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There is an accompanying Asus ZenWatch Manager app, which lets you set your watch as an unlock key for your phone, so whenever you're nearby (and wearing your watch, obviously), you can dispense with your unlock code and get straight into your phone, without any fumbling. It can also make your ZenWatch vibrate in case you've left it on the dining room table opposed to its usual nightstand spot.
And similar to other smartwatches out there, you can cover to mute incoming calls and alarms by placing your hand over the watch face.
The variety of 18 watch faces is nice; you can even customize watch face colors plus the advent of Lollipop has added even more designs.
Other apps found on the watch range from a music app, which just provides the controls to your connected phone, compass and flashlight. The latter displays a customizable solid color (which can "twinkle" to create a weird strobe light effect if you tap on it).
Fitness
You wouldn't expect a watch with a stainless steel body and leather strap to be much use for fitness - it certainly doesn't look like your regular sports watch - but the ZenWatch has a stab at this lucrative market.
As you'd expect from the name, the ZenWatch is more concerned with your general well-being, rather than how far you've run today, so there's no GPS tracking or heart-rate tracking, though a built-in "Biosensor" on the front will give you one-off heart-rate readings.
Alas, both this and the step counting seemed more than averagely inaccurate. I saw very different step estimates for the exact same 10-minute walk done several times, and some heart-rate readings so outrageously high, they would normally suggest I needed to go to hospital.
Please note that Google Now did not direct me automatically to the nearest hospital.
The Sony Smartwatch 3 is a much better fitness option, or you could go for one of the growing army of running watches, such as the Garmin Forerunner range and Polar M400, or cheaper fitness bands such as the Jawbone UP or Fitbit Charge.
There are a couple of nice features here though. You can ask your ZenWatch to buzz you every couple of hours or so to get up and walk around, or just to remind you if you've been inactive for a bit. And despite the inaccuracy of some of the fitness readings, the display that shows you all of your information is very pretty, with leafy autumnal graphics showing you just how slovenly you are.
