Till today, smart watches still remain as a premium product for the typical consumer, whether it runs Android Wear, watchOS or Tizen OS as software. While most smart watches carry a price tag of $300 and above, which translates to at least over RM1,200, Chinese manufacturer ZTE has managed to defy all odds, launching its own Android Wear smart watch which will burn a hole in your pocket.
Meet the ZTE Quartz. It might look familiar to some of you as you might have come across various image leaks of this device. It isn’t exactly a very pretty looking watch. In fact, it looks rather chunky when compared to traditional time pieces. Its beefiness makes it similar looking to the likes of the recently launched LG Watch, but can be justified with the former’s price tag of $192 (RM851.62) compared to the $349 (RM1547.99) price of the LG Watch.
In terms of design, you will have to deal with the ugly looking ticks around the bezel of the ZTE Quartz. It also has a standard looking rubberized strap which can be easily switched with other watch straps. It has a 1.4-inch AMOLED display and Gorilla Glass 3 with a resolution of 400×400. Underneath the hood, the smart watch is powered by a Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor with 768MB RAM, plus 4GB of onboard storage. It runs on Android Wear 2.0 out of the box and packs a larger than usual 500mAh battery. The Quartz also supports 3G/HSPA for it to function as a standalone device when you don’t have your phone with you. It is rated IP67 for water and dust resistance. A shortcoming of ZTE’s smart watch is the lack of a heart rate sensor, probably to make it available at such a low price point, but a deal breaker to some.
The ZTE Quartz appears to be a US exclusive device for now, further exclusive to major carrier T-Mobile. For a $192 (RM851.62) price tag, it is rather difficult to complain about this latest wearable by ZTE. How will it fare against the rest of the competition with its attractive price point?
Source: ZTE
