
Microsoft Kin One and Kin Two announced: Windows Phone roots with a social slant - niravs
http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/12/microsoft-kin-one-and-kin-two-announced-windows-phone-roots-wit/
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ajg1977
If the price point is right I think these are going to be smash hits with the
younger crowd.

To me they seem quite underwhelming, but if I look at how my younger sisters &
cousins use their phones then all those boxes are checked and in a very
visually pleasing way.

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ciniglio
The 'spot' seems like an interesting piece of ui. I'm interested to see how
effective it is in real world use.

It also reminds me of the courier video, where users could clip out random
parts of a webpage.

edit: here's more of the ui, if anyone is interested:
[http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/12/microsoft-kin-ui-
walkthro...](http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/12/microsoft-kin-ui-walkthrough/)

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joubert
Phones with a social slant have been around since the 1870's.

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billybob
Yes. Previously, phones such as the "tin can with no string" only enabled
conversations with oneself. The addition of "talk to someone else" technology
was truly a revolution in social networking.

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joubert
Yeah, but those cause brain tumors I hear.

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tjarratt
I wonder how long it will take for these phones to get support for 3rd party
apps. While it would really be great to see more affordable (think non-luxury)
smart phones, the iphone and nexus one both demonstrate that people need and
want apps to enrich the experience.

Why bother having a camera and browser if you can't take that data (pictures,
web pages, etc) and send it via email or twitter, or an edit it with an app?

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rbanffy
"and it looks like the Zune HD UI we're accustomed to"

all three of us, that is.

(no, actually not me. I have an iPod)

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azim
If this is the fabled Zune phone, I'm extremely disappointed. I'm not sure
what they mean by "social slant." Maybe they mean it's a great conversation
starter. Imagine busting it out at a bar, people wouldn't be able to resist
commenting on how ugly it is.

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seiji
Didn't Microsoft buy the word "Social" a few years ago? Now it means whatever
they want it to mean. Welcome to the Social.

Maybe their BRAND UNVEIL can educate you about why this is the most important
thing ever:
[http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/04/msft-p...](http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/04/msft-
pink-unveil-0481-rm-eng.jpg)

I find the quotes from their event hilarious: "So, this social generation
really does have a point of view. They think it, they do it, and they have a
mantra for it." "We came up with this concept of friends, friends, and
friends."

Maybe I'm waaay too old to know what "kids these days" are up to, but if
everybody under the age of 22 is all about FRIENDS FRIENDS FRIENDS then the
world will soon collapse. No new work will get done. We'll be idiocracy within
twenty years where everybody exists solely to click ads. It's ads and vapid
social media consultants all the way down.

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awa
[but if everybody under the age of 22 is all about FRIENDS FRIENDS FRIENDS
then the world will soon collapse]

Friends Friends Friends is the new way to network, isn't networking one of the
things they preach to everyone for everything (finding a job, starting a
startup...)

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jasonlbaptiste
I'm sorry I don't get it. Microsoft isn't a hardware company, so there's no
reason to start "diversifying" and "segmenting". Windows Phone 7 seems
absolutely awesome. They need to just stick to that. As a 15 year old girl,
this still ranks way way below an iPhone, Droid, or even _gasp_ a palm pre.
They should have just saved this type hardware (which seems pretty decent) for
when they launch the Windows Phone 7 stuff. So now MSFT has:

-winmo 6.5 (which they're keeping) and is horrible -KinOS (I don't know what this is supposed to do) -Win Phone Series 7 Series Seventh Windows Phone- Which looks awesome, has developers excited, and will require OEMs to ship quality hardware.

Just concentrate on the last one please.

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awa
Are you an 15yr old girl??? Your website shows a much older guy :P

Microsoft has made a point to make this phone totally unlike iPhone with the
Physical keyboard and Smaller form-factor and even going with Verizon rather
than AT&T and the first two might attract the younger crowd.

