Kin OneM still available w/o data plan?

[lehembree]

I'd just like to verify whether or not the Kin OneM currently requires a data plan. Some posts from several months ago say it doesn't, but when I went to discuss it with a representative at a Verizon store two days ago, he said it is considered a smartphone and needs the data plan. Has it recently been changed, or was there just a misunderstanding?

[Ann154 · Accepted solution]

It isn't required to have a data plan.  It might be recommended to have one though.

[lehembree]

Thank you! Very prompt too.

[MojaveMoon_]

"but when I went to discuss it with a representative at a Verizon store two days ago, he said it is considered a smartphone and needs the data plan."

The OneM and TwoM were originally released as smartphones under the model names Kin One and Kin Two and then later re-released with modified software as non-smartphones.

Maybe he was thinking of the smartphone version when he said that a data plan was required. And if that were true, according to this website even the smartphone version of the Kin is now basically just a non-smartphone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Kin

"The new [Kin OneM and TwoM] feature phone OS removed the web based and social networking integration features such as the Kin Loop, Kin Spot, Kin Studio. The newer "m" phones (identified by "m" next to the model number and two yellow dots on the corners) could be "downgraded" to the original firmware version via holding "r", "b", and "power" upon turning on the device (a procedure that also erases all the phones stored data and settings). The Kin website was discontinued on January 2011, and all user pictures and other information stored on the website were deleted. Verizon offered a free trade-in to all affected phone owners, offering a 3G smartphone in return. After the Kin website was discontinued the Kin Loop, Kin Spot, Kin Studio became non functional on the original Kin ONE and Kin TWO making them also essentially feature phones that did not require a data plan."