Wired: Verizon's newest phones, the Microsoft-designed and Sharp-manufactured Kin One and Kin Two, put social media front and center.
More capable than cheap, feature-sparse dumbphones, but quite a few IQ points shy of being true smartphones, the Kins are the latest entrants in a new space where traditional phone features are almost an afterthought, and it's all about the Twitter and Facebook updates.
Engadget: Unbelievably, against all odds and better judgment, we are able to independently confirm that Microsoft's short-lived Kin One and Kin Two are coming back for an encore performance on Verizon, possibly as soon as this quarter -- but it won't quite be the same product you remember from earlier this year.
Tech News World writes: "The life of Microsoft's Kin was hard and short -- delayed development, feuding executives and last-minute changes in OSes were just some of the problems that reportedly plagued the platform. But the phone shoppers out there don't care about behind-the-scenes bickering. They just want the coolest stuff out there, with touchscreens, real app stores and affordable prices, and Microsoft isn't cooperating."
Engadget: "We're learning this afternoon that Microsoft's Kin line, for all practical purposes, is riding off into the sunset just a few short weeks after its release. Sources close to Microsoft tell us that Andy Lees has rolled Kin into the Windows Phone 7 team and has canceled the existing product's launch later this year in Europe on news that sales weren't as strong as expected. Speaking of sales, Verizon's already-launched Kin One and Kin Two are soldiering on for the time being."
