Going social with Microsoft’s Kin

by admin April 13, 2010 at 12:44 pm

Microsoft boss Robbie Bach described the company’s new Kin phones, aimed at the younger, chattier, socially switched-on user, as “couture software with hardware that is custom fit”.

Robbie BachThe codename for the project was “Pink” and Mr Bach gave a nod to that by sporting a pink shirt at the press event in downtown San Francisco.

There were plenty of rumours that the new phones were going to be called Dove or Turtle, but the software giant opted for Kin – we don’t know why but my guess is it’s short for kinship and is a play on the whole friends thing.

A lot of the bloggers, gadget sites and analysts seemed to like the Kin straight out of the box, though the time spent with it was limited and with a Microsoft whizz on hand to do demos.

The smaller Kin One has a 2.6 inch display and a five-megapixel camera and is shaped like a compact mirror while the Kin Two has a 3.6 inch screen and an eight-megapixel camera. Both phones have a slide-out Qwerty keyboard.

Read more: BBC News