Qualcomm has announced a new chip aimed at bolstering the battery life of fitness trackers and other smaller wearables.
We heard about the Snapdragon Wear 2100 earlier in the year. This is Qualcomm’s first dedicated smartwatch chip, providing a number of size and efficiency benefits to the next generation of Android Wear devices.
Now the company has announced the Snapdragon Wear 1100 at Computex, and as the designation suggests, it’s aiming smaller.
The Snapdragon Wear 1100 is intended for smaller wearable devices that don’t have access to the kind of larger batteries you find in your average full-blown smartwatch.
Qualcomm calls the kind of devices that will run on the 1100 “targeted-purpose” wearables, compared to the “multi-purpose” wearables of the 2100. Think fitness trackers and smaller, simpler smartwatches.
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The new chip is 45 percent smaller than Qualcomm’s current QSC6270 processor, yet it will last an estimated seven days with LTE standby on a single charge.
Yes, the Snapdragon Wear 1100 has a built-in LTE/3G modem, and it also supports Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity. Elsewhere, Qualcomm’s iZat technology will enable tracking functionality using a combination of network towers and GNSS satellite. It also has a number of security features to keep your data private.
Next, watch our Qualcomm Snapdragon X16 LTE Modem video:
Qualcomm says that it’s just started shipping the Snapdragon Wear 1100 to manufacturers, so expect to see it cropping up in simple wearables towards the latter part of 2016 or early 2017.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.