Leading the world to 5G, it seems that Qualcomm aims each segment of its target audience to match the pace of technological advancement. Today at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Shanghai, it unveiled the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2500 platform designed specifically for kids’ Smartwatches.
Qualcomm basically makes chips for every gadget ranging from Smartphone to PC to tablet to even wearable. Now it sees an immense opportunity in wearable in kids section as parents worldwide are highly concern for their children’s safety. Besides this, they really want to minimize the direct interaction between their kids and mobiles.
“If you look at the targeted kid watch and tracker segment the growth in these designed-for-kids but highly capable devices, is very exciting, and customers are seeing widespread global demand,” said Anthony Murray, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Voice & Music and Wearables, Qualcomm Technologies International, Ltd in press release.
The San Diego chipmaker is pioneering in Smartwatch for kids segment. It launched Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 platform two years back. This earlier technology is presently available in more than ten varieties of 4G kids’ watches in over 10 countries.
Snapdragon Wear 2500 Features
The advanced generation of Qualcomm chip extends the battery life of kids’ Smartwatch by 14 percent, both on active mode and standby mode. This expanded battery life is associated with several other new features that include Wearable PMIC, RF Front End (RFFE), Adreno-class graphics engine and Bluetooth streaming architecture. The Snapdragon Wear 2500 also incorporates an all-new quad-core A7 processor and modem software optimizations.
The new platform for children wearable, Snapdragon Wear 2500 integrates the fifth generation 4G LTE modem. Using the most recent navigation system and sensor fusion technology the Wear 2500 delivers precise location information. It is a key element for a kid’s wearable as the feature will allow families to track their kids’ locations and aid them to provide mental peace.
Qualcomm says, “The new Wearable PMIC is designed to reduce Rock Bottom Sleep Current (RBSC) by up to 14 percent, is smaller by 38 percent and comes in a compact package that integrates power management, charger, fuel gauge, and haptics driver functionality.”
No Need to Hold a Smartphone All Time
The new A7 processor and Adreno-class graphics engine are designed to facilitate messaging and installed learning experiences to children. The Snapdragon Wear 2500 platform supports 5 MP camera and popular AI-based voice assistants.
With these entire configurations on Smartwatch for kids, parents can anytime connect with their kids over a video call. Children can request Google Assistant or Alexa via Smartwatch to extract educational content from the web. Additionally, kids need not carry wallets to make purchases at schools as their watches are integrated with a highly secured NFC functionality.
Diverting from connectivity to gauging health section, the Snapdragon 2500 Wear features an ultra-low power sensor hub with pre-optimized sensor algorithms that are made available to deliver an extremely accurate smart sensing experience. These sensors keep a constant track on kids’ health parameters in order to keep them stay healthy and fit.
What’s more on the Qualcomm’s new platform for kids’ wearable is that it comes with pre-installed gesture-based gaming and entertainment applications. So, the children can continue to have fun on their Smartwatch besides access to educational content and keep in touch with families.
Android for Kids
Launching first Smartwatch chip in two years, Murray said that the new platform will operate on a new version of Android called, “Android for Kids”. So it’s still unclear whether Snapdragon Wear 2500 will land in Wear OS or any other Android Smartwatch. The new platform will run on Android Oreo that fits in 512 MB ROM and will shut off Smartwatch functions to save on power.