Microsoft KIN: Windows Phone Lite?
I have to get this off my chest: WHAT A DUMB NAME!
OK. Now I feel better.
Microsoft has announced a new brand of cell phones. They’re not “smartphones”. And they’re not dumb, by any means. But, they are somewhat smarter than what the industry calls “feature phones”. Let’s call these new KIN phones “smart-feature phones. (I told you the name was really dumb.)
Kin is a re-working of T-Mobile’s wildly successful Sidekick line of feature phones for a new carrier, Verizon. Sharp made many Sidekick models over the years and also makes the two new KIN phones.
Like Sidekicks, KIN are made for a youthful audience. All the promotional materials show beautiful young people living their beautiful lives – the under-25 crowd who use their devices to text each other, post on Twitter and Facebook/Social Networking sites to basically chronicle their lives on a cell phone.
Oh, BTW, the phones are capable of making voice calls but the Microsoft people really didn’t make a big deal about that “feature”. Why should they? Youngsters barely make voice calls (except to speak with their parents – usually when they need something – like money).
KIN are two separate designs: KIN ONE is a small, square-ish little thing with a slide-down QWERTY keyboard. Many at today’s unveiling commented that it looked a whole lot like a Palm Pre. KIN TWO has a larger, rectangular screen with a slide-down QWERTY keyboard. The One is said to be a “one-handed” texting design. The Two is supposedly a “two-handed” texting design.
There are many other differences. The One comes with 4 GB of built-in storage, a 4 GB camera and a mono speaker. The Two has 8GB of built-in memory, an 8GB camera and stereo speakers. There are no memory card slots in either design.
Both phones run on a new operating system that is somewhat based on the Zune HD series of media players. There might be some hint of the upcoming Windows Phone 7 OS – but I’d say both development paths separated a while ago. Microsoft people in attendance at the New York City session were very careful to note that these phones are not Windows Phone 7 phones.
All photos and videos are stored in Microsoft’s “cloud”. You also have access to that cloud on your PC via a some new software called KIN Studio. In the previews it looked a lot like Zune PC software but did let you handle every that’s on your KIN on your PC as well.
The really clever idea that Microsoft has included in this design is KIN Spot. It’s actually a spot – a white dot on the bottom of the phones’ screen that allows you to “drop” things in for processing. For instance, if you want to send a photo on your phone to a contact listed on your phone you would drag and drop the phone onto the spot – then do the same with the contact. A good idea. Let’s see how well it works in the final version of the phones.
On the other hand, what you see is what you get. What comes inside a KIN is all there is. There is no app store to download stuff. This is a closed system. Journalists in attendance heard there is no Adobe Flash involved but were somewhat surprised that there is no calendar function or any games to keep users occupied. (Actually, they said there’s a lot to keep users occupied without adding games).
We do know that both KIN should be available sometime in May on Verizon’s EV-DO/3G network. But we don’t know how much they’ll cost – or how much the monthly service will set you back. There are some rumors that prices will be in the $99 (for the One) -to- $149 (for the Two) range. Vodaphone will be selling GSM (world phone) version of KINS this fall.
KINS have some big shoes to fill if they’re going to complete/replace Sidekicks. I suggest lower prices might help. Expect a full review when we get our hands on a production phone or two.