What?! The Xbox branded Windows smart watch was real?! (photos)

All the way back in 2013 there were rumours that Microsoft was looking at creating an Xbox-branded smartwatch and were asking suppliers to create samples.

It appears one of those prototypes has now leaked, with Finnish publication suomimobiili.fi posting photos of the device.

According to the rumours of the time the device was inspired by rumours of Apple’s own smartwatch, and would include various features such as a 1.5 inch touchscreen, 6 GB of storage, removable bands, possibly LTE and even a case made of  “translucent aluminum” that is said to be three times harder than glass.

The prototypes were also said to feature a magnetic Surface connector, something the pictures above appear to confirm.

Microsoft envisioned the smartwatch offering support for phone notifications, music controls and more and of course, the picture above shows the now ubiquitous optical heart rate sensor found on fitness devices.

Apparently, the Xbox team were already working on a wrist-worn heart-rate monitor, and the team were repurposed for the smart-watch effort.

In the end, Microsoft released the Microsoft Band in 2014, which included much of the features but of course not the brand of the Xbox smartwatch.

One wonders what else is hiding in some Microsofties drawer somewhere? Maybe, if we wait long enough, the Surface Phone may also eventually show up…