A couple weeks ago I took a look at the Kin One from Verizon Wireless, today I have the Kin Two which is sort of the same phone, but just a lot bigger. The larger size of the Kin two makes it a much easier phone to use, both with the touch screen and the keyboard, and since it’s larger it accommodates a higher capacity battery and there’s even a better camera as well. So let’s just jump right in..

No Video for you today, just the regular pictures..

The Kin two comes in a round box similar the Kin One, just a different color really.

Inside you’ll find the phone, USB cable, USB AC Adapter, Headphones and manuals.

The main difference between the phones is the size and basic specs, the Kin Two is more of a ‘regular’ sized phone or smartphone.

The Kin Two features a better camera, larger screen and of course a larger keyboard.

On the sides you’ll find power button, camera button, volume, USB jack and headphone jack.

Specifications:

KIN TWO

Full Retail Price: $429.99
Price with 2yr contract: $199.99
Online Discount: -100.00
Your Price: $99.99

KIN is a phone that keeps up with everything that’s going on in your life –and lets you share more of your world with the people who matter the most.

Stay connected with the latest updates from your friends on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, along with your favorite websites directly on the KIN Loop home screen. And make sure your best friends come first by adding them to your Favorites, so their updates, posts, and photos will appear more frequently in the Loop.

The KIN Spot makes it easy to share almost anything with almost anyone, all in one place –and its always right there when you need it. Plus, there’s a 8MP camera with LED flash that takes amazing pictures and video –even in low light –and posts or shares with just one touch.

DESIGN:
* 3.4″High res TFT, QVGA (320×240), Capacitive Touchscreen
* Slide–out QWERTY Keyboard

BLUETOOTH v2.1:
* Bluetooth Profiles supported: HSP, HFP, A2DP, AVRCP, GAVDP, AVDTP, AVCTP

CAMERA/VIDEO:
* 8.0MP HDR CMOS Anti–shake, Autofocus, LED Flash, Image Stabilization, HD (720P) Video

SPECIFICATIONS:
* Dual Band CDMA2000 1xRTT / 1xEVDO Rev. A (800/1900 MHz)
* Memory: ROM: 8GB, RAM: 256MB DDR
* Dimensions: 4.38″ (H) x 2.36″ (W) x 0.64″ (D)
* Weight: 4.7 oz
* Usage Time: Up 365 minutes OR
* Standby Time: Up to 232 hours
* SAR: Head: 1.29 W/kg; Body: 0.755 W/Kg

The Kin Two is essentially the Kin One, just resized but it does seem a lot faster and snappier with no sluggishness or slowdowns of any kind.

Battery life is vey good, I went a couple days without charging, it seems better than the Kin One.

Call quality is very good as well, and since it’s a larger phone it’s more natural than the shape of the Kin One.

Web browsing seems faster and of course on the large screen is a much more enjoyable experience.

The Zune experience is the same, it’s the Zune interface and I like it..

The settings for the Kin Two are all the same, no changes here..

The keyboard lights up when open, but it’s rather dimly lit, in the dark it works though. It’s larger of course and that makes it easier to type on as you might expect.

The camera on the Kin two seems better than on the Kin One, but I don’t like the camera button placement at all, it just seems to be in the wrong spot and it’s hard to take pictures with it. You can of course use the touch screen to take a picture, but then they aren’t as good, using the mechanical button allows it to focus and you get a much better result. Here’s a few samples at various distances:

Here’s two of the same picture, the first I used the touch screen button to take the picture and the second one I used the regular button on the side of the camera:

As you can see there’s quite a big difference in them, yes it takes longer using the button but it’s worth it. Like the Kin One, the camera while focusing is rather loud though.

Video quality is still not that great even though the camera is better, if you want good quality vide it’s best to shoot outside in very good lighting condition and hold the camera still.

Conclusion:

The Kin Two is pretty much the same as the Kin One with a few changes here and there, most importantly it’s bigger and that makes it a lot easier to use.

Like the Kin One there is no external memory slot, so you’re stuck with whatever memory the phone has, and that isn’t much really. The Kin Two also cannot transfer pictures via the USB cable unless you use it with the Zune software, like I said with the Kin one review I don’t understand why it can’t be recognized as a portable storage device and just get the picture that way. You can also let the picture upload to the kin website and then you’ll have to download them from there, but that’s much more time consuming.

Using the touch screen is fine, though at times it doesn’t seem like it wants to do what you want it to do, it might take more than one swipe to get it to move.

Audio quality is not the greatest, I expected it to be better, but it’s on par with other phones. Considering it has the Zune software built into it I expected much better audio quality, it’s rather hollow and not that loud really.

If I had a choice between the Kin One and the Kin Two I would pick the Kin Two as the size makes it a much more finger friendly phone for everything you’ll want to do.

Pros:
+Zune built-in
+Great messaging phone
+Seems well made
+Decent battery life

Cons:
-No external memory
-Camera button placement is not good
-Not exactly easy to get photos and videos off phone
-Audio quality is worse than expected

Grades:
Overall
Design
Performance

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