From CNET: The idea of tracking kids or older loved ones with a wearable band isn't new, but the devices out there don't have great battery life.
Qualcomm's new Snapdragon Wear 1200 chips aim to fix some of these problems by riding a middle ground between high-end smartwatch and regular fitness band. The new chip, announced at Mobile World Congress Shanghai, uses a different slice of your standard cellular network called LTE IoT, a technology that promises to be more power-efficient.
This technology isn't available everywhere yet. But when it is, these chips could connect trackers to the cellular network and last a lot longer. Qualcomm's previous generation of connected chips aimed at kid watches and elderly trackers, the Snapdragon Wear 1100, debuted in 2016 but required more frequent charging.
The new chip rides a lower-bandwidth internet-of-things network to increase battery life for watches that use it to once a week or even longer, supporting a more power-efficient standby mode while staying connected via GPS, Wi-Fi and cell towers.
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