Qualcomm's Snapdragon 3100 is finally here to boost Wear OS smartwatches

Qualcomm's Snapdragon 3100 is finally here to boost Wear OS smartwatches

 

SMARTWATCHES ARE ABOUT to get a shot in the arm... or wrist, thanks to Qualcomm's Snapdragon Wear 3100 chip. 

For some time, Android Wear - now Wear OS - smartwatches have had to make do with the venerable Snapdragon Wear 2100, an SoC that is now pretty long in the tooth and arguably held back the evolution and performance of such wearables.

But Qualcomm's new chip promises to soup-up the next wave of smartwatches. With its "ultra-low power" architecture and efficient integrated digital signal processor, the chip should keep smartwatches running for more than a day while still handling smart features.

The Snapdragon Wear 3100 comes with Qualcomm's QCC1110 co-processor, which has apparently been designed from the ground up to be the heart of the SoC and handle all the controlling of smartwatch sensors and power deep learning algorithms for workloads tailored for smartwatches, like keyword detection.

Basically, it's a proper partner to the main processor, only focused on powering the smartwatch features rather than just keep the operating system ticking over.

"With the Snapdragon Wear 3100 Platform, we envisioned a new ultra-low power system architecture and in collaboration with the latest from the Wear OS by Google team, to help deliver a rich interactive mode, bring in new personalized experiences and support extended battery life for tomorrow's smartwatches," said said Anthony Murray, senior vice president and general manager, voice, music and wearables at Qualcomm Technologies.

Overall, the chipset seems like a capable and more refined successor to the old Snapdragon Wear 2100.

But it'll only really be able to show if it can cut the tech mustard if smartwatch makers make use of it; luckily Qualcomm has the likes of Fossil and Louis Vuitton, as well as Montblanc as prospective customers, so you can expect to see more examples of tech smashed with fashion come sporting the Snapdragon Wear 3100.

And we wouldn't be surprised if other tech firms making smartwatches also tap Qualcomm up for a new slice of silicon. µ