Microsoft is apparently entering the smartwatch game, but that comes as a surprise to no one. To say the Xbox and Kinect teams are working on it, though, now that's interesting news.
The latest rumor report suggests Microsoft has actually been working on a new smartwatch device for over a year now, and that the company decided to ditch an interesting little Xbox peripheral in favor of it.
According to an article published in The Verge, Microsoft is currently in the midst of testing smartwatch prototypes that have been developed by teams within the Xbox and Kinect divisions. Citing "a reliable source familiar with Microsoft's Xbox plans," the report claims the smartwatch has removable bands, a 1.5-inch screen and the same kind of magnetic connector found in the Surface Pro and Surface RT tablets.
"One prototype includes the same magnetic power connector that Microsoft uses on its Surface tablets," wrote Tom Warren. "The MagSafe-like connector is made up of five pins and can transmit both power and data, but we're told this is only a prototype and a final design may omit the connector."
Interestingly, Microsoft was working on a "Joule" heart-rate monitor for the Xbox (whether it was for the 360 or 720 wasn't specificed) before it decided to push the project aside in favor of a smartwatch.
On Monday, we reported that the Microsoft smartwatch was under development, and that it would probably feature some sort of connectivity with other Windows (8?) devices. We don't know what operating system the watch would run on, but perhaps it's a scaled-down version of Windows Phone. Chances are it will feature the Metro Live Tiles seen in Windows 8/Phone, but again, nothing has been confirmed. We'll update you with more information as we get it.
