Theyre huge pledges, but put simply, Googles Wear OS severely needs this kind of hardware overhaul. The last major modification to the Snapdragon Wear lineup, the Snapdragon Wear 3100, was a minor update to 2016s Snapdragon 2100. Provided that the 2100 and 3100 have the exact same main processor, the debut of the 4100 marks the first concrete speed enhancements for Wear OS in about 4 years.
Qualcomm is announcing two brand-new Use OS processors today, the Snapdragon Wear 4100 Plus and the Snapdragon Use 4100, the very first significant updates to its smartwatch platform considering that 2018. Qualcomm declares the brand-new chips will have significantly improved speed, with a “significantly quicker brand-new processor,” and big jumps in performance for the GPU, memory, electronic camera, and total battery life.
A much faster processor for Wear OS
On paper, a minimum of, these are the sorts of huge improvements that Qualcomm needed to make to assist boost the having a hard time Wear OS hardware environment (which is practically totally reliant on Qualcomms platform at this point) back into the competitive video game.
The most significant modifications remain in the processor, which is jumping from a 28nm procedure to a 12nm one, with 4 A53 CPU cores clocked at 1.7 GHz replacing the 3100s A7 cores (at just 1.1 GHz), which Qualcomm says need to provide more than 85 percent faster efficiency. The GPU is now Adreno A504 (approximately two and a half times quicker than the 3100), together with faster memory.
The shift to the new 12nm CPU architecture (together with other, more technical enhancements) likewise indicates that watches with a Snapdragon 4100 must see as much as 25 percent much better battery life.
Qualcomm is currently delivering its Wear 4100 and 4100 Plus chipsets to hardware makers, with the first devices set to get here in the coming months. Mobvoi has currently announced that its dealing with a brand-new TicWatch model that will include the brand-new chips, and Xiaotiancai is working on a kid-friendly smartwatch powered by the Wear 4100, too.
Qualcomm is taking a slightly different technique with the 4100 line. For designers that do not require or desire to use always-on functions, Qualcomm will also offer a basic Snapdragon Wear 4100 model, which just offers the SDM429w SoC.
But the smartwatch world is a really different location now than it remained in 2016, when the last significant improvements to Qualcomms processor showed up, or even 2018. Wear OS is largely controlled by fashion brand names like Fossil, but the whole smartwatch community itself is controlled by Samsungs Gear line and the Apple Watch.
For the Snapdragon 4100 Plus, though, the QCC1110 co-processor– which deals with the ambient screen mode typical to most modern-day smartwatches– is also getting some enhancements. Those consist of the capability to show greatly more colors– as many as 64,000, up from the 16 colors that the 3100 might reveal– as well as support for new functions when in “watch mode” like step tracking, constant heart-rate tracking, alarms, haptic feedback, and more (which formerly needed to count on the primary processor).
Use OS looks very various in 2020
For developers that do not want or require to offer always-on features, Qualcomm will likewise offer a standard Snapdragon Wear 4100 model, which simply uses the SDM429w SoC.
After years of lackluster hardware and an apparently apathetic Google when it pertains to establishing brand-new Wear OS software features, the concern is whether Qualcomms brand-new chip is simply far too late for Googles smartwatch experiment.
Googles own aspirations to make a flagship smartwatch are up in the air. The companys current announcement that it means to acquire Fitbit for $2.1 billion may be a method for it to intensify its hardware division to make better Wear OS watches– or it may be for something else completely.
Theyre huge guarantees, however put simply, Googles Wear OS badly needs this kind of hardware overhaul. The last major modification to the Snapdragon Wear lineup, the Snapdragon Wear 3100, was a small update to 2016s Snapdragon 2100. Given that the 2100 and 3100 have the precise very same primary processor, the debut of the 4100 marks the very first concrete speed enhancements for Wear OS in about 4 years.
