14 DAY TRIAL // A new video provides us with a closer look at the last version of Nokia Moonraker, the smartwatch that never came to be due to reasons that are yet to be determined.
Supposed to be used by Microsoft as a Lumia companion, Moonraker received several firmware updates with new features and other smaller refinements, and a video published by ProtoBetaTest shows that the software giant was actually very committed to improving the experience with the device.
Updating the firmware appears to be a rather fast process that doesn’t take more than 5 minutes to install completely, and the last version, 07.26.03, included quite a lot of changes.
For example, the home screen layout received small touches like the current date and battery level indicator, but on the other hand, it still missed a battery percentage icon. Microsoft also changed the default wallpaper in this update and replaced rounded tiles with square ones across the UI, bringing the smartwatch in line with Lumia phones available at that point.
Microsoft and its wearable efforts
This firmware update is living proof that there was a time when Microsoft planned to be a top player in the wearable industry, but for some reason, this idea was abandoned overnight and the company eventually decided not only to cancel Moonraker, but to give up on smartwatches and activity trackers entirely.
Microsoft Band, the fitness tracking band that the company launched in 2015, was killed off after the second generation, leaving the software giant with no other model in this hardware market.
Instead, companies like Apple have become increasingly committed to wearables, and this is already paying off, as the Apple Watch, in particular, has become the number one smartwatch worldwide, generating millions of dollars in revenue for the parent company.
In the meantime, however, Microsoft appears to be focusing more on non-hardware businesses, as cloud services are the new priority in the long term.
