Kin Twom Thoughts . . . since I have the phone AT LAST!
TwistedRiver
Enthusiast - Level 1

I have had my new phone for about two weeks now.  I was previously posting as user CinnamonSwirl but for some reason when I changed my account and phone, my id's were all messed up and I had to re-register on the Community.
Anyway, it's been a long road to getting this phone but so far it's been worth it.

If this were the first phone I ever had, I would love it 100%. As it is, I miss a couple things about my other phone (the original Alias) but nothing that I can't live without.

First of all, I was able to have the Verizon store move all my contact information to my Kin. It did cost a $20 fee, however.

I am enjoying all the features of this phone, and the perks seem to outweigh the drawbacks. For instance, it is a bummer not to be able to erase an individual message, but I love the im-conversation-like threaded texting, so it makes up for that.

The wifi is definitely cool. If my daughter is on the computer at home, I can jump on my phone to check email and weather, stuff like that. Wifi in public places doesn't seem to work quite as smoothly as my wireless connection at home though. One thing I haven't been able to make work  is the streaming zune. I've successfully logged into Zune and subscribed to a month to see how I like it, and I've downloaded about 200 songs to my phone. I can't get the Zune pass to work on the phone when I'm not connected to the computer, though. Anyone know a solution to this? And I know it's not the wifi connection because I am able to open and use the web browser and sync my email.

Another problem I haven't been able to figure out is my pictures won't show up on the zune page. They just appear as grey squares. Did this happen to anyone else?

The camera is 100 times better than the camera on my Alias, which made every picture look yellowed and aged unless it was taken outside in full sun.  I'm still adjusting to how it operates and maybe this has been touched on before but can you text a picture to email, and if so how? The only way I can figure out how to do it is just to directly email it from the phone, and if I don't have a wifi connection of course this doesn't work.

My local Verizon store carried no accessories for my Kin, so I ordered a couple of attractive cases from the Cellular  Factory online, and also got an extra charger from them for about $6.

I do love the feel of the texting keyboard. The letters are spaced perfectly apart from each other and the space bar is in a great location and long enough that I don't accidently hit other keys. I do miss some of the graphics that were on my other phone - such as different smiley faces. I don't know if there's a way to download some of that stuff to this phone or if I just need to get over that.

I purchased 2 ringtones from Verizon online, because even though the Kin has a decent sized collection, they're almost all lame. I do like the "Ping" noise and I have that as a text notification, but for calls I needed a couple of real tunes. lol

Hm, that's all I can think of right now. I may add more later. Thanks to all who posted here and helped make up my mind about getting this phone and ditching my prepay service for a real contract (the cheapest available).  😃 

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lavender
Enthusiast - Level 3

glad you're enjoying the phone! 

 

one question though - why did they charge you a fee to move your contacts to the kin??? i got all my contacts from my old phone moved to my kin but they certainly didn't charge anything for it! for that matter, i had to get my phone replaced twice because it was having email related software issues and both times my local verizon store did not charge for moving my contacts over. sorry i'm getting a little indignant on your behalf but i really don't think you should have been charged any money for that. at all. 

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TwistedRiver
Enthusiast - Level 1

Not really sure, but I think it's just the policy of this local Verizon store.  Pretty sure I had to pay it another time a few years back for a replacement phone for my daughter.
I didn't think twice about it - I read about so many people who weren't able to transfer their contacts to Kin phones at all, I was just pleased it could be done. But you're right, as I ponder it, it's kind of mean on their part.
Any idea on why my pictures aren't showing up on the Zune page?

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fredl11
Newbie

I just had that problem today with the gray pics. I have a couple PC's and only seem to having the problem on one. I did notice that If I moved the pictures manually to my collection they finally did show up.

 

I also noticed I needed to do some window 7 updates and even a Zune update. If that solves the problem i'll try and return with what I find 

 

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lavender
Enthusiast - Level 3

i have the same problem with the pictures i take with my phone. it shows up as empty boxes on zune until i download them onto the computer. i'm not sure why it's like that but i haven't been connecting to zune or using the camera all that much lately so i've gotten used to dealing with the empty boxes 😛 it's pretty annoying though. if anyone has a fix, please post!

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fredl11
Newbie

Might have a reason pictures are grey not syncing.

 

I tried on 3 pc's. All are running W7 Home premium and all have the latest win and Zune updates. I am only seeing the problem on one of the pc's and that one does not have a USB 2.0.

 

I am beginning to think that might be the reason.

 

I went to many sites and found one at support microsoft ( for some reason I am not allowed to post the web address)

 

If your media is syncing slowly, make sure you've installed and are using a high-speed USB 2.0 host controller. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Click Start, and then click Run.
  2. Type devmgmt.msc, and then click OK.
  3. Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers.
  4. Locate and then double-click text that reads something close to USB2 Enhanced Host Controller.
    Note: The exact name will vary, but "Enhanced" will be in the title.
  5. Click the Advanced tab.
  6. The Zune device should be listed under Bandwidth-consuming devices.

    If the Zune device is not listed there, try to connect the Zune device to another USB port on the computer, and then click Refresh.

    If USB2 Enhanced Host Controller is not listed or is listed but is disabled, contact the computer manufacturer for help.

Hope this sheds some light on the problem

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Shannenn
Newbie

Can you text on the touch screen of the phone?

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Daveman80
Contributor - Level 1

ABout the Zune, syncing the phone isnt enough to show the pictures, you must import them into your computer for them to populate. Simply drag the pics from the phone to the computer/laptop icon and a folder titled "imported on xx/xx/xxxx" will be added to  your "my pictures". Honestly, its smart that it does this so if you wanted to, you can take them off the phone for more storage. :smileyhappy:

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KinquanaH_VZW
VZ Employee Emeritus

TwistedRiver, I am sorry your pictures are showing on the Zune page. I have listed the steps for how to start the sync process to download and transfer your pictures and music with your KIN device through the Zune site. 

 

 

  1. From the Zune home page select settings.

  2. Select phone.

  3. Select one of the following.
    All
    Automatically syncs all items of a particular media type in your collection.
    Items I choose
    Syncs categories of individual media types by dragging them to the Device icon.
    Manual sync
    Manually add / remove media on the device / computer.

    Additionally, listed below is a link for a thread within the Verizon wireless community that discusses the KIN and information about downloading your pictures and music.

 

KinquanaH_VZW

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aaronsaund
Enthusiast - Level 3

The jerks charged me for contacts transfer too. I was told by a friend who works tech support at vzw and a tech support on phone that if I called customer support they would credit my account. Haven't done it yet. Have a try and let us know if they credited your account.

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