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Microsoft's answer to social connectivity – The KIN Windows Phone |
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Microsoft Corp. today announced the arrival of its KIN - a new Windows Phone designed “specifically for people who are actively navigating their social lives.” Microsoft credited partners Verizon Wireless, Vodafone and Sharp Corporation for shaping the KIN project, which it says is designed to be “the ultimate social experience that blends the phone, online services and the PC with breakthrough new experiences called the Loop, Spot and Studio.”  Designed as a “mobile experience just for this social generation” Robbie Bach, president of the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft said that KIN is for people who “live to be connected, share, express and relate to their friends and family,” making it the one place to get “stuff you care about to the people you care about most.” Build and features The KIN hinges on social networking. Microsoft said that the KIN's interface, “which is designed to help people publish the magazine of their life”, lets people focus on the people and stuff they love in lieu of menus and icons. The hardware hardware design was developed in partnership with Sharp, which resulted in two models called KIN ONE and KIN TWO.  Both KIN One and Two feature a touch screen and slide-out keyboard, with ONE being small and compact and two sporting slightly larger dimensions. One, Microsoft says, is a perfect fit for a pocket and to operate with one hand while Two has a larger screen and keyboard, more memory, a higher resolution camera and the ability to record high-definition video. One sports a five megapixel camera, while Two features an even more powerful eight megapixel camera, designed for use in low light with image stabilization and a bright LumiLED flash.Mikio Katayama, Global President and COO, Sharp Corporation said “Combining Sharp’s cutting-edge LCD and mobile device technology with Microsoft’s cloud computing technology, KIN represents an innovative new mobile experience. It’s a fun, convenient way to keep connected and another example of how Sharp is committed to improving people’s lives with ubiquitous communications.” The home screen of the phone is called the KIN Loop, which is always up to date and always on, displaying all the things happening in someone’s social world. KIN automatically brings together feeds from leading Microsoft and third-party services such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter making it easier to stay connected, or in the “loop.” The KIN Spot is a feature that allows users to share what’s going on in their world, allowing them to focus first on the people and stuff they want to share rather than the specific application they want to use. Videos, photos, text messages, web pages, location and status updates are shared by simply dragging them to a single place on the phone called the Spot. Once all the people and content are in the Spot to share, the consumer can choose how to share, and start their broadcast.  KIN Studio is the cloud host to the phone with almost everything created on the phone available in the cloud from any web browser. Photos and video are presented in an online visual timeline so they are easy to view and share, and the KIN Studio automatically backs up texts, call history, photos, videos and contacts. It even populates a personalized digital journal, allowing travels back in time – as Microsoft says - “to relive a crazy weekend or recent birthday.” KIN Studio comes with plentiful storage. The KIN also comes with a Zune experience — including music, video, FM radio and podcast playback. Other features include a browser, local and web search by Bing, and an RSS feed reader. In the US, the KIN will exclusively available from Verizon Wireless starting May 2010, and will be marketed by Vodafone starting this autumn in Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. |
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