# Pull the trigger on a Qualcomm 3100 powered watch or wait for the Qualcomm 4100?



## lvt (Sep 15, 2009)

So all smartwatches powered by the Qualcomm 2100 suffer from short battery life and performance issues, probably due to the lack of RAM. Some manufacturers like Mobvoi has boosted the RAM on their flagship watches to 1GB (from 512MB), but it didn't fix the core problem.

Latest watches using the Qualcomm 3100 perform slightly better. Battery life is improved. But from what experts say, the 3100 is just the 2100 with a coprocessor, same 28nm process. It's a technical trick rather than a true technological advancement. So again, the issue hasn't been solved.

We are left with no other choice than waiting for the first watch with the Qualcomm 4100 to come. Hopefully the 12nm process and higher CPU speed will make a better Wear OS watch.


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## Degr8n8 (Nov 28, 2012)

I dont do the fancy qualcom stuff as i doubt my gshock has one. My advice is to wait for the 4100 to come out so you can see some real world data. If its good, get it. If its not good enough, the 3100 will be cheaper/discounted and you saved some dough.


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## Rocket1991 (Mar 15, 2018)

Patience Iago, patience....
But in short don't go with WearOS. Or 3100 instead of 4100. 
4100 is powerful to pull full fledged phone.
Not sure it translates to better watch though. The only thing which stands out is more advanced always on co processor and that may pull things to the better if Google won't screw it. which like if you have room fool of beer and bunch of freshman during party and you bet on nobody barfing. It's sure possible!!!!!
There is new Galaxy Watch 3 out and it's slimmer, lighter, faster.... and has titanium model at less than 50gr!


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## Rocket1991 (Mar 15, 2018)

4100 looks good. nothing wrong with it. Only doubt i have it's pretty powerful CPU and all that nice yet 3100 also had low power co processor and promised up to 1 week of "watch mode" life. which we never saw in any current WearOS powered watches. It's not just CPU it's kind of whole package.








Qualcomm made a modern smartwatch chip: Meet the Snapdragon Wear 4100


Are there any Wear OS manufacturers and customers left to buy Qualcomm's new chip?




arstechnica.com




It worth mentioning that previous 3 gens been mostly aorund same A7 cores as much as it came to main CPU core. so in a way 4100 is a first major redesign on platform (sort of). so theoretically speaking it has more potential to be better and more efficient yet it clocked at 1.7 GHz (why?) and there is no word on power consumption.
Also worth noticing low power co processor is optional on 4100+ model (according to some sources).
Anyway i can claim old 2 year old Samsung on previous SOC living 3 days of normal use with puny 42mm battery.
there is huge amount of uncertainty and guesses surrounding Google and Wear OS. It's all in future improvements.
My huge gripe with them it been said since day 1 6 years ago. why bet on something which is promised when you can have something which already delivered (years ago btw)?


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## BarracksSi (Feb 13, 2013)

Rocket1991 said:


> there is huge amount of uncertainty and guesses surrounding Google and Wear OS. It's all in future improvements.


I won't even suggest that Google cares enough about WearOS.









Wear OS will lose Google Play Music months before a YouTube Music app exists


Google Play Music is being phased out in favor of YouTube Music starting next month. That change already exacerbates the need for the latter to achieve a




www.androidpolice.com







> Google Play Music is being phased out in favor of YouTube Music starting next month. That change already exacerbates the need for the latter to achieve a desirable feature parity with its predecessor, but it also now presents a challenging chasm for Wear OS users who will lose access to Play Music without a robust YouTube Music experience.
> 
> A new Wear OS help page tells users that they won't be able to download or even use Google Play Music "in the next couple of weeks." And until a proper YouTube Music experience appears "in the coming months," that means they'll have to resort to other apps in order to download and play local files.


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## lvt (Sep 15, 2009)

BarracksSi said:


> I won't even suggest that Google cares enough about WearOS.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The latest Oppo watch (Qualcomm 3100 based) seems to have a custom version of Wear OS. A couple of early reviews say the operation of the watch is smooth, battery life is acceptable.

So maybe customization is the way to go.


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## Rocket1991 (Mar 15, 2018)

lvt said:


> The latest Oppo watch (Qualcomm 3100 based) seems to have a custom version of Wear OS. A couple of early reviews say the operation of the watch is smooth, battery life is acceptable.
> 
> So maybe customization is the way to go.


That not Apple Watch?


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## Rocket1991 (Mar 15, 2018)

BarracksSi said:


> I won't even suggest that Google cares enough about WearOS.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Me neither. Yet for some reason in minds of more common people and some considerable amount of tech writers Apple-Google dominance translates into wearable market. 
I strongly feel Google is kind of sloppy 3d-5th option. You can customize OS, yet it's not even on par with others. 
Plus, Google aka Alphabet been pushing some AI functionality and some predictions, data mining instead of building proper watch OS. To have same abysmal battery life as 6 years ago is beyond me. Not push Qualicom to produce what you need is also beyond me. They owned Motorola, bought Fossil part of smartwatch business (they among #1 in Wear OS watches) and have all money in the world and support of Samsung at the start and still produce what they did... is totally beyond me. 
What more i think Google highly skilled and paid professionals kind off not in tune with what real use will be. Not everyone sitting in Sarbax (pre covid) and have all comfort and time to do gestures (not documented in most cases) to control small device. 
I almost got into accident while dealing with their maps and while confirming back to back Samsung VS Moto 360 i got Samsung logic in a heart bit while Wear OS was less intuitive and in some cases outright awkward. Don't think people understood how it will look on the hand and how it should be useful on the go. Or did not care much about it. 
0 regrets *not getting* Wear OS wearable so far.


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## BarracksSi (Feb 13, 2013)

Rocket1991 said:


> Plus, Google aka Alphabet been pushing some AI functionality and some predictions, data mining instead of building proper watch OS. To have same abysmal battery life as 6 years ago is beyond me.* Not push Qualicom to produce what you need is also beyond me.* They owned Motorola, bought Fossil part of smartwatch business (they among #1 in Wear OS watches) and have all money in the world and support of Samsung at the start and still produce what they did... is totally beyond me.


Rene Ritchie talked a bit about Qualcomm's stagnation in wearables in this vid, saying that because they're just a chipmaker, it's not worth it to them to invest the kind of money and resources on such a small market (relatively speaking) with so little certainty that manufacturers will be there to buy the chips.

4:13 -


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## Rocket1991 (Mar 15, 2018)

I don't think market is that small especially if you produce something worthy.
They did failed to understand what difference is between phone and wearable from get go.
In case of Apple and Samsung they hold control over both hardware and software thus they improved a lot and for Qualcomm it fell through on feedback loop from customers. Yes, profits are smaller but they won't be there is you sell what they sell. Samsung and Apple *had* almost same SOCs by the way so it's software fault more than hardware.


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## BarracksSi (Feb 13, 2013)

Rocket1991 said:


> I don't think market is that small especially if you produce something worthy.


Gotta have enough clients (manufacturers) to buy it, though.


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## Rocket1991 (Mar 15, 2018)

BarracksSi said:


> Gotta have enough clients (manufacturers) to buy it, though.


It's bigger for Wear OS than Samsung in the end. Samsung leads as single manufacturer over let say Fossil but if you add up everyone who uses Wear OS it will be quite impressive number. Not the AW numbers but still hardly a small market we talking about millions. Nothing compared to phones though.


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## lvt (Sep 15, 2009)

Rocket1991 said:


> That not Apple Watch?


It's like Ginault to Rolex.

They look similar but they are different beasts.


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## Rocket1991 (Mar 15, 2018)

lvt said:


> It's like Ginault to Rolex.
> 
> They look similar but they are different beasts.


I know. They stole design.


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## kramer5150 (Nov 15, 2007)

The best / honest advice I can give would be to just avoid WearOS all together. UNLESS you like to tinker with things and are OK with an operating system that requires regular maintenance, with spotty reliability for the end user. I have owned an android wear / WearOS device since 2015, its been an up and down experience. When they work like they're supposed to its really-really good. Its awesome getting driving directions from google maps, and actively voice-responding to text messages without taking my phone out of my pocket. When its buggy, a little laggy or unpredictable, it leaves me with a partially functional device. In worst cases I am left with a dumb-watch that can not communicate with my cell phone at all. In my experience as a very basic user, my SD2100 processor speed and 512 RAM really haven't been the sources of major problems. Its the reliability of WearOS and the poor quality updates from Google that release and mess things up.

FWIW... I barely get about 1 day of battery life from my Fossil gen4 explorist with very-very basic use as a text message notifier. I am OK with that personally, but I do consider it a flawed design and for most people thats not going to be sufficient.

Good Luck though with what-ever you choose.


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## Rocket1991 (Mar 15, 2018)

Fossil Gen 5 just got update with one of the promised things better battery life close to 24hr...
That 3100. Hardly an achievement by any other contemporary platform. Fossil frankly among best. 
Casio can pull it bit better but in totally dumb watch and they never bothered to upgrade to 3100. 
My point here again it's all in software.
Many people do use it. I could not. Getting more than 2 days of life is kind of paramount. Getting 3 is passable. 5 or more i think you can happily forget about battery just keep charger by computer and charge your watch while replying to the threads... 
But like i said many people use it. 
Thing is what is more important to you: google services, sport features, apple integration (though apple watch is very good all around), battery life ... there is no ideal watch out so far.


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## lvt (Sep 15, 2009)

According to the recent articles on the Qualcomm 4100 that I've read, the battery life could be 25% longer than the current Qualcomm 3100, maybe they mean the same apps and identical usage patterns.

That made me a bit perplexed, the earlier articles said about week-long battery life, bit now it seems like they agreed about 2 or 3 days of battery life.


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## Rocket1991 (Mar 15, 2018)

Normal is 12-36 hr depending on apps and usage.+25% means it will be 16-48 hr or so. 
Up to 1 week is in power saving mode with only watch functionality.


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## lvt (Sep 15, 2009)

Rocket1991 said:


> Normal is 12-36 hr depending on apps and usage.+25% means it will be 16-48 hr or so.
> Up to 1 week is in power saving mode with only watch functionality.


It seems that they adopted the word "watch mode" instead of "power saving mode".



> Meanwhile, "watch mode" now supports up to 64,000 colors, battery indicators, alarms, reminders, and haptics, while Qualcomm touts "faster tilt-to-wake responsiveness." The regular 4100 lacks the co-processor for manufacturers that don't need an ambient display.


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## Rocket1991 (Mar 15, 2018)

That also means if your watch is based on regular 4100 your power saving will be greatly reduced.
Also if watch is always full function .... you can kiss this promised week or so goodbye


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## kramer5150 (Nov 15, 2007)

Battery life for all WearOS watches has never been very good. They've always required a nightly charge, 1-day device tops.
They always have battery burn microprocessing continually running in the background. The SD3100 has a dumb watch co-processor on the side, but thats really nothing to get excited about. Other than that it's THE SAME processor as the SD2100.

Screen cap below is my fossil gen4 explorist battery screen (SD2100, 512G RAM). I took it off the charger this morning at 8:45 and have enough charge to make it to about 1:00 AM. Thats more than enough for me. But if I want to wear it overnight for sleep tracking or health monitoring... no way, without a thorough evening re-charge.

The screen capture below was taken at 8:33 PM, where the battery has depleted down by 70%. The problem is the battery usage percentage (18+8+5+2+2+1) ONLY adds up to 36% depletion. Why is it showing a 70% depletion?... where is the wasted battery going? Certainly not me using it. I didn't use it for anything today other than to check the time a few times and buzz my wrist for 3~4 text messages.

This unaccounted battery burn exists whether I interact with the watch or not. There are times my screen is always OFF all day, and I just use it for bluetooth wrist buzz notifications for 3~4 text messages during the day. Yet, theres always battery burn thats unaccounted for...??

I don't know if the 4100 will fix this. Hopefully it will though. OP I would not buy into the SD4100 just yet. Wait for honest, long term user feedback and YT reviews.


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## lvt (Sep 15, 2009)

kramer5150 said:


> I don't know if the 4100 will fix this. Hopefully it will though. OP I would not buy into the SD4100 just yet. Wait for honest, long term user feedback and YT reviews.


I surely won't be the first to pull the trigger on a SD4100 for some obviously reasons.

- It's said that the first device with SD4100 will be a Mobvoi Pro, that's too big for my wrist and I'm not particularly fond of its design.

- It will be expensive, probably beyond my budget so it's not worth it.

- There will be devices from competitors in the following months with better specs and design.


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## Rocket1991 (Mar 15, 2018)

Many things run as widgets so it's constantly running. Some Wear OS services like Google assistant constantly listen to microphone. There are plenty of things draining battery. 
Samsung become exceptionally good in actually limiting what is running and what is not on constant bases. 
Hardware is in most cases don't give clear advantage to one platform over others. Software does.
Samsung started with Google and ditched it for good in next gen models. 
Generally speaking WearOS seems to be very crude thing for a watch. In terms it seem to be very close to normal OS and it should not be. 
Because watch is not full fledged phone, tablet or PC. 
Not to mention there is element of abandoned property attached to it. Google is clearly not into it and like WindowsPhone before it was all cool but once it was put on back burner it's done. 
Fitbit is independent and Google unlikely to mess with it. If they do it will be one of the most moronic things they can do (not the first one though). 
AW is a staple. Frankly i think it's the best attempt on general all in wearable.
Garmin is among best if not best sport/adventure wearable (not general good for e-mails, answering messages etc. general PC like)
Samsung is best compromise between Garmin and Apple with enough to be everyday thing, good fitness/sport but not really excellent in former. Great design and battery life. 
Fitbit is best fitness with Versa been among recommended ones. Not huge on eco system but good at keeping you tracking your fitness efforts. 

Google is none of these. If Samsung is limited it has battery life to boast. If Garmin is limited it's best outdoor of them all...
Best thing about Google is working with Google services but they all do it to some/great extent.


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## lvt (Sep 15, 2009)

The Versa 2 looks very appealing, but the lack of a built-in GPS chip might be a technological handicap.


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## Rocket1991 (Mar 15, 2018)

It may lack GPS (Versa) but you see more people wearing them than many other things. Totally diet friendly thing. Not to mention to get 6 days of life out of slim package....


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## lvt (Sep 15, 2009)

The Fitbit Ionic 2 has built-in GPS but the design is too futuristic to be practical and comfortable.


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## Rocket1991 (Mar 15, 2018)

They pretty comfortable. Square face makes sense in most information on digital display way and for fitness tracker (not fashion statement) it's ok.
Smartwaches became round in 2015 and funny thing screen was not full circle it had black cuts since software was not perfect at the time. So in a way square fitbit and AW are true old school smart watches.
You need to answer few questions and with smart watches they crucial:
#0 what kind of companion soft manufacturer offer. Software outside of the watch is as important as one inside the watch. Many reviewers botch this point and go straight to f"it and finish"
#1 what you need this watch for (fitness, notifications, adventure, health etc.)
#2 how long you going to wear it (just runs, day, day-night, work, pleasure, everywhere... )
#3 how long you want it to run on your wrist (is it OK to not have a watch if you forgot to put it into charger or you really don't mind it so basically it's Wear OS vs rest)
#4 how much of eco system and apps you need (AW is #1). Smartwatches can be anything and they customizable and expandable but some are way better than others. Google is a huge dump. number of apps is not sign of quality. You will spend time to find thing you need and what serves you best.
#5 what size you want it to be (there are 40-42 mm slim options as well as 52mm to up to 60mm Casio and it's shame on Casio).
I got my Samsung solely because 3-4 days battery life, slim 42mm and been 50% off due to new model introduction. I been eyeing this model (Gear Sport) for some time but not really OK with spending that much on a watch i am not going to wear constantly... 2 years later it was on my wrist every single day. So take leap of faith you may find some soft landing or may be not it's individual. Reviews are bad starting point. You may get disinterested as well as opposite can be true.
Samsung BTW comes with very intuitive watch face creation tool.









Galaxy Watch for Tizen | Samsung Developers


The world runs on you.




developer.samsung.com












Facer - Thousands of FREE watch faces for Apple Watch, Samsung Gear S3, Huawei Watch, and more


Enjoy thousands of free and premium watch faces for all WearOS, Samsung, and Apple smartwatches including Samsung Gear S3 & S2, Huawei, Moto 360, Sony Smartwatch 3, Fossil Q, LG Watch Urbane and more!




www.facer.io












TIMEFLIK — A New Name for Watch Face App TIMEFLIK


Download 700 thousand FREE watch faces, or Design your own watch. All compatible for Galaxy Watch, Apple Watch, Android watch(Wear OS).




mrtimemaker.com





You can create your own and i think smartwatches are capable of creating emotional connection with owner to greater extent than any other watch. It's your watch, changing, renewable, commemorating your achievements, feeling what you feel.


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## lvt (Sep 15, 2009)

Samsung's watch face maker is really cool, but it requires Windows 10


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## Rocket1991 (Mar 15, 2018)

It's just an idea how you can have fun with your smartwatch. Frankly often it may be faster to pull something tou like than finding it among pre made ones.


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## kramer5150 (Nov 15, 2007)

Yeah smart watch options for the most part present a wide range of compromises. Its difficult to navigate through them all to find one that matches individual preferences. IMHO its pretty much apple and Samsung doing things best right now... and then the rest present various levels of compromise.

Google WearOS is a total mess. I honestly can't recommend it unless you are the type who loves to tinker with things, find software solutions on your own and have a high tolerance for frequent / random functions dropping in and out of operation. It's too bad because WearOS, now more than ever has so many hardware options to chose from.


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## lvt (Sep 15, 2009)

kramer5150 said:


> Google WearOS is a total mess. I honestly can't recommend it unless you are the type who loves to tinker with things, find software solutions on your own and have a high tolerance for frequent / random functions dropping in and out of operation. It's too bad because WearOS, now more than ever has so many hardware options to chose from.


It's true that the Wear OS is a little messy but it just seats itself behind Apple in terms of ecosystem.


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## kramer5150 (Nov 15, 2007)

Oh yeah.. the WearOS app ecosystem is really good. Thats one of its positives, and one of the things I like most about it.
Here are my personal top 3 things I like about WearOS and bottom 3 things I dislike about it.

Top-3-4 Likes:
*-Seamless app integration *with Google maps and Android messages, for driving directions and active text message responding. LOTS of apps to pick from too.
*-Wide array of hardware options*... TAG, Casio, Suunto, Diesel, Montblanc, Mobvoi, Fossil, Motorola, Michael Kors... probably others I am missing.
*-Price*... Fossil sport watches were down to $85 during the holiday season, and you can find various models for around $150 year round. ~$200-250 seems to be the $ value sweet spot in general.
*-WearOS will run on phones as low as Android 6.0.* (I wonder if it will work on 5.0, in limited capacity?) So you don't need to upgrade your phone if you want to add a WearOS device. Unless of course you are using a really old cell phone.

Bottom-3 Dislikes:
*-WearOS updates* for either the watch or the phone app are unstable, unpredictable, unannounced. Go to bed with a great running watch, wake up the next morning with an OS update that wipes out a major function of some sort. Smart watch becomes dumb watch overnight. When that happens I leave it on the charging stand for a month or two and hope the next OS update fixes it.
*-Battery life, *must charge every night. Lots of wasted battery by the OS. Burns through battery mah with no visible benefit to the end user. WearOS should have a way to turn on/off background running Google services, or have them turn on / off depending on the app being used. For example... turn on/off google services with Android messages so speech recognition can be used to respond to text messages. When the watch is on standby as a bluetooth text/voice wrist-buzz notifier, turn off all background services to save battery.
*-Can't easily replace the battery.* This is a complaint I have of the smartwatch industry and consumer electronics in general. As a fan of traditional horology, and a watch wearer since 1983 (when I was 12) I will always complain about this.


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## lvt (Sep 15, 2009)

The latest watch from Mobvoi doesn't come with Wear OS.









Mobvoi's latest TicWatch GTX ditches Wear OS for 10-day battery, $59 price


Mobvoi has ditched Wear OS on its latest smartwatch, the TicWatch GTX, to offer a more affordable smartwatch at just $59 with better battery too.




9to5google-com.cdn.ampproject.org


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