Every once and awhile you come across a product – or a group of products – which are unlike anything else in the marketplace.
There are lots of similarities but for reasons which only become apparent when you get to live with 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 cell phone or smartphones. That’s because they’re not about being cellular voice devices. They are really a new breed of mobile social-networking devices.
That said, let’s talk about these new devices. KIN is a Microsoft idea. The KIN operating system is an outgrowth of Microsoft’s work on their Zune HD media players and the upcoming Windows Phone 7 smartphones. Microsoft calls KIN a new “Windows Phone” but wants you to know it’s not a new Windows Phone 7 device.
KINs are made for Microsoft by Sharp. Even though their name isn’t on everyone’s lips when it comes to cell phones they are big players in the Japanese marketplace and are known here, primarily, as the company that manufacture Sidekick handsets for T-Mobile. The company that originally designed Sidekicks (Good) is now a division of Microsoft. Sidekicks are still wildly popular with ‘tweens and young teens as portable IM-ing platforms.
There are two new KIN designs. 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, still/video camera with LED flash and 4GB of built-in (non-user-replaceable) storage.
The KIN TWO (from now on I’ll call it 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. The TWO’s shape and good looks remind me a lot of the Palm Pre.
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 which 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. High-concept round cylinders – white for the ONE and dark gray for the TWO. Inside there’s another cylinder which cradles your new device, the battery and charger and the very friendly basic operating instructions. It looks like Microsoft spent a lot on the packaging.
Take the KIN out of the 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 account(s) information. That’s it. Takes about 2 minutes. By the time you’re done your KIN is already downloading and displaying your personal info.
There are three KIN display screens. The main screen is called “The Loop”. That’s where you can monitor your always-updating social networking information. 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), “Feeds” as well as places to change the “Settings” and “Alarms”. The third screen (scrolling to the right of The Loop) is reserved for your “Favorites” where you can drag and drop pictures/info for your most favored social networking contacts.
Unlike other smartphone-like devices, you can also scroll up and down (as well as left and right) to fully navigate these three KIN screens.
There is also a dot on the bottom of each of these screens. Microsoft calls it “The Spot”. Sounds silly but it’s what makes a KIN one of the more interesting devices on the market. The Spot is really an information hotspot. If you have an interesting Tweet or Facebook entry, or email, or photo, or video and want others to see it you drag that object to The Spot and then also drag the icons for the people you want to share with into The Spot and the KIN does the rest. It takes cutting and pasting to the next level.
Actually taking this to the next level, say you want to meet some friends. Decide on a location, ask your KIN to map it out, drag the map, and the friends you want to meet, into The Spot – type a quick message (“Let’s meet in 15 minutes”) and they’ll get the message quickly.
Now, I know that some of this can be done with other smart devices like an iPhone or Motorola Blur/Android phones but combining these different abilities with “The Spot”, a simple way to tie them all together, 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) are 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”. Very cool.
And, 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 – and 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.
The only feature I found annoying on the KIN was the “Back” button – but that’s because I also use a Palm Pre where you just flick your finger to slide from screen to screen. The Palm method is easy to get used to and use. KIN’s back button might come naturally to you – just don’t use a new Palm product too.
I spent some 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. Same for Windows Mobile devices and most other platforms).
The Web browser works well but chugs along at average-to-below average speed. The phone made and received voice calls and sounded fine to the user and to callers alike.
KIN is available online on Verizon’s Website and will be available in Verizon stores on May 13. KIN ONE will sell for $49.99, and KIN TWO for $99.99, both after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year contract. According to Verizon, customers will receive their rebates in the form of a debit card which can be used wherever debit cards are accepted.
For the record, those prices were lowered late last night – from $80 and $150 respectively – just before the official announcement at midnight. I think the price drop was a great idea.
There’s also the service plan to contend with. KIN 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). Verizon should not be charging KIN users full smartphone rates. One of the reasons for the Sidekick’s great success was the reasonable service contract prices. Verizon should reconsider.
I was told that adding a KIN to an existing Verizon family plan should bring down costs to somewhat more reasonable levels. I hope so.
I don’t know what the KIN advertising campaign will look like – and I don’t know how Microsoft’s target audience (ages 13-to-30) will respond to these two new devices. But if buyers do their due diligence KIN might become as big a hit as the Sidekick. And in this iPhone/Android/Palm/BlackBerry smartphone world that says a lot.
KIN’s unique features bode well for Windows Phone 7 devices which we’ll get to see later this year.