First Impressions Of Microsoft's Kin PlatformFirst Impressions Of Microsoft's Kin Platform

Today Microsoft unveiled its new consumer-focused platform and handsets, called Kin. The two new devices were developed under the "Pink" code name, and bring social sharing to an entirely new level. Kin is for those who just can't get enough of their family and friends.The Kin platform is all about sharing. The platform and associated devices are meant to be used to power social networking users who are most interested in creating and sharing content.

The platform is perhaps a bit more interesting than the phones themselves. The platform is all about sharing. Sharing, sharing, sharing. Kin features feeds on the home page where customers collect the information from their friends, social networks, and other RSS content. It is all aggregated onto the user's home page, and is fully customizable. If you're interested in sharing any of this content, simply drag it down to the "Loop Spot," an ever-present software button that is the user's source to share stuff.

Once you've picked out everything you want to share, go to the Loop tool and choose how to share the content you've selected. Content can be shared via Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, MMS and email.

The home screen invokes memories of Windows Phone 7. Oh, speaking of Windows Phone 7, Kin shares a lot of WP7's core Silverlight code. The two branches diverge when it comes to Xbox and XNA code. Kin doesn't share any of that. It does, however, introduce all the Zune compatibility you could ask for. Users will fully be able to integrate all their Zune content onto the Kin platform.

The camera is fully integrated into the UI, and the Kin phones will automatically upload everything to the Kin Studio, an online portal where users can interact with literally all the content created with and shared by their phones. The Studio is perhaps Kin's greatest strength, which lets users safely keep a backup of all their content, including calls, missed messages, photos.

The neatest feature of the studio is the timeline, which lets users jump to any day, week, or month in the past to see what they shared and where they shared it. Neat!

There are some interesting omissions in the platform, however. There's no calendar, for instance, and no support for Instant Messaging clients. Other omissions? The devices can't play video from the Internet (i.e., YouTube, Hulu). The platform also doesn't have an app store associated with it, not does it come with any of Verizon's V CAST services. Last, the only way users will get new features for Kin will be via over-the-air updates.

Here's a video demonstration that shows what Kin is all about.