SAN FRANCISCO — If you’re on Facebook 24/7, love music and take photos constantly, you’re probably under 25 — and you’re right in the demographic bull’s-eye for Microsoft’s two new social-media–centric phones.
The company launched the two phones Monday that are based on a new flavor of Microsoft’s upcoming mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7. The phones, called the Kin One and Kin Two, come with an entirely new interface that puts social services such as Facebook, Twitter and newsfeeds at its core.
“If you are focused on social connection, self expression and a digital life, how do you bring that to a phone?” says Robbie Bach, president for entertainment and devices division at Microsoft. “As we were working on Windows Phone 7, we decided we had an opportunity to go after this social group of people?”
The phones have been manufactured by Sharp and will be available on Verizon’s Wireless network in May and on Vodafone in Europe later this year. Kin One is a petite, rounded device with a 2.1-inch screen. Kin Two is a larger, palm-sized device with a 3.5-inch display.
Kin One has a 5-megapixel camera, while Kin Two sports an 8-megapixel camera. Both phones have multitouch displays, an accelerometer and video-recording capability, as well as hardware keyboards that slide out from underneath the screen.
Phones that integrate closely with social networking sites have been a huge trend with handset makers in the last two years. Almost every major phone maker, including Motorola and HTC, has phones that integrate Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, MySpace and newsfeeds into a single stream on the phone’s display.
Microsoft’s latest phones are based on the concept of sharing, and try to bring the PC and the phone closer, say company reps.
The phones use some components from the company’s latest operating system, Windows Phone 7. But it isn’t exactly the same OS that powers this device, says Bach.
Think of it as a fork in the road for Windows Mobile 7, where Microsoft has taken some components from the OS and added a new interface layer to create the Kin phone, says Microsoft.
Kin phones will have three home screens. The first includes access to e-mail, phone, newsfeeds, photos and browser. Swipe to the left and the next screen throws up a stream of status messages updated from contacts and newsfeeds. Swipe to the left once more and the third screen is a list of favorites marked by the phone users and what their social status says right then.
Microsoft is late to this party. though. Rivals such as Motorola and HTC have already done this with the MotoBlur and the HTC Sense interface, respectively.
What makes the Kin different, says Microsoft, is that it automatically backs up all its contents on a password-protected website. This idea of storing information in the cloud means users can access their photos, videos, messages and even call history from a browser anywhere and don’t have to just depend on their phone.
The service offers unlimited storage, says Microsoft and will be free.
Kin also integrates Microsoft’s Zune digital music service. The phone’s music player has the same interface as the Zune HD. It also includes access only to Bing search.
Developers, however, won’t be able to create apps for the new phones.
Microsoft has not yet announced prices for the two new phones, which will be available from Verizon in May.
This closeup of the Kin One shows it with the keyboard hidden. Photo courtesy Microsoft.
And here’s the Kin One with keyboard open. Photo courtesy Microsoft.
Kin One can be used to compose text messages. Photo courtesy Microsoft.
A Kin Two with keyboard closed sits in its hoped-for natural habitat: a coffeeshop table. Photo courtesy Microsoft.
This Kin Two has its keyboard open and exposed. Photo courtesy Microsoft.
Top photo courtesy Microsoft.
