Microsoft's KIN: A Eulogy
by Brian Klug on July 13, 2010 3:42 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Microsoft
- KIN
- Mobile
KIN Studio
Now for the real cloud data link - KIN Studio. If there's one thing the KIN did that was truly different, it's this kind of totally radical web integration. You're not explicitly told so, but the KIN constantly syncs all text messages, call logs, photos, standard resolution videos, contacts, and other data back up to the Windows Live servers on an automatic sync schedule. You can manually invoke a sync anytime you like, but it takes a while and honestly didn't always seem to force a complete sync. Letting it happen on its own actually produced more consistent results. If your phone isn't completely synced up, you'll be told with a crossed out sync near the time in the status box at the bottom right. I encountered a failed sync only twice, the first time it solved itself on the next sync, and another with an impatient reboot. The rest of my problems hinged on my ill conceived plans to log both phones into the same live account - again, I'm sure nobody ever tried logging both phones into one account.
The KIN studio is silverlight based, which is a minor caveat since access always requires the plugin, but the upside is that the studio presents the exact same UI the KINs do. It's the same style, buttons, and even has the KIN spot for sharing things. You can view photos and videos, messages, contacts, and things from the feed reader through this interface. With the exception of making calls and sending text messages, virtually everything you can do on the phone, you can do here.
All the messages on the device from a given day, month, or week.
That includes editing contacts, publishing photos to Facebook, updating your statuses, whatever. Essentially everything on the phone gets backed up and is visible through the Studio, which itself is pretty impressive.
Think about that for a second - nearly everything you do on the phone gets backed up, synced, and made available on a web interface. It's awesome. Why hasn't anyone done this before? In both messages and photos & videos, you're given a timeline you can scrub along to see relevant information as it happened. For example, what day you took photos, when messages were sent, when you placed calls. It gives you a pseudo snapshot of a given day, week, or month.
Creating and editing contact cards - from KIN Studio
It's an interesting notion - accessing your phone from the web - and there's so much about this which is really the way things should be across every smartphone platform. To some extent, you can already hack some of this together using services like Google Sync (which behaves like Exchange to mobile devices) or MobileMe, and then photos and videos using other services, but KIN does an excellent job mashing it all up under one account. It's truly Apple-like in that the Studio works without the frustration of managing a million different services. Throw one live account at it, and you're done - and it doesn't cost extra. The result is that there's no need to sync anything to the desktop, because it's already being done up to the cloud.
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Belard - Wednesday, July 14, 2010 - link
MS Mobile was always... garbage. It did some NEAT things, badly. Nothing more.Everyone I know who used WindowsMobile or Blackberrys quickly went to iPhone when the iPhone came out and haven't looked back.
Of course, Apple is screwed up with their attitude issues with the lated iPhone4. Bad design flaw.
aebiv - Wednesday, July 14, 2010 - link
What did it do badly?And I've found the opposite, a lot who went to the iPhone and BB were annoyed at the lack of applications and flexibility in the platforms,so they went back to WinMo
strikeback03 - Wednesday, July 14, 2010 - link
I think it says something when the best feature of an OS is that it allows other stuff to be installed over it.Really, most people don't want to spend the extra money on a bunch of software just to get the OS to a functional state. And it still feels like what it is - a hacked together assembly of programs that have an uneasy truce amongst each other. Unless you need some of the enterprise integration available, there is no way I could recommend a WM 6.x phone to anyone.
aebiv - Thursday, July 15, 2010 - link
And in the same line of thinking as that, calling the iPhone a smartphone is a joke. It is a glorified, and admittedly very well done top end feature phone.kmmatney - Friday, July 16, 2010 - link
Fist of all, saying the iPhone is not a smartphone is assinine. Second - Look at the scoreboard - WinMo 6 phones are losing ground for a very good reason - they just aren't as nice to use as the iPhone or Android. The battle has already been lostaebiv - Saturday, July 17, 2010 - link
Really? Was the first gen a smartphone? It couldn't even send MMS messages or multitask at all. My old dumb phones did more than it did.What have we added? Apps? Great... what does that do for me again? Can I do network packet sniffing? Can I use it as an IR remote for TV's and devices?
I can't plug anything into the iPhone through USB host either on an iPhone.
It is NOT a smartphone, it is a glorified, overpriced feature phone. The sad thing is, WP7 and Android 3.0 are heading down the same path.
Commodus - Saturday, July 17, 2010 - link
Actually, you can use it as a remote. You need an adapter with a custom app, but it can be done.The iPhone is very much a smartphone. Just ask the enterprises using sales apps and juggling Exchange data. Ask the people using it as part of home automation systems.
Yes, Apple could stand to loosen its app guidelines, but the very definition of a smartphone is one that focuses heavily on functions beyond making calls and receiving text messages, especially if it has robust apps. If anything, Windows Mobile is feeling less and less like a smartphone OS every day, as there are far fewer apps for it now than iOS (and likely Android too) and a narrower range.
It's no longer 2002. We'd like you to join us in an era where you don't need a stylus to make up for bad UIs and bad touchscreens, where you're allowed to have fun on your phone, and where the web is an important part of life, not an afterthought (as it clearly is with Internet Explorer Mobile).
aebiv - Sunday, July 18, 2010 - link
Yes, we're improving the UI, that is for certain.However, there are somethings such as RDP and signatures that will never be "finger friendly" so why are we in such a rush to be complete rid of the stylus?
The iPhone has had exchange issues both in synchronization with the latest phone, and with the first couple generations in "faking" the security policy enforcement for exchange.
Can I push out apps and security policies to an iPhone from a central location? No. Can I use it as a messaging device? By all means.
Yes, Apple has a lot of apps out there, but so many of them are worthless IMHO, Android is doing a bit better with that I'll admit, but they still don't have a great GPS application.
I don't understand how you mean there are far fewer apps for WinMo, as virtually all the old ones still work and are still around, and new ones are still being made. One only has to look at Omarket or the XDA application to see all the new apps out for it.
Question though, the iPhone still doesn't allow for network diag tools like packet capture and such right?
nangryo - Sunday, July 18, 2010 - link
That's why you need to wake up and get out of your distorted reality dream ok.aebiv - Sunday, July 18, 2010 - link
Why do you hate someone who has different needs for a mobile phone OS so much?Are you really that insecure that everyone has to use what you use?