14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has pretty much abandoned plans for wearable devices, with no successor to the Microsoft Band now in the works, but there was a time when the company was actually very committed to this particular side of the tech industry.
And part of Microsoft’s strategy was a very capable smartwatch that was eventually killed off for a reason that is hard to determine, though at first glance it would have made the software giant one of the first companies to invest big in wearables.
Twitter user Hikari Calyx has posted a photo gallery providing us with a glimpse into an early prototype of a Microsoft smartwatch called Xbox Watch and sporting features like GPS support, heart rate tracking, and several workouts.
This means that Microsoft wanted the device to be first and foremost an activity tracker, just like the Microsoft Band turned out to be eventually, but without neglecting true smartwatch capabilities, like notification support.
Microsoft wearables are gone for good
The interface appears to be more or less inspired from Windows phones and early Xbox models with a live tile-based design, so there’s a good chance the smartwatch was developed to be a companion device for a Lumia model or Xbox.
Leaks that happened in the past also revealed a so-called Nokia Moonraker smartwatch that was eventually canceled as well and which was supposed to launch with Lumia 930 as a companion device.
Microsoft’s most recent smartwatch-wannabe is the Microsoft Band, which is in essence an activity tracker with basic smartwatch capabilities. Even though the company has never confirmed it publicly, the device has already been discontinued, with no new generation planned, despite hints that some upgrades were supposed to launch.
It remains to be seen if Microsoft ever returns to this market, but at this point the company is exploring new ideas as part of the Surface hardware lineup, including what the Windows phone community hopes to be a Surface Phone. There’s no indication that a new smartwatch might be in the works though.
