5 Cool Features In Qualcomm's New Snapdragon 835

The Snappiest Snapdragon Yet

Qualcomm wants to give mobile phone, connected device and virtual reality users a "best-in-class experience" with its newest processor – the Snapdragon 835.

This processor, which the mobile chip manufacturer launched Tuesday before CES 2017 in Las Vegas, has a slew of cool new features, including 10-nanometer technology and better battery life. But Qualcomm had a specific focus with its newest product – immersion.

"We looked at what you can see and hear, and intuitive actions," said Keith Kressin, senior vice president of product management at San Diego-based Qualcomm. "We're accelerating at an exponential pace so that algorithms for detecting malware or facial recognition can be done as efficiently as possible."

Here are five of the coolest features VR and mobile users will soon see on products packing Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 – which will be available in the first half of 2017.

10-Nanometer Technology

The Snapdragon 835 is the first chip running on 10-nanometer technology, according to Qualcomm.

Many chip manufacturers, including Intel, have been striving to break ground around 10-nanometer technology, which enables processors to be smaller but more powerful. Many chips are currently manufactured on 14-nanometer technology.

Qualcomm partnered with Samsung to use its 10-nanometer FinFET processor technology for manufacturing its latest processor.

Battery Life

Qualcomm has built its newest chip to match the compute needs of virtual reality experiences, gaming and 4K streaming that will be prevalent in the next generation of smartphones. And battery life will be a critical part of that, Kressin said.

In terms of battery life, the Snapdragon 835 features Qualcomm's new QuickCharge 4.0 standard, which touts a 20 percent improvement in speed and a 30 percent improvement in energy efficiency. Qualcomm boasts that the new charging technology will rack up five hours of battery life in only five minutes of charging.

Better Virtual Reality Experiences

On the virtual reality side, the Snapdragon 835 features faster 3-D graphics and 60 times more colors. While the Snapdragon 820 has powered smartphones that support virtual reality, Kressin said the Snapdragon 835 will appear in next-generation virtual reality headsets.

As a preview, Qualcomm showed off new ODG R-8 virtual and augmented reality smartglasses, the first Snapdragon 835-based headset.

Machine Learning

The Snapdragon 835 will also feature better machine-learning capabilities, which are "critical" to the next generation of compute, said Kressin.

Snapdragon 835 easily integrates into customer applications and supports loading deep learning frameworks, such as TensorFlow and Caffe, according to Qualcomm. The processor also utilizes heterogeneous computing capabilities to enable performance optimization across all processor cores.

Improved Specs

Qualcomm has worked to improve other aspects of its Snaprdragon 835, which clocks 2.2GHz and is compatible with the new Adreno 540 GPU. According to Qualcomm, this new processor has improved zoom and image stabilization support for cameras in smartphones, as well as autofocus and low light shots. In addition, the new product supports eye- and face-based biometrics, along with voice print and fingerprint reading for mobile payments.

Overall, Qualcomm said its new chip provides 27 percent more performance and 40 percent less power consumption.