• Michael
• On June 13, 2015

Moonraker was supposed to launch alongside Lumia 930 in 2014

Nokia was developing a smartwatch codenamed Moonraker, but Microsoft decided to cancel the project after the company acquired the Nokia’s hardware business in 2014. The information comes from The Verge, whose sources claim that Moonraker was more than just a concept and Nokia was planning to launch the smartwatch alongside Lumia 930 at the Mobile World Congress 2014.

Images of the smartwatch were discovered by a Twitter user, found in a Tumblr account run by one of the Microsoft designers. According to The Verge, these images are showing a real product, rather than just a concept, and the renders were likely to be used for marketing purposes.

Nokia Moonraker smartwatch had a basic functionality and that could be the reason why Microsoft decided to kill it. Furthermore, at that time Microsoft was developing its own Smart Band, which had more useful functionality than Moonraker.

Nokia’s smartwatch had the Metro user interface of Windows Phone. The gadget had a camera remote, integration with Facebook and MixRadio, and the ability to pair with the smartphone to show notifications, emails, and more.

While Moonraker remains just an interesting project which will never see the daylight, Microsoft is readying the launch of the second generation of its Band.

Microsoft Band 2 is expected to inherit many of the software features of the first generation, but the build quality will be improved significantly.

Source: The Verge