Rumours in late 2013 suggested that Nokia was working on a smartwatch of its own. Details were slim and little else was heard about this device. It now appears that Nokia was indeed working on a smartwatch codenamed Moonraker before its devices business was acquired by Microsoft. It would have carried model number LS-50.
The Verge has learned that Nokia went as far as showing off prototypes of the Nokia Moonraker to potential customers at last year’s Mobile World Congress. It was to have launched alongside the Nokia Lumia 930. Images of what it would have looked like surfaced today after being spotted by @evleaks on a Tumblr run by Microsoft design employee Pei-Chi Hsieh. The site has since been pulled down but not before the images could be saved.
The Nokia Moonraker would have been available in a range of colours similar to those of Nokia’s Lumia smartphone range.
Additional images show how the interface would have worked. Adopting the “Metro” interface, it would have offered the traditional smartwatch functions such as email, messaging, customizeable watch faces and support for apps like Facebook and MixRadio.
The Nokia Moonraker project was cancelled by Microsoft after it acquired Nokia’s device business. The company opted instead to focus on the Microsoft Band. It is now working on a successor to the original Band, it appears unlikely that Microsoft will resurrect the Nokia Moonraker anytime soon.
What do you think of the Nokia Moonraker? Would it have been the perfect companion for your Windows Phone smartphone?