Acer, Asustek and Samsung to talk wearables soon

In the week leading up to the IFA 2016 tradeshow in Berlin several brand vendors are preparing to launch what they think are next-generation wearable devices including offerings from Acer, Asustek and Samsung.

Acer planning smartwatch for gamers, new wearable device

Acer currently has two touch-enabled smart wristbands called the Liquid Leap+ and Liquid Leap Active that interact with a user’s smartphone to provide biometric feedback, music control, sleep pattern monitoring and calendar alerts, among other features. The company is said to be planning to launch a high-end smartwatch for the gaming market at the show, along with a next-generation wearable device.

Asustek planning ZenWatch 3 announcement

Asustek currently has two high-end smartwatches, namely the first-generation ZenWatch (1.63-inch WI500Q) from November 2014 and the follow-up ZenWatch 2 series from last September (1.63-inch WI501Q and 1.45-inch WI502Q). Early reports have said the company is planning to announce its ZenWatch 3 successor ahead of the show on August 31st, as it posted an announcement on its company Twitter page earlier last week for an upcoming product. There is no word on product specifications just yet, though an Economic Daily News report hints that it will feature a different industrial design than previous-generation products.

Samsung preparing Gear S3 announcement

Meanwhile, Samsung is gearing up to announce its third-generation smartwatch, the Gear S3. Like the ASUS ZenWatch, the company’s device will finally feature a barometer to measure atmospheric pressure, a speedometer and a weather forecasting service to name a few new features. One report suggests the wearable will come in three variants – Gear S3 Classic, Gear S3 Frontier and Gear S3 Explorer, and that all three models should feature the same rotary bezel as the current Gear S2. The company is also planning to make an announcement on August 31st ahead of the Berlin show.