Ready to get a wrist watch tan line once again? Having seen Apple rumors emerged some time ago about the iWatch, many companies quickly made the jump and started the development of a smartwatch. Microsoft is one of them and it’s been reported by AmongTech that the software giant is already testing smartwatch prototypes.
According to the report, Microsoft is ordering 1.5-inch displays from different manufacturers, and it is planning to make available the smartwatch with interchangeable bands in different colors (blue, red, yellow, black, white, and gray) and the outside housing will be made of Oxynitride Aluminium, an aluminum material that is 80% transparent, 4x harder than glass, and strong as sapphire.
The first prototypes were designed by the accessories subdivision team at Xbox, but The Verge reports that the company has decided to move the project to the Surface team, which could indicate that the upcoming watch could be under the “Surface” brand name, e.g., “Surface Watch”.
The news from AmongTech also claims that the smartwatch will use a stripped-down version of Windows 8 and it will be powered by the cloud for storage — although it will have 6GB of onboard storage –. As an important note, the new wrist device will not be depended of a smartphone like Google Glass is, the device will have LTE internet access support.
The Microsoft smartwatch still in the early stages, as such everything still unclear how is going to play out at the end. And there still a lot of questions to be answered. For example, how the watch will interact with Windows 8 devices and Surface tablets? Will the device include Wi-Fi connectivity? What is the battery life of this new Microsoft smartwatch? What processor the company is planning to use? And many more questions. The only thing I know is that it sounds like a really interesting device.
Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 14 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me. Email him at [email protected].