Apple Watch 2 vs Asus ZenWatch 3 review, specs and features comparison: Cheaper ZenWatch 3 offers good processor, battery life

2016 saw the unveiling of the Apple Watch 2 and the Asus ZenWatch 3, two of today's most popular wearable tech. But while one is much more expensive than the other, both are sleekly designed, built with powerful processors, and run on good operating systems. Here is a brief comparison of the two.

The Apple Watch 2 sets itself apart from every other smartwatch with its rectangular display. While its screen is bigger than most, it is nonetheless extremely crisp. The 1.65-inch OLED Retina display boasts 390 x 312 resolution and 303 ppi. In comparison, the Asus ZenWatch 3's 1.39-inch AMOLED display has 400 x 400 resolution and 278 ppi. Apart from being smaller than the Apple Watch 2, the Asus smartwatch has a circular dial that is currently the thinnest in the wearable tech market.

The Apple Watch 2 runs on the powerful dual-core Apple S2 processor while the Asus ZenWatch 3 runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 SoC.

Apple has not released the memory specs for its new Apple Watch. Meanwhile, the Asus ZenWatch 3 offers 512 MB RAM and 4 GB internal storage space, the same as in Samsung's Gear S3.

Apple has not released the battery specs of its Watch 2, but reports indicate that it lasts about 18 hours per charge. In comparison, the Asus ZenWatch 3 has a 340 mAh battery that allows users two whole days of usage between charges.

Smartwatches don't offer that much in terms of resources, which is why the OS loaded into them is critical. The Apple Watch 2 runs on the new and feature-packed WatchOS 3 while the Asus ZenWatch 3 runs on Android Wear OS 2.0. Both of these do a good job of making the most out of the hardware.

The Apple Watch 2 starts at $369. The Asus ZenWatch 3 is much cheaper at just $229.