LIVE: Microsoft's Mystery Event
Liveblogging Microsoft's San Francisco event.
Microsoft last week sent out invitations for a mystery event widely believed to be the unveiling of the company's Project Pink cell phones. The event starts in just a few minutes and I'll be liveblogging the entire thing. The fun starts here folks so stay tuned and refresh often!
Update1: So much for 10:00 a.m. sharp, they're pushing things back to 10:05 a.m. Listening to trendy music and watching trendy young people partying. Lots of wooshy hair happening with the trendy girls.
Update2: Looks like these phones are going to be under the 'Kin' moniker. Website is already live.
Update3: Microsoft's Robbie Bach is onstage. Talking about partnerships with Sharp, Verizon and Vodafone.
Update4: Bach says Microsoft launched "Project Muse" to find out what people want from their mobile phone. Showing clips of young people talking about the importance of social networking. Actually, it seems like all these kids want from their phones is something that can handle social networking seamlessly.
Update5: Pictures of the Kin One, previously known as the Turtle, and Kin Two, previously called the Pure.
Update6: Bach is talking about the distinction between real friends online, people you don't know but are friends with anyway and famous people you want to follow on Twitter. Calls the group of people who view social networking as most important "sociologists."
Update7: Windows Phone 7 is a broader offering but because there's nothing for people who really care about social networking, these devices "take social to 11." Windows Phone 7 is a multipurpose phone but this is a "deeply social phone."
"WP7 is about simplifying lives, this social phone is about amplifying lives."
Update8: He's talking about KINship, KINdred spirits ... Introducing the Kin and Derek Snyder.
Update9: Derek Snyder is on stage now talking about the Kin. He has one in his hand. Talking about how personal the device is and how he had to edit things on his phone so his love for Jersey Shore wouldn't show on the overhead projector.
Update10: Home screen is called 'the Loop,' or the homepage. Close friends, or favourited friends show up more often.
Update11: Applications to the left of the Loop/homepage.
Update12: The browser supports a little something called "the Spot" which is a little blob at the bottom of the display. You can drag pages to share with your friends; no copying and pasting, just dragging and dropping things to the little spot on the bottom.
Update13: "We are the first Windows Phone to ship with Zune." Access to new music through the Zune store.
Update14: 5 and 8 megapixel cameras on the Kin One and Two. LED flash on both. Kin Two shoots in HD.
Update15: Derek is talking about the Kin Studio, which is your phone but online (cloud). All pictures, videos, contacts, messages, call history, status updates available online whenever you want.
Update16: Kin Studio offers with a timeline option that allows you to see a certain period in time and all the content associated with that period. Kin also automatically geo-tags all of your photos.
Update17: Derek is gone and Robbie Bach is on stage again. Sounds like he's about to talk about partners and carriers. Verizon only, we think.
Update18: Sharp is their manufacturer. Robbie is talking about Verizon and Vodafone. Talking about a conference with the people at Vodafone and Verizon. Huge football game was on TV but no one was watching because they were all so engrossed in the Kin demo.
Update19: Verizon's John Harrobin is on stage. Speaking about the importance of Kin and how it serves a larger audience than the social networking crowd. Parents and other people obsessed with photos and videos will also benefit. Briefly detailing his own experience with the Kin Studio.
Update20: John is talking about how easy it is to get photos from your Kin to the cloud/Kin Studio. No need for cables, SD cards etc. Has confirmed that Verizon is the exclusive carrier. Declined to detail a launch date except to say, "Look for it in Verizon stores in May."
Update21: Robbie is back on stage and wrapping up. Telling attendees to take the time to check out some of the Kins they have around the place. Surprised there wasn't more details when it comes to specs. The cameras sound pretty mighty but what about battery life, weight, displays?
Stay tuned while we try to find out more! For now, what do you guys think of the concept?
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Yech. Ugly.
so will the Kin be a win7phone or not? I was under the impression that it won't be...
No thanks. I hate this social networking hype and now they're expecting me to use it on my phone?
What't next? A 'social' OS? If I want to be social, I meet my friends in a bar or invite them over. If I have anything to share, there's e-mail. If I'm on my pc, I don't need to be bombarded with what someone who's remotely familiar with an acquaintance of my nephew's friend's niece is doing on my pc and certainly don't want to know it on my phone.
/rantmode off
Actually, the above is a bit scary. I'm having the age of all these twittering teenage girls, yet complain about it like an old guy...
Actually, they're FUGLY. Wouldn't be caught dead with the over sized marble, I mean "Kin One" if I was a hipster teenager. Kin Two looks slightly better, but is it just me, or do they look cheesy/plastic-y/cheap?
No thanks. Need my phone to be more of a handheld PC, than simply "facebook hardware".
they call them "social" diseases for a reason.
I am thinking "next of kin" for this product !
The awful names aside the Kin One is one of the ugliest phones I have ever seen. The Kin Two is more or less the standard candy bar touch screen but the Kin One sets the bar to a new low for god-awful designs.
I'm extremely underwhelmed and disappointed with whatever this is that Microsoft is trying to do. I don't know what I was hoping for from this event but this concept revolving around social networking and awful phone designs is most definitely not what I had in mind.
When are people going to actually innovate something? all we get from phones now is "can connect to facebook" Well they can shove faebook, twitter (sould read TWATer) and all the other crap "I've got no life in the real world" sites up their ass
FFS what is it with people constantly updating everything, lets face it its not like any of them actually have done anything interesting
Give me a phone that is neat, allows internet access, has a DECENT battery and hey here is a novel idea actually makes real calls without losing signal, otherwise I will continue to stick with my old N96 which does everything I need
This really looks like social fluff to get teenagers to beg their parents to buy these phones. What ever happened to the phone turning into the mobile computing platform. That started with the iPhone but stopped dead in it's tracks...with the exception of the droid.
Facebook integration is nice...if you're a) a hipster....b) a teenager bent on staying connected to a social network which in turn makes you look like a loser since you don't have real friends....or c) an older person desperately trying to 'fit in' to the younger crowd.
Create something that actually fits into the category of mobile phone computing THAT ACTUALLY WORKS WELL and I'll be interested.
Yuck, its ugly as sin. And a deep social phone, no thanks. That 'social networking' crap needs to die already.
MOAR LIKE PROJECT FAIL!!!!
lololololololololololololol
He forgot Roc-Kin!
It looks like a rock.
eh.
That is all.
Someone already tried this.
We called it Helio.
...call(ed) it...
echo
echo
I SO want them to released one called the Kin L
I love Kin. I'll take 5.
I love Kin. I'll take 5.
Me too. You could do tons of useful stuff with it. A social phone is perfect for throwing at the head of people (aka teenage girls) using social features...
One time, back when I was in HS/College, I had a Pepsi One advertising group come to give away and promote Pepsi One. My buddie went up to the models, and told them. "I'll drink it, if you drink it 1st." The model replied, "I can't. It is against the job description." Not buying this, my buddy took a few cans, and used them to make splatter patterns by dropping/throwing them off 4 story buildings, right in front of the models
They couldn't PAY me, OR the models, to drink that crap, and that is a true statement, as Michigan has a 10 cent cash refund on cans.
This briefing was as interesting to me as the iPad's.
Of course I think social apps are a waste of space too.
Well, never let it be said that tom's covers only apple events!
What ever happened to the phone turning into the mobile computing platform. That started with the iPhone but stopped dead in it's tracks...with the exception of the droid.
Actually the closest thing to mobile phone computing is WinCE-based phones. iPhone was far from "starting it". I bet you think Apple created the tablet computer too, with their revolutionary iPad. Seriously, WinMo 6.5 can go on the net and install software just like a PC, no app store required. It's the closest you'll get to a true mobile computing platform. Too bad its going to die off, too complicated for most users, so Phone 7 is going to replace it (and be more iphone/android/webos like).
Actually, they're FUGLY. Wouldn't be caught dead with the over sized marble, I mean "Kin One" if I was a hipster teenager. Kin Two looks slightly better, but is it just me, or do they look cheesy/plastic-y/cheap?
Nope they do look cheesy/plastic-y/cheap.
Let me tell you that my niece is manny times exhausted from her social networking and I don't think it is a great idea to facilitate her and her friends more resources. I hope there will be some useful way to use those social networks. But in a hand of a kid what are we expecting?
For a big company like Microsoft one thing is go out and ask a lot of kids what they want and the other is delivering something good and in a constructive form that goes beyond just pleasing. So I hope this initiative wont contribute to more addiction. Besides this, I think this phones looks to dull and maybe premature to market as a product. Maybe I am expecting to much...
micro$uxx design at it's best... what a waste of time and resources.
"We are the first Windows Phone to ship with Zune." And it seems to be the only and last one...
Much too much noise for absolutely nothing...
Didn't get bored to overhype all new crap from redmond?
This "liveblogging" complete waste of time is even crappier than microcraps latest.
micro$uxx design at it's best... what a waste of time and resources."We are the first Windows Phone to ship with Zune." And it seems to be the only and last one...Much too much noise for absolutely nothing...Didn't get bored to overhype all new crap from redmond?This "liveblogging" complete waste of time is even crappier than microcraps latest.
Your seriously biased comments are in danger of getting you banned. I've seen you post well thought out, eloquent comments on non-Microsoft stories. It'd be a shame to lose your intelligent input just because you insist on turning into an ass whenever you see the word 'Microsoft.'
Oh and for the record, all Windows Phone 7 devices will ship with Zune so it won't be the 'only and last one.'
Your seriously biased comments are in danger of getting you banned. I've seen you post well thought out, eloquent comments on non-Microsoft stories. It'd be a shame to lose your intelligent input just because you insist on turning into an ass whenever you see the word 'Microsoft.'Oh and for the record, all Windows Phone 7 devices will ship with Zune so it won't be the 'only and last one.'
Thank you Jane.
Your seriously biased comments are in danger of getting you banned. I've seen you post well thought out, eloquent comments on non-Microsoft stories. It'd be a shame to lose your intelligent input just because you insist on turning into an ass whenever you see the word 'Microsoft.'Oh and for the record, all Windows Phone 7 devices will ship with Zune so it won't be the 'only and last one.'
Maybe you don't like criticism, but try to maintain your calm, and not put the carriage in front of the horses... one can just wonder how the poor comments are in danger.
As anything else, except microcrap praise, is turning the wintarded micro$uxx fankiddie herd into a raging mob, ready to hang any dissenter, without ever being warned for excessive bias, or skew, I can only beg for the same indulgence - or are double standards extending their grasp?
Even m$ lovers can't stand these horrendous examples of bad engineering - I can only completely agree.
Leaving m$ apart, I understand you tried hard to be funny, and offer interesting "instant" news, but the result is at best lamentable. I know you can do much better, and wish you the best. Also, please don't be any more so pro-m$, and anti-rotten fruit biased - it's not at all an example of good journalism - even if it's what the crowd expects, and you just like to please.
Maybe you don't like criticism -snip-
Pot calling the kettle black? Kind of looks like you didn't actually bother to read her notice to you.