Microsoft Kin Two Review

Both Kin One and Kin Two are toned down versions of the Windows Phone 7, and Kin Two happens to be larger of both. You can spot several similarities between the Kin series and the Windows Phones 7 such as the panel home screen, the focus on social networking as a USP, and the Zune media player.

Kin Two is good fun to use, though you have to spend some time getting used to the phone, no doubt about that. The Kin series is unlike any other phone in the market and there is a good amount of digging and exploring that you have to do. Those who are interested in dabbling in new phones might actually enjoy the whole “getting-to-know-the-new-user-interface” thing, but newcomers might just have a hard time.

The Kin Two is quite a slippery phone and you have to have a good grip on it in case it pops out of your hand. In addition, the perimeter controls such as the volume, power camera shutter are positioned too close to the surface, making them difficult to find and activate. On the brighter side is the slide-out QWERTY keyboard on Kin Two. The round keys are well-spaced from their neighbors. So, when you type, there are fewer mistypes.

Sound-wise, Kin Two does come across as a bit hollow. Most halfway decent cell phones offer similar quality of sound, but we do feel there should have been just a bit more volume. Also, when on speaker phone, either while talking or listening to music, the aural quality is no great shakes. Coming to the camera, Kin Two has an 8-megapixel imager, and for a cell phone, it takes pretty amazing pictures as long as you don’t try to blow them up.

All said and done, the operating system used by the Kin series does come across as a bit alien, and it is something of an acquired taste. But, if your only motto is to text and keep up with your virtual friends, you will cozy right up to the Kin series unusual social network approach.

Features of Kin Two

• General: 2G Network; GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900; 3G Network; HSDPA 900 / 2100
• Dimensions: 115.1 x 65.3 x TBC mm
• Display: TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 320 x 480 pixels, 3.4 inches
• QWERTY keyboard
• Alert types: Vibration; MP3 ringtones
• Speakerphone: Yes, with stereo speakers; 3.5 mm audio jack
• Phone Memory: Practically unlimited entries and fields;
• Call records: Practically unlimited
• Internal Memory: 8 GB storage, 256 MB RAM
• Bluetooth: Yes, v2.1 with A2DP
• Infrared port: No
• USB: Yes, microUSB v2.0
• Camera: 8 MP, 3264×2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
• Messaging: SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email
• Browser: WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML
• Radio  Stereo FM radio with RDS
• Games: Yes + downloadable
• GPS: Yes, with A-GPS support
• MP3/WAV/WMA/eAAC+ player; MP4/WMV/H.264/H.263 player
• Facebook and Twitter integration
• YouTube client
• MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, PDF viewer)
• Voice memo
• Battery: Standard battery, Li-Ion 1390 mAh
• Stand-by: Up to 232 h

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