is only 9.95 mm (0.39 inch) in thickness.
Features
The ZenWatch 3 packs powerful fitness credentials, as Asus claims to sport one of the highest accuracy tracking on the market, and its power saving features are nothing to laugh at. ZenWatch 3 uses a screen carrying 400 x 400 pixels to display its information, and the 287 ppi make it one of the best smartwatch screens out there.
Users who are on the go most of the time will rejoice at the thought that ZenWatch 3 features Asus HyperCharge technology, which can charge the wearable from 0 to 60 percent in only 15 minutes.
The Gear S3 sports LTE, GPS, a hefty power source, a leather strap and a screen featuring protection from Gorilla Glass, which was crafted for regular watches. The screen of the device is a Super AMOLED with 360 x 360 pixels display resolution. Gear S3 also allows its owners to tap into Samsung Pay via NFC and MST. Gear S3 also comes with altimeter and barometer for hardcore outdoorsy users. Speaking of harsh environments, Gear S3 is IP 68 certified, meaning it can resist water and dust and it fares great in cold or hot climates.
The embedded features of Samsung's most recent smartwatch are a trade-off for lightness, but they more than make up for the lost comfort.
Specs
The technical specs of Gear S3 are promising. Besides the 380 mAh battery, the watch has a speaker/microphone for making calls. Its processing power comes from a dual-core Exynos 7270 processor clocked at 1 GHz, it contains 4 GB of storage space.
ZenWatch 3, on the other hand, packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 SoC. Backing the SoC there are 512 MB of RAM and 4 GB of storage. The battery on Asus' smartwatch is slightly smaller, at only 340 mAh, but it still goes toe to toe with most standard power sources for a watch of this size.
Pricing And Availability
Rumors surfaced that ZenWatch 3 will cost 229 euro ($255) in Europe, where it is expected to land toward the end of 2016.
Unfortunately, details about the pricing or availability of Gear S3 has yet to reach the media.
