Posts tagged Microsoft Kin Mobile

Software giant Microsoft Corp too has joined the mobile phone fray. The Redmond-based company has introduced a new line of mobile phones called Kin One and Kin Two. The phones to be made by Japanese company Sharp Corp will hit the US market in May and in a few months in other parts of the world

Both Kin phones have touch screens. Kin One is a short, square-shaped handset. While Kin Two is a longer, more rectangular shaped phone. The phones’ home screen is called Loop

The music player will be based on Microsoft’s Zune software, which also will be incorporated into the Windows Phone 7 handsets that multiple manufacturers will be able to use. Microsoft first announced the Zune software at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, in February.

The Kin handsets will not be branded as Microsoft products. They will sport a sizable “Kin” logo on the back and, in smaller type, an indication that they are Windows phones from Sharp.

Both Kin phones are black with screens that respond to multiple finger gestures, similar to the `multitouch’ technology on the iPhone. While Kin One has a full QWERTY keyboard that slides out from the bottom, Kin Two has a full QWERTY keyboard that comes out from its side.

Both Kin phones include Wi-Fi access and cameras capable of taking higher-resolution photos than most handsets. The Kin One will include a 5-megapixel camera, while the Kin Two will have a 8-megapixel camera. The Kin Two will also be capable of shooting HD-quality video.

Neither of the Kin phones have a memory card slot; instead, the phones will upload content such as photos and videos to a Kin online storage service to free up memory.

Unlike Windows phones, Kin 1 and 2 will run on a special version of the Windows Phone OS.Kin has a cloud-based OS. Almost everything on the phone will be stored by Microsoft in remote servers and accessible via the Internet from any Web browser via an online application called Kin Studio.

The phones’ Web browser too is an upgraded version of the one found on Windows Mobile 6.5 phones. The browser on Kin phones has support for pinch and zoom navigation, among other features. Search — local, Web, and on the device — is built-in and has its own dedicated button.

Square-shaped Kin 1 will come with 4GB of built-in memory. Kin 2 will pack 8GB of built-in memory.