Zenbo available to buy in the US! Expensive, but this is a rare chance to get one!

March 1, 2019 Categories: News by 20 Comments

[Updated Sept 4, 2020 with new purchase opportunities]

This may come as a shocker to a great number of you out there. We’ve been getting a steady stream of email and messages asking the same thing. Where can I buy Zenbo? Well today, we actually have an answer! If you can handle the price, you will need to act quickly. This is an incredibly rare opportunity.

Before you get too excited, you must realize this isn’t an official product release into the US market. This Zenbo won’t connect with services in the US. More than that though, how much are you willing to spend? The price is bloated, no question about that. There is currently one available to buy. Given the pent up demand and enthusiasm for Zenbo, it’s likely that a few people out there are willing to pay the asking price. There just aren’t many opportunities to buy Zenbo and the asking price reflects that fact.

Shopping Links:

In Stock: $3,500 USD plus $100 shipping – Ships to US – One Available To Buy – Click Here

If you do buy this Zenbo, be assured you will be one of the only people in North America to own one. This is the first time we’ve seen one for sale in the US market and hopefully this is a start. We hear a lot of frustration from people because Zenbo hasn’t been made available and that is completely understandable. We launched this site a long time ago with a lot of hope and excitement but the launch or lack of a launch has tested our patience.

Let us know your thoughts on the price in the comment section below!

ASUS officially unveils Zenbo Junior – Details and Images

October 25, 2018 Categories: News, Zenbo Junior by 3 Comments

ASUS just took the wraps off Zenbo Junior! These images are literally the first ever seen!

The image above shows the original Zenbo on the left, with the new Zenbo Junior on the right. The size difference is astonishing!

The official unveil of Zenbo Junior was in Malaysia. We aren’t sure how to interpret the slogan “Your Smart Business Partner” as it pertains to Zenbo Junior. In the press release there is a clear focus on business and education. Is ASUS not marketing this towards the home market? We certainly hope that they don’t limit access and availability to Zenbo Junior because as we all know, the original promise was to have Zenbo as a global release for home use. I would suggest to ASUS that most everyone would gladly add a Zenbo Junior to their home!

Size wise, Zenbo Junior is half the size of the original Zenbo. Weight wise, Zenbo Junior is far lighter at 2.75kg compared to Zenbo at 10kg.

It has been noted that Zenbo Junior comes with a 2D camera and not a 3D camera that is found on Zenbo. The 3D camera allows for depth sensing and would be more ideal for a robot. At these early stages, it’s unclear if the Zenbo Junior specs are set in stone or if they will be modified by the time of release date.

As mentioned ASUS is gearing Zenbo Junior towards business and education. To that end, ASUS has improved the development tools to streamline the process and to make it easier to program the robot. The Zenbo SDK lets you controls vision, movement, speech and internet of things. Zenbo Management Console and the App Builder Pro are tools that are geared towards business, enterprise and education.

So at this point should you be excited or happy about Zenbo Junior? As a home user this doesn’t look promising. However, with some Zenbo news, perhaps this means the original Zenbo in all its glory will actually make it to more markets. There is certainly a big question mark around what ASUS is doing for the home users wanting Zenbo. When this robot was first introduced, it was to be for everyone all over the world. So to wait this long and to see a business and education robot? A tad disappointing. That said, it’s entirely possible that ASUS could make Zenbo Junior a retail/home product as well. Let’s hope!

Zenbo Junior will be running Android 6.0 Marshmallow

August 28, 2018 Categories: News by 2 Comments

Information that we’ve come across indicates that the upcoming Zenbo Junior will be sporting Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Yes, this is a version of Android from 2015, but most likely ASUS will update as the robot is released. Having said that, having the latest and greatest OS inside Zenbo won’t be as important as having the software dialed into the robot functionality. No question most tech enthusiast may shudder at the thought of not getting the latest and greatest Android version, but this is a robot and not a smartphone. Let’s just alter our mindset a bit?

Rumors only started recently regarding Zenbo Junior. In a sense, this could be thought of a Zenbo 2. There has only been one mention outside of this information we’ve found and it’s the first actual published verification of the product.

If you’re upset about the wait for Zenbo and the fact ASUS claimed it would be coming to the US months and months ago, it looks now like Zenbo Junior will be showing up at some point and not the original. Who knows why, but a large robot means bigger costs and bigger prices. Profit plays a role in these types of decisions and we certainly don’t see a situation where Zenbo and Zenbo Junior are available together. Our guess is that the original Zenbo is done, and things are moving forward with Zenbo Junior. This is speculation on our part of course.

Stay tuned for updates!

It’s Zenbo Junior time! Who’s ready?

August 16, 2018 Categories: News by 0 Comments

We’ve all been clamoring for Zenbo news and frankly some of you have been disappointed with the waiting. Well, there is some news to report and its positive. How does Zenbo Junior grab you?

A reliable source is indicating that a new Zenbo model is coming soon but it will be known as Zenbo Junior. What that exactly means is a bit unclear. Smaller? Seems very likely.

We’re updating this post in the next day as we dig around this latest leak.

Insider suggests ASUS working on next generation Zenbo, but it’s a ways off yet

May 19, 2018 Categories: News by 1 Comment

Do we consider this news as discouraging or not? A recent tweet from Roland Quandt suggests that ASUS is working on their next generation Zenbo robot. That’s find and dandy and not a surprise because tech companies work on the next generation of products once the current product is released. According to Roland Quandt, ASUS is looking to use a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor instead of the current Intel Atom processor. The reason behind a move like this is because of the AI technology that Qualcomm is putting into their processors. Certainly this makes sense.

ASUS is working on the second generation of their Zenbo Android-based home robot. Looks like Intel Atom is out, Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 likely in (bc of the AI stuff QC is able to offer). Super-early though.

The details within the tweet are not the interesting part. What’s interesting is that we haven’t had any real news regarding more countries getting a Zenbo release. Delays can happen but it has been eerily quiet and then this tweet about the next generation. Which gives up pause.

Let’s stay positive on this and hopefully something comes down the news funnel that speaks to a release date on a more global scale for Zenbo, generation 1. Zenbo when released in Taiwan depended on accompanying service which of course require agreements between companies. So for the US market, I would seem likely that these partnerships would take time in addition to having everything set up so that it’s working and the best user experience possible.

[source: Roland Quandt Twitter]

Big news! Zenbo pre orders start in Taiwan NT$ 24,900 and ships April 1, 2017

March 18, 2017 Categories: News, Pre Order by 7 Comments

This is big news. With an extremely model release in Taiwan, Asus is moving out of the cautious phase and into a true pre order phase. The listed ship date is expected to be April 1, 2017.

What we can see (via translation) is that the personal customer care phase is over, so normal product support is in place. Certainly this indicates that the first phase of limited units shipped along with personal customer support was a success.

This means that a wider release of Zenbo is one step closer for everyone else. More details to follow!

When is Zenbo going to be released outside of Taiwan?

February 19, 2017 Categories: Release Date by 1 Comment

Currently, Asus has not given an exact date on a global wide release for Zenbo. This was recently confirmed by Asus CEO Jerry Shen on February 15, 2017 at an Asus investors conference.

It’s clear that Asus first wants to ensure a good user experience. They will not be widely releasing Zenbo before that time. It also seems that Zenbo requires online services which would need to be negotiated in the markets that it’s going to be selling in.

Originally Asus said Q2 release date for global markets, but at this current time the release date is not firm.

Taiwan Zenbo Event scheduled for December 21

December 12, 2016 Categories: News by 2 Comments

Zenbo is coming to Taiwan officially on December 21st. We are just learning details and will update as we move towards December 21. We know that the date is set and now we will wait for release date, pre order and pricing details. Stay tuned and we will be updating this post as we learn more!

zenbo-taiwan-decemeber-event-announcement

It’s December, so where is Zenbo?

December 6, 2016 Categories: News by 3 Comments

“Sometime in December”, this is according to Asus Chairman Jonney Shih, is when the Zenbo will be launched in Taiwan. A product launch event is planned for December although there is still no set date.

Asus came out with big aspirations for Zenbo. Their goal was to have it available in retail by Christmas and it appears they are on target although it will only be in the Taiwan market to begin.

According to Asus CEO, the Zenbo will launch in China in Q1 2017 and will come to the US and other markets in Q2 2017.

Take our word for it, you won’t have to wait until Q2 2017 to buy a Zenbo. There are opportunities to buy products from Taiwan sellers and we will have those details as they become available.

We hope the floodgates open and there is a lot of incredible new Zenbo details in the coming weeks. With the Taiwan market on schedule for a December launch, we should have lots to talk about.

[source: Digitimes.com / Asus.com]

 

Jonney Shih tells Engadget he hopes Zenbot in retail for Christmas

June 3, 2016 Categories: Release Date by 1 Comment

Richard Lai (Engadget):When can we expect this to hit the market?

Jonney Shih (Asus): Christmas. I hope, you know, we can really deliver it to every household. That is our dream.

When Richard Lai from Engadget asked the question about when we can expect Zenbo to hit the market, Shih explained that most of the functionality is “almost there already”.

If you ask my opinion, I would say Shih is very confident about getting this into retail for the Christmas 2016 shopping season. It may be lofty, but Asus does have the resources and capabilities to pull it off. Certainly what Asus showed off at Computex was well polished and they were confident enough that they were ready to show off Zenbo. Ultimately the presentation and unveiling went off without a technical hitch. Things seem very promising indeed. Stay tuned, this story is developing!

[source: Engadget]

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