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Why the Microsoft KIN is actually worth considering

Kyle — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0000

A few weeks ago (April 12) Microsoft announced the KIN and it has received much dissension on the internet on tech blogs on user forums. Honestly though what were they expecting? For a long time we have been hearing rumors about Project Pink (Codename for KIN) and they were extremely accurate: a social networking phone targeted at youth.

The KIN is not a useless paperweight, as others would have you believe, but a relatively powerful feature phone. Engadget posted an article confirming that KIN is extremely similar to Zune HD specs wise. The processer is underclocked to 600MHz, which sounds like dial-up compared to the abundance of 1GHz smartphones launching. The iPhone 3GS runs a 600MHz processor as well, so I do not think that anybody will experience speed issues on the KIN.

Microsoft worked very hard to give KIN a good battery life. Their goal was to have it last a weekend on one charge with average use. They claim to have accomplished this. I find this very hard to believe, but I hope that it is true.

MicroSD support is nonexistent. GOOD! I hate removable memory. I do not see the point of it. The argument is that you can upgrade your MicroSD card for more space. Unless the company packages a card with the device, it is just another fee. In addition, removable storage is slower than internal flash storage. Microsoft also wants to keep a lot of your content on the web rendering local storage obsolete.

Have you ever heard of Zune? Well you probably had not before the launch of the Zune HD. KIN has the exact same user experience as the Zune HD for music and videos. Microsoft also shows the KIN as one of the Zune products on the Zune website.

What I love about modern day is the fact that people always have a camera in their pocket. If you do not then your phone is probably five years old… Anyway, the KIN boasts an impressive 5 and 8 MP camera, on the KIN One and KIN Two respectively. Now MPs are not everything, but 8MP means that the KIN Two shoots HD video that can be uploaded to their friends in minutes.

The naysayers’ most logical argument though is very simple… why? Why launch another phone/OS just after announcing the revamped Windows Phone 7? Why not just have KIN be a subset of Windows Phone 7 instead of a different user experience? Why fragment your users before the devices even launch? I do not have answers to any of these questions. Microsoft addressed these questions partly by claiming that they are working on integrating Windows Phone 7 services into the KIN.

There is so much more to be said about these devices, but I think that this is enough for now.

KIN is a bold move by Microsoft. Do you think that it will be a hit or a miss?

What Puts The HD In Zune HD?

Kyle — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 00:05:21 +0000

Sometimes companies just throw HD on the end of names to make it appear better than it is. This Zune’s name might be slightly misleading. The name seems to imply that the screen displays HD quality images and video but this is not true. The screen resolution on the Zune HD is only 480×272 pixels (iPod Touch is 480×320).

Well if the screen isn’t HD then what is? Well there are two things that merit the high definition attached to it’s name, HD Video Out and HD radio. If you buy the Zune HD AV Dock then you can hook it up to your HDTV and enjoy HD quality videos and movies in 720p. The HD radio however requires no further accessories. It is merely a free, high quality radio that plays all the stations you are used to and a few others in cd quality sound with no static or hissing.

To learn more about HD Radio visit HDRadio.com.

Zune HD’s Onscreen Keyboard And Web Browser

Kyle — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 19:25:57 +0000

Who would have guessed that Microsoft could make a good web browser? Well apparently they did according to people who got their hands on it early like CNET. It is said to be as good as Apple’s Mobile Safari. This is quite a compliment because Mobile Safari is one of the best mobile web browsers out there. One thing possibly worth mentioning is the default search provider is Bing. No word on if its possible to change it, but truly it will be nearly identical results to the other major search engines.

I have mixed feelings about the keyboard though. As you can see on the picture below, the portrait keyboard has a bubble effect when your finger is on a key. Personally I am not into that. Also the keys are not positioned like they are on a keyboard, but instead the rows are all aligned. This might not be a big deal for some, but it is something to keep in mind. There is a .com key which is a time saver when typing in urls, as well as a period and a backslash key.

Overall the keyboard is acceptable and the web browser looks superb. Definitely check this out when looking for your new mp3 player with up to 32 GB of storage.

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HTC Hero Preview

Kyle — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 04:55:58 +0000

The HTC Hero is essentially an Android phone with some UI and OS features changed. Also this phone drops the Google branding so they can offer Microsoft Exchange support. They are calling this HTC Sense.

Your pages on the device are full of widgets that lock into place and look gorgeous. There are many HTC only widgets available as well as all the apps and widgets you can find on the Android Market.

HTC is determined to keep their chin on their Android devices. Who knows, maybe it will eventually catch on.

The 3.2 inch touch screen has anti-fingerprint screen coating. Horace Luke, HTC’s design visionary, compares the screen coating to water-resistant versus waterproof. He then demonstrated that by putting the phone in his pocket and taking it back out all the smudges were wiped off.

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Verizon Samsung Glyde 2

Jordan — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:29:36 +0000

Some pictures of the Glyde 2 in the wild have shown up on HowardForums. The slide out keyboard has a nice size with the buttons not being too small. There hasn’t been any release date or official confirmation yet, so we will have to wait and see as with any wild picture leaks. In the mean time, view some more images in the gallery after the break.

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Meizu M8′s Updated UI

Kyle — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 02:30:26 +0000

For a iPhone clone, this phone is really doing great on the software design interface. Continue reading for a few pictures of the Meizu M8′s future updated user interface.

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Google Voice For Your Cell Phone

Kyle — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:21:08 +0000

People were amazed when visual voicemail came out on the iPhone but Google Voice is 5 steps ahead of that. Google Voice offers a whole list of features.

Call screening – Announce and screen callers
Listen in – Listen before taking a call
Block calls – Keep unwanted callers at bay
SMS – Send, receive, and store SMS
Place calls – Call US numbers for free
Taking calls – Answer on any of your phones
Phone routing – Phones ring based on who calls
Forwarding phones – Add phones and decide which ring
Voicemail transcripts – Read what your voicemail says
Listen to voicemail – Check online or from your phone
Notifications – Receive voicemails via email or SMS
Personalize greeting – Vary greetings by caller
Share voicemail – Forward or download voicemails

The coolest features by far are answering on any of your phones from your Google number, personalized greeting depending on who is calling, and voicemail transcripts for a written version of the voicemail.

Right now Google Voice is only available to GrandCentral users. You can get an invite though.

Google has reserved 1 million phone numbers already for use on Google Voice. I plan on getting one of those numbers. Stay tuned for more updates on when Google Voice will become open to all.

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Sony Ericsson Satio

Kyle — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:27:02 +0000

Sony Ericsson is coming out with a new touchscreen phone, the Satio. It features a 12.1 megapixel camera with flash and touch focus. With touch focus you simply touch what part of the picture you want to focus on and it will do just that. Another unique feature that the camera has is smile detection. The camera will automatically take the picture for you when everybody is smiling.

The screen resolution is higher than the Palm Pre or the iPhone at 360×640 which is perfect for taking or viewing pictures and video. It supports YouTube and has a WebKit browser. Satio uses microSD for memory which many people enjoy. All this and more is expected to be available Q4 of 2009.

Satio Promo Video

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ZuneHD September 8

Jordan — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 06:51:05 +0000

An Amazon listing for the ZuneHD was recently put up and swiftly taken down, but before it was, all the goodies were written down.

Bright 3.3-inch OLED touch screen with (480 x 272 resolution) 16:9 widescreen format display
Integration with the Xbox LIVE network gives you access to millions of videos, TV shows, and games from Xbox LIVE 720p HD video output to your HDTV with optional docking station
720p HD video output to your HDTV with optional docking station
Full-screen Internet browser with multitouch functionality
Built-in HD Radio receiver; Wi-Fi enabled so you can instantly stream millions of music tracks from the Zune music store

The release date was set for September 8th, 2008. Obviously a typo occured somewhere, but September 8th of 2009 is a Tuesday. Microsoft likes releasing stuff on that special day.

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Meizu M8 3G Specs

Kyle — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 01:33:23 +0000

The specs are…

TD-SCDMA and WCDMA radios,
800MHz or 1GHz processor
3.54-inch display
720 x 480
USB 2.0 connectivity
8GB or 16GB of flash storage
5 megapixel camera with LED flash
Bluetooth 2.0
GPS
Multi-touch
Light sensor
Accelerometer

The Meizu M8 3G is planned to be released March of next year.

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