NEW Kin TwoM Pricing / New Feature Phones

[BranHen]

So, I've been checking the site compulsively for about the last two months...let me know if you think my logic on this is sound:

This week I noticed that the Kin OneM pricing went from 19.99 to FREE- it doesn't seem to be a promotional price either because it's listed as an "Online Discount" the exact same way the Crux and Cosmos are.

This leads me to believe two things:

1) Possibly the best news- with so many of the feature phones moving to FREE pricing, it's not a huge assumption that new feature phone devices may soon be on the way.  (Please, please, please offer some compelling phones Verizon...)

2) The Kin TwoM will soon see a price decrease as well- probably to the 19.99 range making it almost impossible to pass up.

If number 1 turns out to be true, I'll be waiting a bit to see what comes out before I pull the trigger on the Kin TwoM.

There's been recent news that Verizon will be releasing devices "later this year" (whatever that means) with the Brew OS and Opera Mini preloaded- this probably means they've got some decent feature phones coming.  I'm making that assumption based on the fact that the HTC Freestyle on AT&T has been pretty much regarded as the first device to be released like this...I'm thinking Verizon will want to compete with them at least at the beginning of a new standard of feature phones.

But, if it turns out that they again bring a line-up that only gets the teens excited, count me in for the Kin TwoM.

I'd prefer not to have to walk around the office with the same phone my boss's 15 year old daughter has...now there's an interesting water cooler chat: 

"Bergman, nice phone...my tween daughter loves that thing..."

[fisharefriends]

Often times, prices are reduced on 'failing' phones, which would be my explanation for the reduction of the kin onem and the pantech crux's prices. However, it could also simply be that the devices are getting 'old' so their prices naturally are falling. There will always be new phones out on the market; that is why there isn't much reason to wait too long to get a new phone, unless there isn't anything good on the market at the time. Technology always advances, so just get what suits you well, and don't get the dissatisfaction of 'i wish i got that other phone that came out a month after i purchased mine'. What i've noticed though, is there's generally a new wave of phones that come out in the 4th quarter (september, october), simply because it's right before the holidays when people are more likely to spend. Then when spring rolls around, the prices will drop because the high demand period is over and the devices aren't 'new' anymore. But that's just my observation with feature phones (and other tech devices).

[ohyeahobrien]

BranHen,

I agree with you about the falling price of the KinOne. But the Kin One has never really had good sales, ithe Kin Two always has compared to the Kin One. They are just trying to get rid of that device, considering no one wants it but people will be drawn towards it in the future. I would jump on the Kin Two M right now because it's a great phone. There are some qwerks that come with it though. 

[BranHen]

Thanks ohyeahobrien...

I just have to believe that the price of the Kin TwoM will be falling shortly- even if it's got strong sales, you can't just keep offering the same phones at the same prices for that long.

Eventually, and I think in the near future, Verizon will have to release new feature phones- and when that happens, even if sales were strong for the Kin TwoM, they'll have to drop the price to encourage people to buy the new phones offered.

Heck, sales have been bonkers for a number of smartphones, but this is a "what have you done for me lately" retail world, and every popular smartphone eventually drops in price when it starts to get a little old...

That's why perfectly good clothing from last season is no longer full price- because people want the latest and greatest...

[startiger]

Somehow i feel the Kin phones won't be for sale for much longer. For those that need a basic phone with touch interface, there's other options which have a clearer interface. Including the Costco special Samsung SCH-u370. It's a Samsung u820/Reality that doesn't require data. No free wi-fi, but overall it's a much better phone. More ... finished, than the Kin phones. The Kins to me feels like a Windows Phone beta in comparison.

I do love how the tiles are laid out on the home screen better on the Kins than WP7 phones, there's no empty space above or to the right. And i love the favorites contacts screen of the Kins. WP7 phones though feels much sleeker and better zune like controls. And since you can load apps on WP7 your browser won't be outdated.

For current feature phones, i think the u370 is a top choice on Verizon. Good build quality, clear user interface, nice fonts and sizes, a useful sketch app, and the ability to doodle/notate on your pictures. Excellent value. Kin Onem, i can't reccomend. The phone dial numbers are too small on screen to be usable. Thicker than other feature phones, but because of the form factor, the side buttons are almost useless in one handed use. Kin Twom is much better in these aspects than the Onem. But certain interface font sizes are still too small.

The web browser (IE 6 Mobile) is not bad. Mobile and minimal pages loads quick on wifi. Although the back button is not easy to get to, and i haven't figured out if you can go forward in history. The url/title bar seems unfinished, i wish it would have swapped to the title after entering the url, thus saving space. The tiled bookmarks is a good idea, but page titles doesn't fit on the tiles. Even though the hardware is Tegra1, the Kin doesn't come with Flash lite. So alot of flash interactive buttons and streaming doesn't work. Infact simple mp3 playback and playlists doesn't stream in the browser. Which is sad.

One saving grace for the browser that i have found is Bing. Yep. http://m.bing.com/ Of course on first load it will be in landscape mode. And it only list the top 3 items of the menu, without being able to expand it. But go into portrait mode, and you should see the complete menu. Almost every web app on this menu worked well. My favorite is the directions. It almost makes up for not having google maps. Almost.

The strong points of the Twom is of course the browser + wifi, and zune. Which is like a zune hd lite. The FM radio made up for the lack of web streaming. I'm rediscovering FM thanks to it. And the zune desktop software is very modern and sleek. It made itunes look like it's made for accountants. Personally i love the Twom even though it has its quirks. The ui is unique, not quite WP7, and not like anything else. No branding as well. With FM radio i have wireless music anywhere, for free.

Here are some mobile sites that i found to work on Kin's IE6 Mobile:

http://m.bing.com/ --- search, local, traffic, directions (fantastic), movies, weather, favs.

http://mobile.local.com/ --- more direct/faster way to search for anything local

http://wapedia.mobi/en/ --- easier to load than mobile wikipedia

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/

http://m.whitepages.com/

http://www.gasbuddytogo.com/

http://translate.google.com/m/

There's plenty of news & social websites that have mobile modes. I've tried cnn, twitter, and youtube. And they all worked well. Youtube mobile seems to be the only way you can stream anything with the browser. I've tried other mobile video/music sites, and no go.

The phone have frozen 4 times within the last day. This happens with heavy web browsing and music playback. Overall i can't recommend the Kin phones, although go ahead and buy one while you can if you know what you're getting into. I feel that future feature phones will be more polished like the Samsung u370/u820 rather than these Kins. I just wish MS, Verizon, Danger and PCD realize that they were on to something great with these Kins despite the marketing flop. I like the TwoM despite the beta feel of the software and hardware (WP7 still looks like it's a beta product).

[rich215]

Great post startiger!    I found some of your links to be quite useful, especially the local.com one. 

Despite a few reports of the TwoM phone freezing.....I have never found that to happen with my phone after about a month of use so far.  But I also always delete the browser info selections prior to using the WiFi every time. Despite the beta software feel of this phone with some minor quirks and learning curve to use its functions.....I could not be more happy that I got this phone.  I really am skeptical about future feature phone releases from Verizon with their sledgehammer pushing of the smartphones.

[nodataplan]

It's been 6 months since the last new feature phone was released. Just keep holding your breath for a new featureless phone some time in November!!

[MojaveMoon_]

There's a three day sale right now on the Kin Twom -- free with 2yr contract and free orvernight shipping.

[BranHen]

Are you sure it's just for 3 days?  Do you have a link to show the sales dates?

The Kin OneM has been Free for a long time now...  Seems like the Kin TwoM might be Free until it sells out...

I really want to pull the trigger on this phone, but I'm worried I'll miss out on the next batch of new feature phones that Verizon rolls out.

If I get the Kin TwoM and Verizon releases an HTC feature phone similar to the Freestyle on AT&T, I'll be ticked that I didn't wait longer...

[startiger]

It all depends on what you need.

This took me a while to understand, because no one specifically talked about it. But after more time with the phone, this is my summary. TwoM is not a basic smartphone (not even a pda). No syncing with calendars, contacts, nor notes (because there is no notes app). No expandability. No apps/games.

The browser + wifi, it's not quite as good as one would imagine. Since we can't load apps/plugins, there's no flash lite, little interactive css/javascript/ajax support. And no updates. But it is better than a wap only browser, and it does work for basic html e-mails (phone's e-mail client is text mode). So, in truth, the wi-fi use is limited to simple html and zune pass.

On the other hand, as a basic text/email/zune/minimal-web-browsing-(over-wifi) phone, it is uniquely it's own.

The good:
- keyboard (clicky)
- decent camera
- 720p video
- zune with fm radio
- http://m.bing.com works in the browser
- slick interface, with mondrian-esque tiles
- media syncing with zune desktop software
- good build quality
- tegra1 hardware
- some type of gps hardware

- wifi + no data plan

- decent battery life

The unfortunate:
- lack of data syncing (very odd, since it can sync media)
- user interface feel unfinished.
- slick zune interface only limited to zune and web audio/video (m.youtube, i have yet to find anything else that will stream)
- other than m.bing.com, most modern mobile sites doesn't load well
- can't securely held by it's sides, because of the tapering edge.
- no geolocation integration in the browser
- tegra1 and gps hardware not used to it's potential

- limited use of wifi

- web audio/video files and streams won't play (except for mobile youtube)

-Examples of my ui frustrations:
- In a contact's screen, i can't swype left or right to cycle through my contacts.
- No way to view next/prev picture album when viewing one.
- Often times i get too focused on the neat navigation items at the top of the screens, when i need go back a screen, i forget that i 'have' to use the physical back/home button.
- Too easy to accidetally touch the clock at the lower right corner.
- No forward slash symbol (how did this happen? it's supposed to be a web savvy phone?) The only way to get forward slashes without visiting a page with several slashes is to use the 😕 smiley.

So, again, not a smartphone, no apps, no data sync.

It is a texting/media phone with a dash of html web and loads of quirky character.