posted by Laura10

posted by Sergey.Lutay

My major problem was the presentation and target demographic. The target demographic was downright insulting and embarrassing. I mean, does Microsoft really think its neat that their new phone makes it super easy for jerks to take pictures of fat people at Chipotle and share it with all their supposed "friends." I guess its supposed to be really funny or something.... or maybe I am just old and don't get it?

posted by mted

posted by figuerres

posted by Laura10

posted by Sergey.Lutay

posted by Zero Alpha

posted by rhm

posted by Laura10

people are not going to understand that this is not WP7 but WPsomething else..

given that microsoft doesnt give a crap about any markets other the US this is probably going to be a non-problem for me though..  not even the zune is available in europe for crying out loud (neither is the proper version of bing)

posted by aL_

posted by tina10

posted by CplCarrot

i can see folks thinking they are buying the Win7 phone and then beeing confused when a friend has the 7 one or the reverse with a customer whith a 7 phone wondering what this one is....

also what abut the OS and the software stack? are developers now going to have to code for 3 different WIndows phones ?

or is this 2 ?  WTF?????  KILL IT NOW!!  just put whatever software it has on 7 and put out ONE NEW PHONE!!!

Sorry Laura but this to me is an example of where MS is getting really really bad at some things....

sometimes it's like there are to many different things going on and no way for one team to keep track of them...

and taking sooo long to respond ...  the WInPhone 7 should have been out at least a year ago, and just take the man hours spent on this and figure out how must time might have been better spent getting ONE phone ready.

posted by figuerres

Where or when will we get some real info on these devices. Things like OS, processor, eco system,how far will it be before I get dropped back into Windows Mobile OS?

posted by CplCarrot

why did you tag the video with "windows phone" ... as far as I know there is only one version of windows phone out there ... i.e. WP7

now what is this ? you say it is a windows phone.

When you announce a product please be specfic about the technical details.

posted by freefly

posted by rhm

Otherwise, great job.

posted by Silberlight

Windows Phone 7 was announced at MWC and we showed off some sweet apps at MIX10.

This is a completely separate entity.

Here is a quote from Robbie Bach that might add some clarity:

"Across the Windows Phone family of products, our intention is to bring together everything that’s important to our customers.  This vision guided our strategy for Windows Phone 7 and is now being brought to life for a new audience with today’s announcement of KIN.  The result is two experiences that share the same underlying philosophy and design, but were created for two purposes - two kinds of audiences. 

While Windows Phone 7 is a multipurpose phone for a broad set of consumers, KIN is for a generation of people that live to be connected to their friends and their family. They get their news through Facebook and Twitter, and they can’t bear to be cut off from their friends. They connect, express and relate through technology, and this generation needs a phone to help them share their life moment to moment. "

posted by Laura10

also, given this is launching on Verizon - i wonder if a person could take such a device into canada and run it on the Bell Network up here?

posted by david em

Right UI implementation. Diferent, but for the given task (social sharing) right.

MS is doing somethig new, refreshing.

Form factor is cool. Soap design (e.g. Paln Pre)

For the first time brand name is kinda cool (short name, clear word) KIN

Bad things :

Target: 10-14 e.g. heavy betting on teenagers.

KIN is like KINDER, bad marketing though, anousement should have been "Get the KIN" phone for your kids:)))

KINder Phone etc.

Black hardware design is depressing, must be colorfull and skinnable.

I don't know why is for rich and powerfull comany like microsoft it's so hard to do marketing, product naming etc.

Why everything must be tagged WIndows? Who cares what is inside? If it works everyone will be interested to find answer of this question?

Windows brand have BAD reputation, its almoust "dirty" word after big VISTA.

Windows its not cool enough, and sorry to say it never will be. I personally think that it's time to ditch Windows brand.

Microsoft OS7, or OS7, OS7 Mobille, OS7 Business, OS7 etc..

I deeply hope Microsoft to change, to be more creative and more experimental.

More open sourced.

I am Mac User and i like the new Microsoft way, it's not copy cat anymore it something new....

posted by nxgui

The way I look at this, its an entry level Windows "feature" phone...redefining what one might expect from today's feature phones.  I definitely see a class of consumer who just don't give a rats ats about downloadble apps.  All they want is to keeps tabs of their friends, post about what their doing, take lots and lots of photos/videos and listen to music when they want to be anti-social.  Having a really nice UI, virtually unlimited storage along with these camera specs is very appealling.

I like this move for a couple of reasons.  One, I think it raises the bar for apps on Windows Phone 7.  I'm mean, I'm going to say to myself, if this is available on a lower level feature phone...you better deliver something even more rich with all the device hardware capabilities on WP7.  Personally, I'd like to see Kin Studio available to Windows Phone 7 users or at least as a download option via its app store.

posted by USArcher

posted by USArcher

posted by freefly

But it is Zune Tuned (but then so is a Windows Phone 7 phone)

posted by DCMonkey

posted by Minh

posted by AndrewD1

There shouldn't be much confusion as, like Windows CE, PocketPC/Phone, and Windows Mobile before it, Windows Phone is a background brand signifying the base platform, not available featureset.

To the general public, it has minimal impact. The brands seen by them will be ODM or carrier brands as always.

People will be buying a Kin, not a Windows Phone.

Similarly, with Windows Phone 7 (and 8 and 9...), people will be buying an HTC X or T-Mobile Y. Windows Phone will just be a small logo on the box, boot screen, and back of the device -- cool for us that pay attention and like devices built on Windows, but it sadly hasn't been widely effective in itself at getting non-geeks to not call my PocketPC a Palm, or realize their Windows Mobile phone w/ slideout keyboard  isn't a Blackberry.

posted by n4cer

I am wondering if this is one of those cases when Microsoft's strategy (or is it the market?) drives multiple teams to work on similar projects, then these projects sometimes merge, sometimes some eventually get cancelled or they all die.

Anyways, it looks pretty cool. I join in on the question if you will be able to develop apps for the KIN the same way you do it for Windows Phone? Or is it back to the original problem - is this another OS or is it just a Windows Phone with a different UI theme - the type of thing Microsoft was supposed to fight in WinMo phone manufacturers by introducing this new Windows Phone...

Arrrgh...

EDIT: I could not see Apps/Games section in the Zune app on this phone, so it could be either elsewhere or not there at all.

posted by xyzzer

posted by axelriet

i think i'll hold out for WP7 though.. launching a new phone that cant run apps? sounds like a bad idea..

posted by aL_

posted by jomit

posted by Darjin

posted by jnystrom2

posted by halldor

This is a phone for my daughter, not my dad.

posted by Level50Jerk

posted by ivan_

until you go to Zune section, and in there everything seems to work fine?

Same hardware... so it must be in the software implementation. I would just use the same code for scrolls and gestures as it is in Zune.

posted by ivan_

posted by SparkPC

EDIT: No games or third party apps are coming to the device as of now, but they are looking into it for updates and such. Here is the source

http://windowsphonesecrets.com/2010/04/12/microsoft-kin-notes-from-the-launch/

posted by soccershad9

I hope this phone is targeted for the 49.99 price point.  I think it could do well and sell like hotcakes based on the features shown off.

posted by spydaweb

posted by YourNetBiz

But the screen transition, except that in Zune, is not smooth enough.

posted by Breezest

I'm not going to lie -- I've never been a big fan of Windows Mobile. In fact, I blame it for killin' my pa (the fact that he is not actually dead is in material). But I have to admit, this looks pretty slick, apart from the minor lag. Motorola could stand to take a few pointers from this OS for their MOTOBlur service. *spits on his Cliq*

Only questions I still have (and I may have missed mention of this since I'm kind of half-asleep) regards price. I'd assume that these phones, without a contract, would run somewhere around $400 (with Kin One being cheaper, naturally), but any clarification would be ideal. I would think that, with a price point around $50 with contract, this would have the potential to become Verizon's Sidekick -- every teenage girl and her friend would have one. 

posted by MaximusPaynicus

posted by Laura10

posted by MaximusPaynicus

posted by Master kachchhu

2) Targeting 15-25 year olds.  As parents will be buying these, is there any parental controls?

3) Seems like there should be a car safty device added.  When Kin owner is driving, device runs in Mute mode.  No texting while driving and save some lifes.  This is actually a good idea.  How could this be implemented?  Use the Kin as an electronic car key with some custom harness wired in to car?  Think some parents would like this.

4) Tracking kids via the GPS feature?  Turn off phone (except home) when out of designated locations?

Is this the start of new electronic kiddy-crack?  The pros are obvious.  Are we concidering the cons? 

posted by staceyw

posted by passonno

posted by AndrewD1