Microsoft announces the Kin and Apple refreshes their MacBook Pro line – Tech Tuesday #35 | A Match Made In Halo

Microsoft Kin and Apple MacBook Pro

Times like this are why I really love being into technology! There are so many new developments, not even a week goes by without some new product-line launching. A few days ago we saw Apple released their new iPhone OS 4 to developers, and just recently they announced upgrades to their MacBook Pro laptops. Not to be left out of the news, Microsoft also announced a new product line of mobile devices called the Kin. Here’s an overview…

Microsoft Kin

The Kin does not sport Phone OS 7 (or any previous Microsoft Phone OS), but it does sport some nice features. The Kin OS is more like Phone OS 7 Lite (for lack of a better term). The Home screen, called the “Kin Loop,” is similar to the Phone OS 7’s Live Tiles – it presents aggregated feeds from all of your social networks in a magazine-like interface and lets you prioritize which contacts you want to see more updates from. Also, a full Zune interface lets you stream media (if you have Zune Pass) via wifi or 3G. The big difference between the platforms is that Kin devices do not (currently) support 3rd party apps or gaming.

Kin devices come in 2 flavors, aptly named Thing Kin One and Thing Kin Two. Both have a touch screen, full QWERTY keyboard, FM radio, basic photo/video editing, and location-aware search features which bring you local results first. Here are some device-specific features:

Kin One – 2.1″ screen, 4GB memory, 5MP camera w/ flash, shoots SD video, mono speaker, compact Blackberry-style keyboard, rounded square (squared circle? squircle?) shape similar to the Palm Pre
Kin Two – 3.5″ screen, 8GB memory, 8MP camera w/ flash, shoots HD (720P!!) video, stereo speakers, wider landscape keyboard, candy bar shape

Folks who got to play with the devices hands-on have said the pictures and video are some of the best they’ve seen from a cell phone. Media can be easily shared across social networks or to specific friends by dragging to a green dot on the screen called the “Kin Spot.” Media gets automatically uploaded to the “Kin Studio” for easy access from any web browser. The “Kin Studio” is a rather impressive feature. You can log in from any computer and view all of your photos, videos, text messages, contacts, call log, etc, just as easily as you could from your phone. All of your media and updates get timestamped and geo-tagged so you can view all of your posts in chronological order on a time line.

There are however many limitations that may make these smart phones seem rather dumb and keep them from being any real competition to the iPhone or Android devices: no universal inbox, no calendar support, no Flash/Silverlight support, no memory card slot and, as mentioned, no 3rd party apps or gaming.

So why is M$ releasing this extremely limited platform when it just recently announced a much more feature-rich Phone OS 7 coming out later this year? Well the Kin seems to have evolved from Microsoft’s Project Pink, which was in the rumor-mill well before Phone OS 7 was even whispered about. Industry analysts say the project may have been too heavily invested in to scrap. While there currently doesn’t seem to be much synergy between the 2 platforms other than the Zune interface, Microsoft GM Matt Bencke states that this is just the beginning of their overall strategy; they will start to share more code and we should start seeing the platforms converge over time.

While users seeking more advanced features would be better off waiting for Phone OS 7 devices to come out, it’s obvious these phones are targeting an audience that favors quick, easy media sharing and status updates over more complex and potentially more expensive devices. Whether that audience exists in this day and age where the iPhone pretty much sets the standard is anybody’s guess.

Kin devices will be available next month exclusively through Verizon Wireless (US) and Vodafone (international). No pricing yet, but my expectation is that they will go for around $100.

CNN – Microsoft goes social with new Kin smartphones
PCWorld – Microsoft Unveils ‘Social’ Kin Phones
PCWorld – Microsoft Kin: Phones Sport Zune, Target Social Set
Engadget – Live from Microsoft’s ‘It’s Time To Share’ event!
Engadget – Microsoft Kin One and Kin Two announced: Windows Phone roots with a social slant (updated with video)
Engadget – Microsoft Kin One and Kin Two first hands-on!
Gizmodo – Microsoft Kin: The Perfect Phone for Sidekick Fans
Gizmodo – Why Microsoft Is Trying to Sell a (Smart) Dumbphone

Apple MacBook Pro

New 15-17″ models come with Intel’s highly-anticipated Core i5 and Core i7 mobile chipsets, and benchmarks show they were worth the wait with a noticeable performance increase (up to 50% with the Core i7 model) over the previous Core 2 Duo models. The expected battery life on these models are also pretty incredible, ranging from 8-10 hours of casual use.

Here come the specs…

All models come with – 4GB RAM, a slot-load 8X SuperDrive® with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive, Mini DisplayPort (VGA, DVI and HDMI adapters sold separately), AirPort Extreme® 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, Gigabit Ethernet port, iSight® video camera, two USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire® 800 port (FireWire 400 compatible), SD card slot, glass Multi-Touch trackpad, illuminated keyboard
13″ model – starts out at $1,199 and comes with a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor, NVIDIA GeForce GT 320M, 250GB HDD and up to 10 hours of battery life. Possible upgrades include 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 8GB RAM, 500GB HDD or 512GB SSD with a completely max’d out model coming out to $3,299.
15″ model – starts out at $1,799 and comes with a 2.4GHz Core i5 processor, NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M with 256MB RAM, 320GB HDD and up to 9 hours of battery life. Possible upgrades include 2.53GHz Core i5 or 2.66GHz Core i7 processors, 8GB RAM, 500GB HDD or 512GB SSD, hi-res 1680×1050 glossy display and anti-glare options with a completely max’d out model coming out to $4,049.
17″ model – starts out at $2,299 and comes with a a 2.53GHz Core i5 processor, NVIDIA GeForce GT 300M with 512MB RAM, 500GB HDD, 1920×1200 hi-res glossy display and a battery life rated from 8 to 9 hours. Possible upgrades include a 2.66 Core i7 processor, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD and anti-glare option with a completely max’d out model coming out to $4,249.

Apple continues to set the bar in terms of style and performance, but you have to be willing to pay the price for it.