Gadgetory

the world of mobile technology is one of the fiercest competitive markets ever in the quest to stand out from the pack some companies make bold moves and succeed brilliantly others are more meek and fade into the unexceptional background still others fill the space between innovating once and then endlessly iterating over and over again then there are those that just screw it all up thanks to choices that are either too bold too meek or just plain old absolutely insane these are the products that fall flat on their face they're not to be mocked but the lessons they teach should certainly be remembered and that's what we're here for I'm Michael Fisher this is PocketNow and this is episode 2 of worst gadgets ever featuring the Microsoft Kin now folks this isn't a gift box for a bottle of brandy or a package of tennis balls it's the packaging for the Kin 2 now right out the gate it's plain to see that Microsoft was trying to do something different with the Kin line and maybe that's the core tragedy of the whole endeavor anyway let's crack this open and start the autopsy for a new buyer during the short amount of time the Kin was on sale opening the lid revealed an inner capsule much like an eyeglass case showcasing the device itself alongside the usual product literature stamped with the ambitious statement this changes things between the packaging and the messaging of the Kin brand it's plain that Microsoft and sharp were at one point really invested in shaking up the market let's take a look at the device the kintu bore the same rounded contours as its kin one predecessor but it throughout the rounded square form factor in favour of a more conventional rectangular side sliding QWERTY it didn't look too bad from the top but from the side the almost sixteen millimeter thick device or a close resemblance to a soap dish it featured some cool touches like the engraved soirée pattern on the camera key and the transparent rim around the phones top half but overall the hardware was hugely unimpressive the plastics on the back felt low-grade the phone felt too light in the hand the button responsiveness was mushy on the side keys and not much better on the keyboard and the slider action was loose and wobbly feeling a lot like a first edition Palm Pre our unit even replicates a problem that plagued some early palm Prees sliding it open too aggressively causes it to power off from these failings to the hardware specs 320 by 480 display and a 600 megahertz processor with only 8 gigs of on-board storage it was clear that the Kin wasn't going to be a superstar but it was aimed not at a power user but at a very particular kind of customer the people at Microsoft in charge of building the Kin were the remnants of the company's acquisition of danger the brand behind the famous hip-hopper sidekick one of the earliest and most innovative lines of consumer focused smartphones those devices were famously targeted at teenagers with fun unique and hip software and the former danger team brought that feeling to the Kin software as well the UI design was clever with a central homescreen flanked on the left by an app list and on the right by a phonebook fonts were bold and all caps and the out of box color palette was an aggressive neon green mixed with grey gradients a recent button down in the lower left served as a type of on-the-fly recent tasks switcher the lone physical button on the face was used as a back key and the coolest part of the UI a concept we wouldn't mind seeing on other platforms was the ever-present green dot on the bottom of the display it served as a kind of drop point for shareable items you could drag almost anything in there from photos to webpages and share them with your contacts via email messaging or what have you it reinforced the kins nature as a social device a platform meant primarily for connecting with people the you I didn't exactly shine on the kintu's washed-out low res display but you can see some early touches of the Zune inspired Metro UI here remember this was before Windows Phones official launch and the kintu even bares its own flavor of Windows Phone branding on the back but it's also easy to see why some people inside of Microsoft wanted the product killed off and never associated with the company's new smartphone efforts where Windows Phone is fluid and responsive in addition to its beauty the kintu lags almost everywhere and there are basic gaps in functionality like the lack of an onscreen keyboard what really killed the Kin though wasn't so much that it was a flawed product all products are flawed in their infancy the Ken also didn't die because of its burdensome Verizon data plan as is commonly believed in reality according to reports from other news sources the kins data plan Fiasco was a symptom of a larger problem internal strife at Microsoft that saw two divisions fighting against each other with the kin ultimately paying the price of being sent to market with essentially no support the kin could have been a great product some ideas here like the omnipresent share functionality kin studio and the emphasis on placing people first are worthwhile and compelling but those ideas like anything else were doomed without the commitment of their backers the kin one and two are the adopted orphan children of an indecisive parent and the kin two certainly looks feels and acts the part the big lesson from today's episode don't have kids if you're not ready to care for them folks that's going to do it for episode two of worst gadgets ever thank you for joining me if you have a comment please leave it on the post at pocketnow.com and visit us at pocketnow.com for much more coverage on the entire mobile industry if you liked the video throw us a thumbs up follow us on Twitter so you don't miss the next episode of worst gadget to ever pocket now tweets is the official account if you want to follow me I'm at captain two phones that's captain the number two phones if you have a suggestion for the next episode of worst gadgets ever we are going to do more don't worry and drop me a line michael at pocketnow.com otherwise thank you very much for watching and we'll see you next time