Welcome to Tick Talk, I’m your host, Eric Migicovsky, and today we’re kicking off our series on building a smartwatch in 2025. In “How To Build A Smartwatch: Picking A Chip,” we dive right into why choosing the right processor matters. As I say in the video, “The chip is the heart of your watch—it determines battery life, performance, and connectivity.” We explore options from ultra-low-power microcontrollers to more powerful system-on-chips, weighing trade-offs between size, cost, and energy efficiency. You’ll hear why Bluetooth Low Energy is almost non-negotiable and how a chip’s power profile can make or break your all-day battery goal. I also crack open my box of ancient hardware projects to show how far we’ve come—and remind us that even the smallest advances in silicon can unlock new features. Stick around for the next episode, where we’ll pick our display and start wiring up a prototype. Thanks for listening, and let’s build something amazing together.
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