Google recently changed its smartwatch platform’s name to Wear OS, and, since then, the company has put a focus on improving the platform in every other way, too. But one of the areas holding it back was the processor in those smartwatches. The Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 hasn’t aged well. But that really isn’t an issue anymore, because Qualcomm has just announced the Wear 3100 platform. This time around the company is putting a major emphasis on battery life, with different modes offering a focus on fitness, battery life, and fashion. Qualcomm confirmed that the new platform is shipping beginning today, with Montblanc, Louis Vuitton, and Fossil the first companies set to offer the new platform in their smartwatches. Inside, the Snapdragon Wear 3100 features a “high-performance quad core A7 processors, the highly efficient integrated DSP, and a new ultra-low power co-processor”, with that co-processor being very small (only “~21mm2”) and designed to handle ultra-low power operations. The new platform also includes “a new wearable power management sub-system (PMW3100) to support lower power and higher integration”. Here is how Qualcomm describes its new modes: Qualcomm says that when compared to the Snapdragon Wear 2100 platform, the Wear 3100 offers a significant boost in battery life, between four and 12 hours longer depending on the action. The platform supports three variants: Bluetooth and Wi-Fi tethered smartwatches, GPS tethered smartwatches, and 4G LTE-connected wearables as well. This sounds like a huge boost for Wear OS in general, and hopefully the performance and battery life matches Qualcomm’s goals.
