Created: 15 May 2010 · Last edited: 20 October 2026

Released on Verizon in the US in early May 2010, with planned release on Vodafone in Europe, the Kin series is the successor of Danger's Sidekick, purchased by Microsoft a year earlier. The Kin are, like its predecessor, targeted at the young mobile users and offer nothing spectacular except for a seamless integration with services like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Windows Live.

Kin One and Kin Two are both QWERTY sliders based on Windows Phone 7, heavily customised, even featuring a custom MS browser based on Zune.

The Kin Two (a.k.a. Pure, co-named PB20ZU) has a larger display than the "Turtle" – an HVGA (480 x 320). It comes with 256 MB RAM and double the storage space or 8 GB internal storage (* Windows Phone 7 has no support for external memory). It has a better 8 MP LED flash camera, and a capacitive multi-touch screen. Connectivity is ensured using cellular, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.

On 1 July 2010, Microsoft suspended the KIN project just 2 months after its US launch, which failed due to Verizon's extremely expensive plans. Verizon relaunched the Kin devices later the same year as the Kin ONEm and Kin TWOm. These new versions were the same products but stripped of the social-networking software, essentially turning into basic feature-phones.