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Rumored Microsoft smartwatch to be OS agnostic, might land this summer

According to a new report from Forbes, Microsoft’s rumored smartwatch is going to be compatible with not only the Redmond, Washington corporation’s own Windows Phone operating system, but Android and iOS as well (via The Verge). Other details from the report include a release date for the watch potentially slanted for this Summer, as well as battery life that lasts upwards of two days.

Microsoft has been rumored to be working on a smartwatch for quite some time, but today’s report corroborates some information that was previously assumed, and adds a few details that we haven’t yet heard. The device will apparently be a sensor-rich device (as is expected from Apple’s iWatch as well), featuring a heart rate sensor that synchronizes data to the above mentioned variety of devices.

Supposedly, Microsoft is pulling some engineers from the Kinect side of the company to make sure this feature is running 24 hours a day. Microsoft was already rumored to be working on a health rate monitor called the “Joule” in 2012, so it shouldn’t come as any surprise that Microsoft is taking advantage of Xbox experts to help put this product together.

The report suggests that the device may land as early as this Summer, but Forbes — as might be expected — says that the timeline is “unclear.”

Image: The Independent

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Avatar for Stephen Hall Stephen Hall

Stephen is Growth Director at 9to5. If you want to get in touch, follow me on Twitter. Or, email at stephen (at) 9to5mac (dot) com, or an encrypted email at hallstephenj (at) protonmail (dot) com.