Microsoft KIN

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Microsoft KIN
Microsoft KIN
Manufacturer Sharp
Technical specifications
Main camera ONE: 5 MP
TWO: 8 MP
Current operating system KIN OS (based on Windows CE )
processor Freescale i. MX31L; Nvidia Tegra APX2600
R.A.M. 256 MB (DDR RAM)
Internal memory ONE: 4 GB
TWO: 8 GB
Connectivity
Radio links

EV-DO Rev, Wi-Fi , Bluetooth 2.1

measures and weight
Weight 110-130 g
particularities

QWERTY keyboard

Kin (also often spelled as KIN ) is a family of Microsoft cell phones that were available from Verizon Wireless . After a long development period and high costs, it appeared in May 2010 and was referred to as a "close relative" ( kin = related) to Windows Phone 7 . The Kin was actually supposed to be sold in Europe, but these plans were discarded after poor sales in the USA. Since then, the Kin team has been integrated into the Windows Phone 7 development team and advertising for the Kin has been stopped. 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 between 15 and 30 years of age.

The Kin was the result of two years of development work at Microsoft that began with the acquisition of Danger Inc , which had already designed the Danger Hiptop / T-Mobile Sidekick . Kin OS is based on Windows CE.

history

development

Initially the Kin project was known under the code name Project Pink and was started under the leadership of Microsoft manager J Allard . In 2008, Danger Inc. was bought by Microsoft for approximately $ 500 million.

The Kin itself was developed in Microsoft's Premium Mobile Experiences (PMX) division by a working group that included employees from Danger Inc. Hardware manufacturers were supposedly enthusiastic about Kin at first, and competed for membership in the Kin project.

idea

The "unveiling" of the Kin began with the invitation of selected journalists to a secret meeting in San Francisco on April 12, 2010. The invitations for the event, which was later confirmed to be Project Pink , said It's time to share ( it's time to share ). The event itself eventually took place at the Mighty nightclub and included an appearance by Robbie Bach, the head of Microsoft's entertainment and mobile communications division.

Failures of the Kin

The Kin suffered badly from poor sales, so Microsoft executives told the New York Times that they were terrified by the lack of advertising from Verizon employees. After just 48 days on the market, Microsoft discontinued the Kin series on June 30, 2010. The plans for a European introduction at Vodafone were discarded.

comeback

The Kin ONE and TWO are now back on the market as so-called “Feature Phones” - phones that can be classified in terms of functions between normal mobile phones and real smartphones . These new kins are available without a contract and now as “Kin ONEm” or “Kin TWOm”. Verizon confirmed the resumption of Kin sales on November 18, 2010, with the devices not being available in stores until December 2010.

Functions and skills

Microsoft calls the Kin series Social Phones . The Kin focuses on social networking and the so-called sharing of content (e.g. pictures, videos, etc.) on the Internet, but has no way of installing apps .

Link to social networks

The Kin start screen is called Loop and shows a compilation of the latest news from sources such as RSS web feeds, Twitter , Facebook , MySpace, etc.

It was often mentioned negatively in reviews that the Kin only updates the compilation every 15 minutes without the user being able to change this interval. However, the user can press an "update" button on the display to update the information. Microsoft justifies this behavior with a shortening of the battery life and half-baked APIs of the network operators. It is also speculated that Microsoft was only able to convince Verizon through this "function" to offer low-priced tariffs for the Kin in order to be able to reach the teenage target group.

The Kin does not support uploading photos to Twitpic, Facebook etc.; neither retweeted , viewed a single person's updates, nor opened links directly from Twitter messages. This could also be explained by making cheaper data tariffs possible.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eric Zeman: Does It Matter How Many Kins Microsoft Sold? . InformationWeek . July 8, 2010. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
  2. ↑ Microsoft Kills Kin . Gizmodo. June 30, 2010. Retrieved June 30, 2010.
  3. ↑ Hands-On: Can Kin Phones Make Microsoft Cool Again? . Wired. April 2, 2010. Retrieved April 13, 2010.
  4. ^ Ina Fried : Microsoft's "Pink" emerges from Danger's shadow . In: CNET , September 23, 2009. Retrieved August 20, 2011. 
  5. ^ Ina Fried: Microsoft's Kin: What it is-and isn't . News.cnet.com. April 12, 2010. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
  6. ^ Joshua Topolsky : Microsoft Kin One and Two review . Engadget . May 5, 2010. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
  7. ^ Life and death of Microsoft Kin: the inside story . Engadget . July 2, 2010. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
  8. ↑ How Much Did Microsoft Pay For Danger? . GigaOM . February 12, 2008. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
  9. ^ Todd Bishop: Confirmed: Microsoft Kin is dead . TechFlash. June 30, 2010. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
  10. ↑ Microsoft's Pink Struggles Spill Over To Sidekick . In: ChannelWeb , UBM Channel , October 12, 2009. Archived from the original on July 20, 2010 Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved August 20, 2011. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.crn.com 
  11. ↑ Ina Fried: Microsoft's mystery event revealed | Beyond Binary - CNET News . News.cnet.com. April 5, 2010. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
  12. ^ Ina Fried: Microsoft launches Kin phones (live blog) | Beyond Binary - CNET News . News.cnet.com. April 12, 2010. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
  13. ↑ Miguel Helft: Microsoft Kin Discontinued After 48 Days . In: The New York Times , June 30, 2010. Retrieved July 1, 2010. 
  14. ↑ - ( Memento of the original from November 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.verizonwireless.com
  15. ↑ http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/13/microsoft-kin-notifications-have-up-to-fifteen-minute-delay