Every once and awhile you come across a product -- or a pair of products -- that are unlike anything else in the marketplace. There are lots of similarities but for reasons that only become apparent when you get to test them, some products can't really be compared to or measured against others.
That's how I feel about Microsoft's new line of KIN devices.
Notice I don't call them phones. That's because they're not really all about being cell phones. Microsoft's KIN ONE and KIN TWO are an early example of a new breed of mobile social-networking devices.
That said, let's talk about the devices. KIN is a Microsoft idea. The KIN operating system is an outgrowth of Microsoft's work on its Zune HD media players and the upcoming Windows Phone 7 smartphones. Microsoft calls KIN a "Windows Phone" but wants you to know it's not a Windows Phone 7 device.
KINs are made for Microsoft by Sharp. Even though the name Sharp isn't on everyone's lips when it comes to cell phones, Sharp is a big player in the Japanese marketplace and is known here as well, primarily as the company that manufactures Sidekicks for T-Mobile. The company that originally designed Sidekicks (Danger) is now a division of Microsoft. Sidekicks are still popular with "tweens" and young teens as their favorite portable IM-ing devices.
There are two KIN designs, for the time being. Both sport capacitive touchscreens, have slide-open QWERTY keyboards and only one button on the front -- allowing you to go "back" one level (more about that Back button in a minute).
The KIN ONE (from now on I'll refer to it as the ONE) is a cute little square (3.25 by 2.5 by 0.75 inches; 3.9 ounces) vertical slider handset that sports a 2.6-inch, TFT (QVGA) touchscreen, a 5-megapixel, autofocus camera with LED flash and video capture support, and 4GB of built-in (non-user-replaceable) storage. The ONE's shape reminds me a lot of the Palm Pre, but a bit squashed.
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The KIN TWO (from now on, the TWO) is a horizontal slide (4.25 by 2.5 by 0.75 inches, 4.7 ounces) with a 3.4-inch HVGA touchscreen, an 8-megapixel camera capable of creating 720p high-definition videos, stereo speakers and 8GB of built-in (non-user-replaceable) storage.
Alternate Text
That explains the ways these devices are different.
Both KINs share the Tegra APX2600 processor and 256MB of RAM, the Zune powered music/video/TV/podcast/FM Radio experience (yes, there's an FM tuner that only works with earphones), a 3.5mm earphone/headphone jack, "push" Exchange mail (that means the mail server constantly send your email to your phone), POP3 and IMAP "pull" email (that means your device asks for the mail to be delivered), an HTML browser with Bing search capabilities (of course), 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 and GPS.
Both KINs connect seamlessly to Verizon's 3G network.
The first thing you notice about the KINs is the packaging. These stylish devices come packaged in high-tech round cylinders -- a white cylinder the ONE and dark gray cylinder for the TWO.
Inside each package, there's another cylinder that cradles your new device, the battery and charger and the easy-to-understand basic operating instructions. It looks like Microsoft spent a lot on the packaging.
Take a KIN out of its box, insert the battery and start charging it up. While that's going on you can start the KIN set-up/registration process.
You give your KIN account it's own name and password, and then you can add your Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Windows Live and email accounts. That's it. Takes about two minutes. By the time you're done inputting the credentials on your last account, your KIN is already downloading and displaying information from your various accounts.
There are three KIN home screens. The main screen is called "The Loop". That's where you can monitor your always-updating social networks.
If you scroll left, you encounter the KIN's "Apps" screen where you will find icons to get to your "Browser", "Email", "Phone", "Messaging" (the instant kind) and "Feeds" as well as places to change the "Settings" and "Alarms".
The third screen, accessible by scrolling to the right of The Loop, is your "Favorites". This is where you can drag and drop pictures and info for your most favored social networking contacts.
Unlike other smartphone-like devices, you can also scroll up and down these three KIN screens (as well as left and right) for additional choices and information.
There is also a dot on the bottom of each of these screens. Microsoft calls it "The Spot". It sounds a bit silly, but this feature is what makes a KIN one of the more interesting devices on the market.
The Spot is really an information hub. If you have an interesting Tweet or Facebook entry, or email, or photo, or video and want others to see it, you simply drag that object to The Spot along with the icons representing the people you want to share with. KIN does the rest. It really takes cutting and pasting to the next level.
To further examine The Spot, say you want to meet some friends. All you have to do is decide on a location and ask your KIN to map it out. Then drag the map onto The Spot along with the friends you want to meet, type a quick message ("Let's meet in 15 minutes"), and they'll have all the info they need right away.
Now, I know that some of this can be done with other smart devices like an iPhone or Android phone, but by combining these dissimilar parts with The Spot -- a simple way to tie them all together -- Microsoft makes KINs unique in their ability to take social networking to another level.
The other half of the equation is the KIN application for your computer. Microsoft calls it the KIN Studio.
Nearly everything on your KIN (messages, contacts, photos and videos) is backed up to a private, password-protected website. As a matter of fact, any photos or videos that have been stored on your KIN for more than 30 days are automatically uploaded to your KIN account for safe-keeping. You're left with a little thumbnail on your KIN. Microsoft promises virtually unlimited storage and almost no limit to what you can keep in your "cloud".
Being a Zune-like product in a number of ways, Microsoft is offering KIN buyers a free 14-day trial of their Zune Pass. For $14.99 per month, the pass allows you unlimited access to streaming music onto your KIN and your PC. It also allows you to download and keep 10 MP3s per month. Since KIN is a "closed system" (that means there are no apps to download and use) you can't use similar "advertising-supported" services that are available on other phone platforms, such as Pandora and Last.fm.
The only feature I found annoying on the KIN is the "Back" button, but that's because I also use a Palm Pre where you just flick your finger to go backwards or forwards. The Palm method is easy to get used to and use. KIN's back button might come naturally to you -- just don't regularly use a new Palm product as well or you'll find yourself wishing for webOS-like gesture support.
I spent a lot of time playing with the KIN TWO and found that, overall, it's easy to learn and master. Information flows quickly in all directions. Email (remember email?) seems to work well but if you use a service like Gmail don't expect KIN to be able to easily access your contacts or calendar.
To be fair, Android phones do Gmail well but have the same contact/calendar problem with other services.
The Web browser works well and chugs along at average speed, and the phone made and received voice calls and sounded fine to the user and to callers alike.
The KINs will be available online from Verizon's website beginning May 6th, and the phones will be available in Verizon stores on May 13th. Vodafone will launch the KIN ONE and KIN TWO internationally some time this autumn.
KIN ONE will sell for $49.99 and KIN TWO is $99.99 -- both after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement. According to Verizon, customers will receive their rebates in the form of a debit card that can be used wherever debit cards are accepted.
For the record, those prices were lowered last night -- from $80 and $150 respectively -- just before the official announcement. I think that was a good idea.
There's also the service plan to contend with. KN users will also have to subscribe to a Nationwide Talk plan ($40/month), and an Email and Web for Smartphone plan (starting at $30/month).
Adding a KIN to an existing Verizon family plan should bring down costs to slightly more reasonable levels, but requiring a smartphone data plan with a feature phone is a curious move at best. Of course the KINs are data hungry, but the younger end of the KIN demographic may have trouble convincing parents to fork out $30 for data each month.
I don't know what the KIN advertising campaign might look like, and I don't know how Microsoft's target audience will respond to these two new devices. If buyers do their due diligence however, KIN might become as big a hit as the Sidekick.
In this iPhone/Android/Palm/BlackBerry smartphone-obsessed world, that says a lot.
That's how I feel about Microsoft's new line of KIN devices.
Notice I don't call them phones. That's because they're not really all about being cell phones. Microsoft's KIN ONE and KIN TWO are an early example of a new breed of mobile social-networking devices.
That said, let's talk about the devices. KIN is a Microsoft idea. The KIN operating system is an outgrowth of Microsoft's work on its Zune HD media players and the upcoming Windows Phone 7 smartphones. Microsoft calls KIN a "Windows Phone" but wants you to know it's not a Windows Phone 7 device.
KINs are made for Microsoft by Sharp. Even though the name Sharp isn't on everyone's lips when it comes to cell phones, Sharp is a big player in the Japanese marketplace and is known here as well, primarily as the company that manufactures Sidekicks for T-Mobile. The company that originally designed Sidekicks (Danger) is now a division of Microsoft. Sidekicks are still popular with "tweens" and young teens as their favorite portable IM-ing devices.
There are two KIN designs, for the time being. Both sport capacitive touchscreens, have slide-open QWERTY keyboards and only one button on the front -- allowing you to go "back" one level (more about that Back button in a minute).
The KIN ONE (from now on I'll refer to it as the ONE) is a cute little square (3.25 by 2.5 by 0.75 inches; 3.9 ounces) vertical slider handset that sports a 2.6-inch, TFT (QVGA) touchscreen, a 5-megapixel, autofocus camera with LED flash and video capture support, and 4GB of built-in (non-user-replaceable) storage. The ONE's shape reminds me a lot of the Palm Pre, but a bit squashed.
Alternate Text
The KIN TWO (from now on, the TWO) is a horizontal slide (4.25 by 2.5 by 0.75 inches, 4.7 ounces) with a 3.4-inch HVGA touchscreen, an 8-megapixel camera capable of creating 720p high-definition videos, stereo speakers and 8GB of built-in (non-user-replaceable) storage.
Alternate Text
That explains the ways these devices are different.
Both KINs share the Tegra APX2600 processor and 256MB of RAM, the Zune powered music/video/TV/podcast/FM Radio experience (yes, there's an FM tuner that only works with earphones), a 3.5mm earphone/headphone jack, "push" Exchange mail (that means the mail server constantly send your email to your phone), POP3 and IMAP "pull" email (that means your device asks for the mail to be delivered), an HTML browser with Bing search capabilities (of course), 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 and GPS.
Both KINs connect seamlessly to Verizon's 3G network.
The first thing you notice about the KINs is the packaging. These stylish devices come packaged in high-tech round cylinders -- a white cylinder the ONE and dark gray cylinder for the TWO.
Inside each package, there's another cylinder that cradles your new device, the battery and charger and the easy-to-understand basic operating instructions. It looks like Microsoft spent a lot on the packaging.
Take a KIN out of its box, insert the battery and start charging it up. While that's going on you can start the KIN set-up/registration process.
You give your KIN account it's own name and password, and then you can add your Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Windows Live and email accounts. That's it. Takes about two minutes. By the time you're done inputting the credentials on your last account, your KIN is already downloading and displaying information from your various accounts.
There are three KIN home screens. The main screen is called "The Loop". That's where you can monitor your always-updating social networks.
If you scroll left, you encounter the KIN's "Apps" screen where you will find icons to get to your "Browser", "Email", "Phone", "Messaging" (the instant kind) and "Feeds" as well as places to change the "Settings" and "Alarms".
The third screen, accessible by scrolling to the right of The Loop, is your "Favorites". This is where you can drag and drop pictures and info for your most favored social networking contacts.
Unlike other smartphone-like devices, you can also scroll up and down these three KIN screens (as well as left and right) for additional choices and information.
There is also a dot on the bottom of each of these screens. Microsoft calls it "The Spot". It sounds a bit silly, but this feature is what makes a KIN one of the more interesting devices on the market.
The Spot is really an information hub. If you have an interesting Tweet or Facebook entry, or email, or photo, or video and want others to see it, you simply drag that object to The Spot along with the icons representing the people you want to share with. KIN does the rest. It really takes cutting and pasting to the next level.
To further examine The Spot, say you want to meet some friends. All you have to do is decide on a location and ask your KIN to map it out. Then drag the map onto The Spot along with the friends you want to meet, type a quick message ("Let's meet in 15 minutes"), and they'll have all the info they need right away.
Now, I know that some of this can be done with other smart devices like an iPhone or Android phone, but by combining these dissimilar parts with The Spot -- a simple way to tie them all together -- Microsoft makes KINs unique in their ability to take social networking to another level.
The other half of the equation is the KIN application for your computer. Microsoft calls it the KIN Studio.
Nearly everything on your KIN (messages, contacts, photos and videos) is backed up to a private, password-protected website. As a matter of fact, any photos or videos that have been stored on your KIN for more than 30 days are automatically uploaded to your KIN account for safe-keeping. You're left with a little thumbnail on your KIN. Microsoft promises virtually unlimited storage and almost no limit to what you can keep in your "cloud".
Being a Zune-like product in a number of ways, Microsoft is offering KIN buyers a free 14-day trial of their Zune Pass. For $14.99 per month, the pass allows you unlimited access to streaming music onto your KIN and your PC. It also allows you to download and keep 10 MP3s per month. Since KIN is a "closed system" (that means there are no apps to download and use) you can't use similar "advertising-supported" services that are available on other phone platforms, such as Pandora and Last.fm.
The only feature I found annoying on the KIN is the "Back" button, but that's because I also use a Palm Pre where you just flick your finger to go backwards or forwards. The Palm method is easy to get used to and use. KIN's back button might come naturally to you -- just don't regularly use a new Palm product as well or you'll find yourself wishing for webOS-like gesture support.
I spent a lot of time playing with the KIN TWO and found that, overall, it's easy to learn and master. Information flows quickly in all directions. Email (remember email?) seems to work well but if you use a service like Gmail don't expect KIN to be able to easily access your contacts or calendar.
To be fair, Android phones do Gmail well but have the same contact/calendar problem with other services.
The Web browser works well and chugs along at average speed, and the phone made and received voice calls and sounded fine to the user and to callers alike.
The KINs will be available online from Verizon's website beginning May 6th, and the phones will be available in Verizon stores on May 13th. Vodafone will launch the KIN ONE and KIN TWO internationally some time this autumn.
KIN ONE will sell for $49.99 and KIN TWO is $99.99 -- both after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement. According to Verizon, customers will receive their rebates in the form of a debit card that can be used wherever debit cards are accepted.
For the record, those prices were lowered last night -- from $80 and $150 respectively -- just before the official announcement. I think that was a good idea.
There's also the service plan to contend with. KN users will also have to subscribe to a Nationwide Talk plan ($40/month), and an Email and Web for Smartphone plan (starting at $30/month).
Adding a KIN to an existing Verizon family plan should bring down costs to slightly more reasonable levels, but requiring a smartphone data plan with a feature phone is a curious move at best. Of course the KINs are data hungry, but the younger end of the KIN demographic may have trouble convincing parents to fork out $30 for data each month.
I don't know what the KIN advertising campaign might look like, and I don't know how Microsoft's target audience will respond to these two new devices. If buyers do their due diligence however, KIN might become as big a hit as the Sidekick.
In this iPhone/Android/Palm/BlackBerry smartphone-obsessed world, that says a lot.
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