It is only natural to assume that there were a bunch of projects Microsoft scrapped when it acquired Nokia. The two products that managed to surface post-cancellation (because, you know, projects of popular companies take on a life of their own and are stubborn like that) were the long-awaited
McLaren (a.k.a. Lumia 1030), and a little device, code-named “Moonraker”. The latter was supposed to be a smartwatch, running an unknown operating system with a Metro-esque interface complementing Microsoft's own mobile Windows.
We've
seen renders of what the Nokia smartwatch was supposed to look like before, but now, a few photos of an actual prototype are circling around the Web. Of course, the software that runs on it looks pretty basic, and the device is obviously an aged concept, surpassed by more recent smartwatches. Still, it's great to see “what might have been”. It kind of reminds us of the first
LG G Watch in all its rectangular glory.
The previously leaked renders showed us that the device supported calendar sync, email, messages, pedometer, and phone call accept / reject (though, we've no idea if an in-built microphone and speaker combo was on the drawing board). Apparently, Facebook and Mix Radio integration were also planned.
Would you have been a proud user of a Nokia smartwatch had it seen the light of day?
Things that are NOT allowed: