Imagination Tech unveils new M200 wearable chip and Newton2 platform

Following on from the release of its latest Series7 PowerVR GPUs, Imagination Technologies has announced a couple of new products – the MIPS-based M200 chip and Newton2 developer platform designed for wearables and the Internet of Things.

Starting with the new M200 chip, it’s a dual-core MIPS-based XBurst application processor built from the ground-up for wearable devices. However this isn’t your typical symmetrical dual-core setup, the M200 contains one CPU clocked at 1.2 GHz for the heavy lifting and a secondary low-power 300 MHz MIPS CPU to handle the background tasks. Along with other optimisations, this has the added benefit of keep power consumption low. The M200 chip consumes only 150mW.

The M200 also features a full range of integrates graphics, video and imaging engines. It has support for OpenGL ES 2.0, low power decoding and encoding of popular codecs like H.264 and VP8 (up to 720p at 30 fps) and an integrated ISP for image pre-processing. This range of features make the M200 suitable for quite a wide selection of applications.

Ingenic Newton2 is the follow-up to Imagination’s Newton platform, which offers a fully integrated design environment for developers working on wearable or IoT products powered by the new M200 chip.

The Newton2 comes equipped with the main CPU, eMCP memory, a smart power management controller, on-board Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, MEMS sensor, and connectors for a display, audio, camera, etc. The board runs the latest version of the Android and Linux operating systems.

What differentiates this platform from the previous iteration is the incorporation of the new M200 chip and shrunk down dimensions of 15 x 30 mm, resulting in a 50% reduction in area. Battery life and power consumption have been improved significantly as well. The board now consumes less than 3mW, allowing for devices powered by it to run for twice as long as the older Newton board.

Imagination suggests that the Newton2 is perfect for a wide range of low-power applications, including smart watches or cameras, fitness bands, sleep sensors, and healthcare monitors.

Imagination looks to have all the tools to help developers finally make that breakthrough product that kicks the wearables market into full swing. What do you make of Imagination’s efforts in the wearable and IoT space?