WatchTF, Asus?

It’s fairly common practice for cheaper manufacturers to ape more expensive “premium” brands as soon as it’s clear that customer sentiment is headed in a certain direction. This week at Computex, however, Asus dumped a doozy.

Take a look at the above video. It’s like a mad-eyed parody of an Apple Watch advertisement. The watches bands look cheap and derivative, the back of the case is carefully hidden from view because it looks like garbage, and the entire thing smacks of a smartwatch fan film executed in a hurry. It’s an embarrassment and Asus should know better.

Darrell was surprisingly kind to the Zenwatch when it launched in December and it looks like he’ll have to temper his criticism again with this dog. Sadly, it also appears that smartwatches aren’t excepted in the group of products that eventually join the endless race to the bottom when they become even remotely popular, a proposition that doesn’t bode well for next CES when manufacturers display all of their garbage smartwatches in row after row of derivative suck. It’s rare for me to be so angry at a product video but if this is indicative of what’s to come I’m actually worried.