Broadcom's new chip brings GPS to smartwatches without killing the battery
Mobile World Congress kicks off next week, so it's high time that the behind the scenes players showed off what'll linger beneath the aluminum and Gorilla Glass of next-generation devices. Broadcom is unveiling the BCM4771 GNSS SoC, a wittily named slab of silicon that promises to make the GPS units of smartwatches less power-hungry and more accurate than before. Thanks to its 40-nanometer construction and a new sensor hub that integrates everything into one package, the chip also claims to be much cheaper than the existing tech. It's pencilled in for a launch at the end of March, so hopefully we'll see wearables in the Fall boasting of a battery life that's longer than, say, an hour.
