Microsoft Kin One and Kin Two announced: Windows Phone roots with a social slant

I can’t figure out why they’re launching those phones under the Microsoft brand. Sure, the Sidekick name is pretty much dead after the recent cloud fiasco (and it belongs to T-Mobile, which is probably not that interested in working with Redmond again), but there are other names, and how can it make sense to anyone that the only phones that directly bear Microsoft’s logo are not really running any of the OSes known Windows? (Yes, according to the articles, technically they are, but nobody cares about that.) If at least the platform was officially known as “Zune phone,” it would be defendable. But a new brand? (With yet another awful name?)

As for the phones themselves, they seem like they would be the ideal teenagerphones… if the iPhone didn’t exist. The interface is nicely visual, and the scrapbook-like mosaic of your friends’ photos is a nice idea — but it seems to be very laggy. And the iPhone does exist.

The “Spot” is a nice concept, and indeed reminiscent of the Courier’s dock/hinge. I just hope that is not the only thing we’ll ever see out of the tablet concept.