Microsoft’s KIN phone platform was an interesting experiment. The phones combined aspects of smartphones and standard phones, by letting you access social networking sites, manage media, and perform other web-based activities without installing third party apps. Probably the most interesting part of the KIN experience was the KIn Studio, a web-based system allowing you to manage and access your phone’s data from any web browser…. Read more »

Well that didn’t take long. Just a little over two months after introducing a new feature phone platform, Microsoft is killing off the KIN project. The KIN platform was basically a stripped down Windows CE-based operating system with a heavy focus on social media apps and no support for third party apps. It was aimed at young people who wanted to do more than make… Read more »

Like the look and feel of Microsoft’s new Kin phones, but don’t feel like buying a phone that won’t actually let you run third party apps? No problem. KinLauncher is an app that provides a Kin-like program launcher for Windows Mobile. The user interface sort of falls apart once you actually click a link on the program launcher and realize that you’re still stuck with… Read more »

There’s a space in between modern smartphones like the iPhone or Google Nexus One and old fashioned phones that do little more than make phone calls. The T-Mobile Sidekick, for instance, is a feature-phone that lets you surf the web and chat, but which doesn’t support third party apps. Now Microsoft is hoping to jump into feature phone space in a big way. The company… Read more »