Microsoft's new Kin phone sits between two worlds. It isn't really a smartphone -- there's no access to apps, games, document editing or viewing -- but it's more than a feature phone. It integrates social networking updates, news feeds and contacts, in a way that aims to be hip and cool.
And Kin just about manages to pull it off, but only if you buy into the idea that there are hordes of consumers hungry to have every bit of Facebook or MySpace broadcast to (and from) their phones in near real-time.
The Kin phones -- the squat, compact Kin One and the bigger Kin Two -- will launch exclusively on Verizon Wireless next month in the United States and on Vodafone in Europe later this year. There's no word on pricing yet for these phones.
I spent a few minutes with both models during Microsoft's launch event today, and my first impression is that it's well-aimed at its target market. Assuming you are one of those people who lives and breathes Facebook or MySpace, the Kin might not be a bad phone to have. Its industrial design is interesting (especially the smaller Kin One model), has respectable hardware under the cover and sports a pretty user interface.
Hardware for the masses
Kin is the culmination of Microsoft's two-year project codenamed "Pink." The Kin phones have been manufactured by Sharp, which also produced the original set of Sidekick phones. That's no coincidence, since the Sidekick was developed by Danger, a handset maker that Microsoft acquired in 2008.
The Sidekick, originally launched in 2002, became a popular hit among text-happy teenagers, although it was never taken seriously as a smartphone. A data-center glitch that wiped out many T-Mobile Sidekick users' data in 2009 may have been the final nail in the Sidekick's coffin. Now it looks like Microsoft wants to update the Sidekick's M.O. for a new decade.
The smaller Kin One has a 2.6-inch display and a 5-megapixel camera, while Kin Two has a 3.6- inch screen and a 8-megapixel camera. Both phones have a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.
The Kin One is almost the size of a lady's compact. It's an interesting form factor that does get your attention and fits well in the hand. The Kin Two is a standard candy-bar shape. The devices are lightweight, but they have a cheap "plasticky" feel to them. Buttons on the QWERTY keyboard, though raised, are difficult to use. Overall, there's no feeling of luxury here.
That said, the Kin is not entirely lacking in tech firepower. The phones run Nvidia's Tegra processor and feel pretty zippy. The touchscreens are responsive and the displays are bright. The cameras are easy to use and the built-in flashes meant the photos shot in low light (at the bar where Microsoft launched the device) were just a tad better than what I could get with my iPhone 3G.
User interface built around social networking
The Kin phones have three home screens. The first screen offers access to e-mail, messages, phone, news feeds, photos, music and the browser.
Swipe to the left and the next screen throws up a stream of status messages updated from contacts and your news feeds. This screen, called the Loop, is the home screen for the device, says Microsoft. The Loop screen connects to four social networks: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Windows Live. And, you can go to your contacts list -- which is drawn from all the social networking sites that you have added on the device -- and mark some people as favorites. Their status updates will get prioritized on the Loop screen.
The Loop feels a lot like MotoBlur, Motorola's custom skin for Android, or HTC's Sense UI, but it is easier to navigate. That doesn't mean it's not a visual overload. Loud colors like lime green and bright pink make you feel like you have had a few magic mushrooms, while photos, status updates and news headlines all jostle for attention. You'll feel like you need a can of Red Bull just to keep up.
The third screen shows the contacts you've marked as favorites. Instead of a stream of updates, it just shows the most recent status update from each one.
One well-designed feature is the sharing button on the phone. Called the Kin Spot, it lets you share almost anything -- photos, texts, web pages -- by just holding on it for a second or two and then dragging it to a small circle at the bottom of the display. When you're ready to publish, you tap that circle icon to see all your shared items. From there you can sent them as e-mail, texts or picture messages.
Music, movies and extras
Finally, the Kin phones integrate Zune, Microsoft's elegant but struggling attempt to get into the digital-music service business. The music player on the Kin devices use the same impressive interface as the Zune HD. And those 5 percent of users who have a Zune pass can sync the music already on their Zune players with the Kin phones, either wirelessly or by hooking the phone up to a PC.
Microsoft is also counting on Kin Studio, a service that syncs the phone to a password-protected website where your photos, videos, messages and even call history get backed up.
It offers unlimited storage in the cloud for free. That means if you click more photos than what your phone can store on the device, it just gets moved to the cloud but not deleted. Deleting anything on the phone, though, means it will be gone from both the device and the online site.
Kin Studio includes a neat visual timeline feature, where you can use the slider to go back month by month and see what was on your phone at any given time.
The phone's web browser doesn't support Adobe Flash or Microsoft's Silverlight.
Overall, the Kin phones aren't particularly innovative or fresh, but they will help put Microsoft back in the mobile game. If Microsoft and Verizon can get the pricing right on these devices (under $100 with an attractively priced data plan) then they might just be able to sell a few million of these to teens and Facebook fiends.
*Top two photos: Jim Merithew/Wired.com. Bottom photo: Microsoft
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