Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 3100 Platform cuts power usage, saves battery life

By Warren Miller, contribution writer

Qualcomm Technologies Inc. recently unveiled its next-generation Snapdragon Wear 3100 Platform for smartwatches, optimized to provide new interactive and personalized experiences while offering longer battery life. The platform’s foundation is built on a new ultra-low-power system architecture, which combines high-performance quad-core A7 processors, an integrated DSP, and a new ultra-low-power co-processor.

The new platform reduces power usage in several areas including low-power modes, GPS/location batching, per-minute/second clock updates, sensors processing, MP3 playback, and Wi-Fi/Bluetooth voice queries. Typical battery life improvements range from four to 12 hours compared to the previous-generation Snapdragon Wear 2100 platform, depending on display type, battery capacity, and device configurations.

Qualcomm’s co-processor, the QCC1110, was developed specifically for low-power functionality and is the centerpiece of the Snapdragon Wear 3100. It works with the main processor to deliver advances in audio, displays, and sensor capabilities. The QCC1110 measures  about 21 mm² — making it extremely space-efficient — and implements a deep-learning engine for custom workloads such as keyword detection.

The Snapdragon Wear 3100 platform also features a new power management subsystem, the PMW3100, to support integration and lower power. The new DSP framework supports next-gen sensor processing in an open execution environment, said Qualcomm, and implements a new dual display architecture. Qualcomm also pairs the 4G LTE modem with high-performance gallium-arsenide (GaAs) power amplifiers to boost power efficiency in smartwatches.

In collaboration with Wear OS by Google, the Snapdragon Wear 3100 is optimized to deliver what Qualcomm is dubbing a rich interactive mode, new personalized experiences, and support for extended battery life. Features such as the Enhanced Ambient Mode give the display the look and feel of a luxury timepiece, while the Dedicated Sports Experiences mode provides endurance athletes with the opportunity to run, bike, or swim without having to worry about the heart rate monitor or GPS functionality disappearing due to a low battery charge. In Traditional Watch mode, a single battery charge could last as long as a week.

The Snapdragon Wear 3100 platform, available in three variants targeting Bluetooth and Wi-Fi tethered smartwatches, GPS-based tethered smartwatches, and 4G LTE connected smartwatches, is in mass production.