Smartphone Reviews: Microsoft Kin One

Posted by Geronimo Boosh on April 22, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Many major electronics manufacturers are coming out with their own phones. Some software manufacturers are doing this also. Microsoft, the people who brought you Windows, have started producing their Microsoft “Kin One” and a different model, the “Two” . This is about the “Kin One” and will take a basic look at this first device by Microsoft.

The Kin One is basically a platform to show the world the upcoming new operating system by Microsoft. The unit is actually made by the Sharp company. It comes in in one color; black. It is created with a low and smooth look, which brings to mind some palm devices. It feels good in th hand and has one button, if you do not count the keyboard. It has both a touch screen and a manual keyboard. This is the premiere version of this device so it is not uncommon to feel that it needs a bit more work on the enclosure. This would make it feel stronger. The slider keyboard exits from under the Kin and presents four rows of buttons in the regular QWERTY rendition.

The screen is an average quality screen on the Kin One. It has 320 by 240 pixels of resolution. You can find that on many other models of mobile phones. It is 2.6 inches in size, which puts it on par with Blackberry products. As stated, it is a touch screen but also has multi touch input. The screen is responsive, and there is no waiting for things to happen after you initiate a program or menu. There is no word yet if it has an accelerometer, but the screen is bit small to be used with one. Looking at web pages is a chore, but not impossible.

The internal workings of the Windows System create a new user experience. There is a high degree of sociality put into this phone. That is not the new part. The new part is how it is presented. All the information can be accessed from one of the home screens. You have Twitter, Myspace, email, SMS, Facebook and the whole shebang. It all comes into the home screen. You can share this automatically by dragging a contact´s face into the area where you are creating your own mixture of web sites, SMS´s and other information. It is unlike other operating systems, but one that is likable. Otherwise, the home screen has settings, camera, phone and music. Microsoft is the undisputed king of knowing what people like in an operating system and the Windows Phone 7 is a good example of this. Many Microsoft documents are supported with this system as well as a Portable Document File ( .PDF ) viewer. Microsoft did the smart thing and restricted the Kin to accessing the internet and your information only at fifteen minute intervals. This keeps you more in control of what is going on. You can push the manual refresh button and start the process yourself, if you want.

The Kin One camera has average abilities. It is five megapixels and has autofocus, LED flash, smile detection, face detection and geotagging. It can take video at thirty frames per second. The Kin One has just one camera. If you like music and local news, the Kin has a FM radio with RDS. Photo quality is good and the flash helps with low light situations.

The Kin has a measly four gigabytes of internal storage. To make things worse, it does not have a slot for a MicroSD card. That means no room for video and not too much for songs either. The Kin does have a good wireless connectivity. It has quad band GSM for talking as well as dual band HSDPA networks. The data connections include Wi-Fi up to the “G” mode. Mobile phones are coming out with Wi-Fi in the newer and faster “N” mode, but this Microsoft device does not have that ability. It does have bluetooth, EDGE networks and a MicroUSB connector. The processor that provides the power is an uncommon model. It is a Nvidia Tegra platform, but it powers the Kin at a speed that prevents waiting for the device to do what you need it to do.

The battery is small, but so is the Kin. It is 67 millimeters high and wide. That is 2.64 inches for those readers in the United States. It is due out next month.