Carrier: Verizon Wireless
Manufacturer: Microsoft and Sharp
What's hot: Lovely hardware, good keyboards, strong Verizon network backing them.
What's not: Incomplete features and expensive plans weaken the KIN phones vs. competing products.
And now for something completely different, the KIN One and KIN Two. Trust us, you've never seen a user interface like this and you'd never expect Microsoft to make something this playful and youth oriented. The KIN phones ship in tube-shaped containers labeled simply with KIN One or KIN Two, and Windows Phone. Clearly Microsoft took that MS music player packaging parody to heart since the KIN lacks all the endorsements, fine print and other stuff that clutters most product boxes. The Windows Phone moniker is interesting since this is NOT Windows Phone 7, but Microsoft wants to remind us that both WP7 and the KIN are part of the same happy family.
The KIN One and KIN Two are currently exclusive to Verizon in the US, and the KIN One launches at $50 with contract while the KIN 2 sells for $99. The big hurt is the plan pricing since the KIN requires Verizon's $30 smartphone plan. That means you'll pay as much per month to use a KIN as you would for the Palm Pre Plus, Droid Eris and HTC Touch Pro2. Worse yet, the Palm Pre Plus, Palm Pixi Plus and Touch Pro2 all sell for less than the KIN Two (and the Palm models are cheaper than the KIN One as well). For a phone that's aimed at tweens and teens, these are not cheap phones and the plan pricing is too high. Sure, if you've got the money and want to treat your child to something cool, then the pricing, which is comparable to the iPhone 3GS plan pricing, is acceptable. But for less affluent parents and college students, the KIN, like the iPhone, will be a stretch. And the KIN siblings don't have the rich feature set of high end feature phones and smartphones, making the Android-based Verizon smartphones and Palm webOS phones look more compelling.
But all is not doom and gloom, and teens want different things from adults who are obsessed with business applications and feature overload. The KIN is really fun to to use and learn. Yes, it has a learning curve because the UI is so original (who thought Microsoft could create something so totally new!), but after an hour, you'll get it if you're under age 25. Why do I mention age? Because today's kids are immersed in technology and learn it quickly; there's actually nothing abstruse about the KIN. The phone is completely social networking-centric and that mirrors the interest of the target market. There's no MS Office viewer here and no PDF viewer, instead there's a home screen that focuses on the "Loop", your group of friends on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Windows Live Messenger. The busy screen is filled with their latest tweets and status updates, and these scroll up and down so you can see quite a bit of the day's social history. Tapping on one of the those pretty and highly graphical status updates takes you to a window where you can reply. If your life revolves around these social networking services, then the KIN should speak to you. Of course, so will Motorola's MOTOBLUR Android phones which do much the same thing in a less pretty way. These Android phones have an advantage when it comes to streaming video over YouTube and games. That's right folks, there are no games here. And this phone is for the younger crowd? From the age of 5, what were your children doing? Borrowing your phone to play games. But as they move to their later teen years, the social scene does become more important. Still, no games? 
And that relates to a bigger issue: no apps. You get a built-in set of applications for web browsing, email, Zune music and video, the phone and contacts, and that's it. There's currently no app marketplace, so those apps better do it all for you. Microsoft may make applications and new features available in future updates, though we have no information on what those will be. So for now, there's no calendar (you don't need to keep track of basketball practice, SAT study classes and the drama club meets, do you?), no YouTube player and no Verizon V Cast services. There's a GPS but it's used only for geotagging photos and Bing local area searches. If you're driving age, the KIN won't help you much beyond text directions from Bing's mobile site. And oddly, Windows Mobile phones with Live Search and feature phones with Bing services offer richer features than KIN. This is a phone that's all about social networking, get it? Microsoft did spend at least a year working with a test group of teens to develop KIN's features, so they may know something us old fogies don't, and we certainly can't say they didn't try out the features and product on the target market. | |
Both KIN phones have slide-out QWERTY keyboards and bear an embarrassing resemblance to the Palm Pre. The arcing keyboard design and stone-like feel of the KIN One particularly reminds us of the Pre, but Microsoft and Sharp did have good taste in designs to mimic. The phones feel nice in hand, with grippy backs and soft lines but they are hard to hold onto when held in talking and texting positions. The back is too curved and the phone just wants to slip out of the hand (get that phone insurance). The very curved sides make various side buttons hard to press since the phone wants to squirt out of your fingers like a bar of soap. The camera button on the KIN Two is maddeningly difficult to press, for example. The power button is on the top right corner of each phone and is conversely too easy to press. But you're saved from pocket dialing by the nicest lock screen we've ever seen on a phone.
The keyboards are backlit and the light comes on when the ambient light sensor determines you need it. There's an accelerometer that works in most but not all applications. There's no landscape view for the Zune player main menus, though the UI will switch to landscape on the KIN Two if you need to input text. It has to switch because the lateral keyboard requires landscape orientation and there's no on-screen keyboard. That's right, you must use the hardware keyboard to enter text. Fortunately, there's a large on-screen dialer for making calls, and for that matter, every UI element is large and designed to be used with touch. Both KINs have capacitive touch screens that are beautiful and responsive to touch. The KIN Two has a 320 x 480 pixel display (same as the iPhone 3GS and low to mid-tier Android phones) and the KIN One has a lowly QVGA 320 x 240 pixel display. Given the large on-screen elements, that means you'll be scrolling a lot on the KIN One. That said, the KIN One is darned cute and extremely pocketable.
As a phone, the KIN One and KIN Two are OK, but they're not voice-centric by any means. There's no voice dialing, no hardware call send and end buttons and it's not easy to dial on the run or while driving (if legal in your state). It's hard enough to slide the phone open one-handed, let alone scroll to the phone application, then select a contact. Both incoming and outgoing voice quality are very good on the KIN Two. Incoming voice is very good on the KIN One, but outgoing voice sounds digitized and slightly garbled. Incoming volume is quite loud on both phones.
Specification:
KIN One Specs:
Display: 2.6” TFT, QVGA (320x240), capacitive touchscreen. Supports both portrait and landscape modes via accelerometer. Has ambient light sensor and proximity sensor.
Battery: Lithium
Ion rechargeable. Battery is user replaceable. 1240 mAh.
Performance: Tegra APX2600 CPU. 4 gigs internal storage, 256 megs RAM.
Size: 3.25 x 2.5 x 0.75 inches. Weight: 3.9 ounces.
Phone: CDMA dual band digital with EV-DO Rev. A and 1xRTT for data.
Camera: 5.0 MP with autofocus lens and LED flash.
GPS: Has GPS.
Audio: Built in speaker, mic and 3.5mm standard stereo headphone jack. Zune software for multimedia playback. Has FM radio.
Networking: Integrated WiFi 802.11b/g and Bluetooth 2.1 with headset, handsfree and Bluetooth stereo A2DP with AVRC.
Software: Microsoft operating system for KIN (Windows Phone family). Web browser, email client for MS Exchange, POP3 and IMAP email, text and MMS cient, Zune media player software, "Feeds" application for social networking and RSS feeds.
Expansion: None.
KIN Two Specs:
Display: 3.4” TFT, HVGA (320x 480), capacitive touchscreen. Supports both portrait and landscape modes via accelerometer. Has ambient light sensor.
Battery: Lithium Ion rechargeable. Battery is user replaceable. 1390 mAh.
Performance: Tegra APX2600 CPU. 8 gigs internal storage, 256 megs RAM.
Size: 4.25 x 2.5 x 0.75 inches. Weight: 4.7 ounces.
Phone: CDMA dual band digital with EV-DO Rev. A and 1xRTT for data.
Camera: 8.0 MP with autofocus lens and LED flash. Can shoot video up to 720p.
GPS: Has GPS.
Audio: Built in stereo speakers, mic and 3.5mm standard stereo headphone jack. Zune software for multimedia playback. Has FM radio.
Networking: Integrated WiFi 802.11b/g and Bluetooth 2.1 with headset, handsfree and Bluetooth stereo A2DP with AVRC.
Software: Microsoft operating system for KIN (Windows Phone family). Web browser, email client for MS Exchange, POP3 and IMAP email, text and MMS cient, Zune media player software, "Feeds" application for social networking and RSS feeds.
Expansion: None.
). Now, B&W is trying its hand at headphones. At $299.95 (list), the P5 Mobile Hi-Fi Headphones aren't cheap, but like the best pairs from Grado and Sennheiser, the stunningly designed P5 is worth every penny, offering an audiophile experience and long-lasting comfort.
