Qualcomm's next gen chipset announced SEP 10

Here’s a taste of what we expect, taken from our initial writeup in May.

• Qualcomm has built a brand new, from “ground up” chipset to be used in wearables that are coming later this year. This chipset isn’t just a modified other Snapdragon product that has been tweaked for wearables - it’s actually a wearable chip.
• This new chipset will allow for “dedicated chips that make your watch look pretty when you’re not looking at it, that brings the best fitness and watch experience, and extends battery life.”
• There will be a focus on watches both looking good and having smartwatch functionality. We’ve heard about a hybrid LG watch with mechanical hands and a touchscreen, which could be exactly what is being hinted at here.
• Battery life will see a “significant” boost and there will be better health features, like longer heart rate monitoring.

Hubert

Who's with me hoping this new architecture will power future TAG Heuer Connected models?

Today, Qualcomm announced its new smartwatch and wearable chipset, the Snapdragon Wear 3100. This is the chipset that was first teased back at Google I/O in May and could bring major improvements to the Wear OS ecosystem as a range of new watches running the chip arrive over the coming months.

So what’s the scoop on the Snapdragon Wear 3100 and how does it improve over the aging Snapdragon Wear 2100? This new chip is made up of high-performance quad core A7 processors, a highly efficient integrated DSP, and a new ultra-low power co-processor. The hope there is to provide you with a full smartwatch experience, just like the one you’ve known for the past few years, but Wear 3100 will also let you run a Wear OS watch like a sport watch or regular, everyday watch that lasts for days, thanks to that new co-processor.

Qualcomm is pushing three modes for the next generation of smartwatches to run in: Enhanced Ambient Mode, Dedicated Sports Experiences, and Traditional Watch Mode. You can see the point of each in the image below, but you can think of it in a way as the least battery efficient to the most from left to right.

In Enhanced Ambient Mode, you get an improved smartwatch experience that doesn’t hold anything back. It has an improved Ambient Mode that shows you a smoother second hand, up to 16 colors at a time, live complications, and is controlled by adaptive brightness. This is the mode that Qualcomm talked about in May, where they suggested that watches needed to look better when you weren’t using them. We kind of thought that might mean a hybrid watch approach, but that’s not actually the case. We’re really just getting a better looking ambient mode.

For the Sports mode, Qualcomm is hoping to power smartwatches that can last for up to 15 hours with continuous GPS and heart rate. That would be a massive improvement over current watches and would mean running a marathon without having to worry about your watch dying mid-way through. This mode will first arrive in a later smartwatch, though we have no idea who that might be. This mode will most definitely help push Google’s new love for fitness.

And finally, in Traditional Watch Mode, you’ll get a watch that still has some of the smarts of a smartwatch, but is really there to look like a fancy timepiece and last for a really long time. With 20% battery, Qualcomm says that the 3100 could allow for up to a week in this mode, but that expands to almost 30 days with a full battery.

As for straight battery life improvements, Snapdragon Wear 3100 offers quite a big jump over the Wear 2100. Qualcomm has reduced power consumption by 49% when GPS is being used, 35% for once-a-min clock updates, and 67% in lowest power mode. Depending on the watch and configuration, these improvements could add anywhere from 4-12 hours on a single charge.

Qualcomm is hoping that you’ll get well over a full day of battery out of a watch in full smartwatch mode, but can then extend that charge through the end of a week if you switch over to watch mode. It’s like the idea behind Mobvoi’s TicWatch Pro, except Qualcomm is achieving this through the new Wear 3100 and that ultra-low power co-processor, rather than a dual display setup.

The Snapdragon Wear 3100 is shipping now and the first customers expected to release watches with it are Louis Vuitton, Montblanc, and Fossil. This chipset will come in configurations for WiFi and Bluetooth, onboard GPS, and LTE.

TGHC45

Montblanc Summit 2 will be the first Snapdragon Wear 3100 watch!

https://www.engadget.com/2018/09/10/montblanc-summit-2/

I wonder if it's going to be Made in China like the first Summit!

ddaenen1

I thought about bying the Summit but when i saw the CM45 i was sold. No comparison on design. A pity as i am a big MB fan.

TGHC45

If you are using watchmaker watch faces they will drain your battery quick .. TH watch faces are perfect and I get a whole day out of my watch .. usually when I go to bed I put my watch on to charge and I still have about 55-60% of juice 😀

TGHC45

I tried yesterday watchmaker and didn't really find any watch face up to how TH watch faces .. I think this is just a personal opinion ..