Microsoft KIN
EV -DO Rev, Wi -Fi, Bluetooth 2.1
QWERTY keyboard
Kin ( often written as KIN ) is a family mobile phone from Microsoft that was available at Verizon Wireless. After a long development time and high cost, it was released in May 2010 and was ( engl. related kin = ) as a " close relative " refers to Windows Phone 7. Actually, the children should also be sold in Europe, but these plans were dropped after poor sales figures in the United States. Since then, the Kin team has been integrated into the Windows Phone 7 development team and stopped the advertising of the kin. The Kin was developed by Microsoft and manufactured by Sharp. It was advertised as particularly suitable for social networks and planned for a target group 15-30 years.
The child was the result of two years of development work at Microsoft, which began with the purchase of Danger Inc., which had already designed the Danger Hiptop / T -Mobile Sidekick. Kin OS is based on Windows CE.
- 2.1 Linking with social networks
History
Development
First, the Kin project was known by the code name Project Pink, and was started under the guidance of Microsoft Manager J Allard. 2008 Danger Inc. was bought for about 500 million U.S. $ by Microsoft.
The child itself was developed in Microsoft's Premium Mobile Experiences ( PMX ) division, through a working group, which also included employees from Danger Inc.. Hardware manufacturers were initially supposed enthusiastic about Kin, and competed for a membership in the Kin project.
Idea
The " unveiling " of the child began Invite selected journalists for a secret meeting in San Francisco on April 12, 2010. On the invitations for the event has been confirmed by the little later that it was about the Project Pink, stand It's time to share ( It's time to share ). The event itself finally took place in the night club Mighty and included a performance by Robbie Bach, head of Microsoft's entertainment and mobile communications division.
Failures of Kin
The child suffered much from only weak sales so Microsoft manager of the New York Times reported the fact that they were very frightened by the lack of advertising by Verizon employees. After only 48 days on the market, Microsoft introduced the Kin series on 30 June 2010. The plans for a European launch on Vodafone was discarded.
Comeback
The Kin ONE and TWO are now back as so-called " feature phones " on the market, phones that are classified by the functions forth between a standard mobile phone and real smartphone. These new Kins you get without a contract and now as " Kin ONEm " or " Kin Twom ". Verizon confirmed on 18 November 2010, the resumption of Kin sales, where the equipment was not available in stores until December.
Features and capabilities
Microsoft called the Kin series as a social Phones. The child lays emphasis on social networking and the so-called sharing content (such as images, videos, etc. ) on the Internet, but has no ability to install apps.
Link with social networks
The home screen of the Kin Loop is called and displays a summary of the news from sources such as web feeds, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc..
In reviews was often mentioned as a negative is that the kin only updated every 15 minutes to compile, without the user could change this interval. The user can, however, press a " Refresh " button on the screen to update the information. Microsoft justified its attitude by a shortening of the battery life and half-baked APIs of the network operator. In addition, it is speculated that Microsoft could convince by this " feature " Verizon only offer low -priced tariffs for the children to reach the teenage target group.
The Kin does not support uploading photos to Twitpic, Facebook, etc.; nor the retweet, view the updates of a single person, or the direct opening links from Twitter messages. Again, this could be explained by allowing cheaper data plans.