Get Ready For The Microsoft Smartwatch

The wearable tech wars between the giants, and Microsoft is making sure that it will not be left behind this time. Forbes has learned that Microsoft is indeed coming out with a smartwatch that is loaded with sensors that measures heart rate. We heard rumors recently, but it looks like things just got real. Additionally, the Microsoft smartwatch is supposed to be compatible with Windows Phones (naturally), iPhones, and Android phones. That pretty much covers the market, doesn’t it?

For the most part, Samsung and Apple have been the major players in the smartwatch scene, but with Microsoft coming into the picture, a new interesting flavor is added to the mix. According to Forbes’s sources, the Microsoft smartwatch will be tapping into existing technology and expertise from the company’s Xbox Kinect group.

What is supposed to make the Microsoft smartwatch standout from the rest is that it will monitor the user’s heart rate continuously, night and day, without having the need for user input (like turning it on). It’s also supposed to last for two days, which is the same as Samsung’s Gear Fit.

As for the design, it seems that the Microsoft smartwatch won’t look too different from the Gear Fit. It will have a full-color touchscreen interface and will be the size of half a stick of gum. That’s tiny cool!

Naturally, an app will go together with the Microsoft smartwatch, and it is said that a combination of optical engineers from Microsoft’s Kinect division, designers, and data scientists have put their brains together to work on a software platform that will support the watch.

The big question here is what else does the watch have to offer aside from continuous heart rate monitoring? Consumers are fascinated with health and fitness gadgets and apps that will do more than monitor their heart rate, and this is something that Microsoft should be looking at before launching their smartwatch. But I suppose they already know that. Whether they do something about it or not, we’re just going to have to wait and see.

[Image via Mashable]