Ahead of I/O 2018, a rumored LG Wear OS device with a hybrid form factor passed through the FCC. The only news from the conference ended up being an updated Android P Developer Preview. However, a flurry of reports in the past days confirm a “lead smartwatch,” while new rumors today suggest Google-made smartwatches later this fall.
Evan Blass this morning tweeted about a Pixel-branded smartwatch alongside this fall’s Pixel 3 phones and a rumored second-generation Pixel Buds. This afternoon, WinFuture confirmed the Google-made nature, while also adding that there could be three models.
Codenamed “Ling,” “Sardine,” and “Triton,” there are no details in the report about the design or how they differentiate, but possible specs include Bluetooth with apt-X, GPS, and LTE with Voice over LTE (VoLTE) support. Health features consist of step tracking and a heart rate monitor in line with Google’s fitness focus for Wear OS going forward.
The article goes into-depth about Qualcomm’s new wearable chip whose existence was confirmed by the chipmaker and Google earlier this week. Reportedly launching as the Snapdragon Wear 3100, there is a focus on battery savings, however the chip is apparently keeping the same 28nm process as the two-year old 2100. The quad-core chipset reportedly uses an older ARM Cortex-A7 architecture and Adreno 304 GPU.
However, energy efficiency will still be achieved through a new power management solution optimized for wearables that allows for features like always-on hotword commands. Google already hinted at a battery focus on devices with the new chip, while P DP2 for Wear adds an enhanced battery saver mode.
According to WinFuture, these devices have been delayed due to a number of factors from antenna design to Qualcomm’s chip development on energy efficiency. A March 2018 launch date was originally planned, but the new date is later this year.
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