Microsoft [MSFT] have launched two new phones called the Kin One and the Kin Two. This news comes from what was known as Microsoft Pink which is a product of Microsoft buying out Danger.
The Kin One and Two handsets are made by Sharp and are both being pushed as Windows Phones. The Windows Phone version running is similar to Windows Phone 7 although it is a completly different experience to use from what we hear. The UI has been customised with a slant on social media and the browser has been customised and looks similar to what is used on the Zune. No 3rd party apps will be supported on the device.
The screens on each of the devices are capacitive and do support multitouch. No support for Flash or Silverlight is built in to the browser.
The Microsoft Kin One was the phone we had seen in the past called the Turtle. The device is square and has a slideout QWERTY keyboard. Storage for this phone is 4GB and the display is in a QVGA resolution. A 5 megapixel camera can also be found on the Kin One.
The next device (the Kin Two) was formerly known as Pure and has a HVGA display along with a QWERTY keyboard. This is also a slider phone with the keyboard sliding out to the side of the device. 8GB of storage capacity is included with this device although other than that it's essentially the same as the Kin One. Each has WiFi and Bluetooth for connectivity. Of course each is also 3G.
Although storage on each device could be considered as being quite low compared to the 16GB and 32GB devices we see, Microsoft do point out that each device is connect online so you can browse your pictures stored online if needed.
Below is a video showing the announcement of the phones...
More details can be found over at Kin.com about the phones and how the function and what they do.
By looking over on Kin.com you get the sense that Microsoft have put a lot of effort in to these devices. Each phone has a menu system that looks good to use. The Kin Loop is part of the system whereby you receive information from your contacts in a social media setting. Other menu functions include Kin Spot that acts as an attachment button for anywhere on the phone. If you see something you like such as a video, picture, URL from a site or whatever, you simply drag it to the green spot on the screen and tell it which contact to send it to.
It's quite an impressive set of phones, so check them out now!
Via: Engadget