PolicyWonk
Newbie
We traveled out of state over the Christmas holiday to spend a few days with my sister-in-law. Verizon had talked her into upgrading to a Windows Kin 2 (model 119). She hates it. She asked me (her geeky brother-in-law) to set it up to meet her needs.
I played with the phone, read the manual, and researched some forums. Much to my surprise, I found my entry level Smart Talk Precedent Android is so far ahead of the Kin. I spent several hours messing with this Windows based phone.
Verizon seems to be pushing hard for customers with non-smart phones to upgrade to the Kin. They must have gotten a great wholesale price and are making a big profit every time they sell a Windows Kin. I would never have recommended this phone for sis. Sis wanted a phone with a keyboard that she could easily make calls, do texting, and keep her contacts. She does not want to use the Internet or check e-mail.
There have been many complaints on the Verizon forum about customers receiving defective Kins. It looks to me like this is a common problem with the Kin. Fortunately, sis's Kin is not one of them.
The Windows Kin 2 is a touch screen phone with a slide out keyboard. Personally, I like physical keyboards as does sis.
The home screen is cluttered with all the phone's apps. Sis just wanted the home screen to have 3 apps: phone, text messaging, and contacts. I assumed this would be as easy as it is on my Android. Not true. I never did find a way to move apps off the home screen or set up another screen with just the apps she wanted. There is probably a way to do this by jail breaking (rooting) the phone, but doing so probably breaks the warranty.
The phone has only 2 screens: the cluttered home screen and a favorite screen. It turns out the favorite screen can only have favorite contacts - NOT APPS. That alone would be the deal breaker for me. I think sis would be happy if I could have put the 3 apps only on a screen; any screen.
However, I could easily rearrange the apps on the home screen to group the 3 apps she wanted at the top of the home screen. This makes is a little easier for her to find them in the home screen clutter.
In addition, she could not ever hear the phone and did not like the ringtones. The settings button is on the home screen and I found it intuitive and easy to adjust the volume, set it to always vibrate, and tweak it to make the battery last longer. She was happy with those adjustments.
Sis has long fingernails and found it very difficult to get the touch screen to do what she wanted. I gave her one of my extra stylus. She liked using the stylus.
Although, I would never recommend this phone for anyone, I did find some things I liked. There is something Windows calls a dashboard which gives information similar to the task bar on an Android. It can be opened by clicking on a small button ("mini dashboard") on the lower right of the home screen. The dashboard pops up and shows, ringer volume, battery status, date & time, and 3g, wireless, blue tooth, etc. status. Also, if you missed a call, when you open the home screen there is a bubble that gives info about any missed calls.
Someday, Windows may have a decent smart phone, but this is not it. I'm sticking with Android.
I played with the phone, read the manual, and researched some forums. Much to my surprise, I found my entry level Smart Talk Precedent Android is so far ahead of the Kin. I spent several hours messing with this Windows based phone.
Verizon seems to be pushing hard for customers with non-smart phones to upgrade to the Kin. They must have gotten a great wholesale price and are making a big profit every time they sell a Windows Kin. I would never have recommended this phone for sis. Sis wanted a phone with a keyboard that she could easily make calls, do texting, and keep her contacts. She does not want to use the Internet or check e-mail.
There have been many complaints on the Verizon forum about customers receiving defective Kins. It looks to me like this is a common problem with the Kin. Fortunately, sis's Kin is not one of them.
The Windows Kin 2 is a touch screen phone with a slide out keyboard. Personally, I like physical keyboards as does sis.
The home screen is cluttered with all the phone's apps. Sis just wanted the home screen to have 3 apps: phone, text messaging, and contacts. I assumed this would be as easy as it is on my Android. Not true. I never did find a way to move apps off the home screen or set up another screen with just the apps she wanted. There is probably a way to do this by jail breaking (rooting) the phone, but doing so probably breaks the warranty.
The phone has only 2 screens: the cluttered home screen and a favorite screen. It turns out the favorite screen can only have favorite contacts - NOT APPS. That alone would be the deal breaker for me. I think sis would be happy if I could have put the 3 apps only on a screen; any screen.
However, I could easily rearrange the apps on the home screen to group the 3 apps she wanted at the top of the home screen. This makes is a little easier for her to find them in the home screen clutter.
In addition, she could not ever hear the phone and did not like the ringtones. The settings button is on the home screen and I found it intuitive and easy to adjust the volume, set it to always vibrate, and tweak it to make the battery last longer. She was happy with those adjustments.
Sis has long fingernails and found it very difficult to get the touch screen to do what she wanted. I gave her one of my extra stylus. She liked using the stylus.
Although, I would never recommend this phone for anyone, I did find some things I liked. There is something Windows calls a dashboard which gives information similar to the task bar on an Android. It can be opened by clicking on a small button ("mini dashboard") on the lower right of the home screen. The dashboard pops up and shows, ringer volume, battery status, date & time, and 3g, wireless, blue tooth, etc. status. Also, if you missed a call, when you open the home screen there is a bubble that gives info about any missed calls.
Someday, Windows may have a decent smart phone, but this is not it. I'm sticking with Android.
