Computex 2016: Qualcomm's Snapdragon Wear 1100 platform targets IoT and wearables

Qualcomm has announced its latest processor for its Snapdragon Wear platform called the Snapdragon Wear 1100. Unlike the Snapdragon Wear 2100 that was shown off in February, which is meant for multi-purpose devices such as smartwatches, the Snapdragon Wear 1100 is targetted at performing specific functions.

The Snapdragon Wear 1100 comes with a built-in LTE modem, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and an apps processor for Linux apps. Qualcomm’s focus for the Wear 1100 chipset is for it to be used in child-tracking wearables.

Speaking at the keynote, Senior Director and Business Lead of Smart Wearables at Qualcomm, Pankaj Kedia spoke about the bright future of wearables and internet of things (IoT) in general. “We are truly excited about the wearable space by customer category, by OS, by product category,” he said.

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Kedia concentrated on five key factors for the Snapdragon Wear 1100 platform. Small size, low power, smart sensing, always-on connectivity week long LTE standby, hardware based security and next-gen GPS. Snapdragon Wear 1100 is targetted to unleash the Kids smartwatch segment, he said.

The Snapdragon Wear 1100 measures 79 square mm, houses an ARM Cortex A7 processor, has a Cat 1 modem, supports Linux and RTOS and supports hardware level security. The chipset will start shipping on 31 May.

Qualcomm has announced collaborations with companies such as Aricent, Borqs, Infomark, and SurfaceInk to showcase what can be done with the 2100 and 1100 chips.

Disclaimer: Our correspondent was invited for Computex 2016 by ASUS India. All travel and accommodation expenses have been take care of by ASUS India.