The Kin is the kind of phone I always expected Apple to release. It judiciously picks the features and use cases it wants to excel at, drops the rest by ignoring "because this is the way it's always been done" thinking, and emerges with a novel and well-executed experience.
And I don't use the term "well-executed" lightly. It is better than iPhone where it tries to be.
Some Background
I have a friend on the Kin team. I like him as a friend and I admire him tremendously as a designer. He actually knows his facts well enough to debate me and change my mind. This doesn't happen much.
The day Kin was announced, I hung out with his team for a few hours. Everyone I met was nice, smart, humble, excited, but realistic enough to be nervous. Throughout the night, there was always at least one person with their nose in their phone looking at the latest Twitter buzz. "People seem to get it!" someone said at one point. Smiles all around.
At one point it struck me: this must have been what it was like when the iPod and iPad were released. This is how it feels to break with convention. This is how it feels to ship less than anyone thought, but to do it better than anyone might realize by looking at pictures and a spec list on Engadget.
(Speaking of professional news sites, I don't have a Kin in front of me to refer to while writing, so I'm recalling everything here from memory. There will be errors in the particulars.)
Warm and Fuzzies Are Hard to Explain
I love spotting great experiences. I bought an original iPod within a week. I was the 20th person in line to pre-order a Wii months before it went on sale. I jumped up and down when I saw the Palm pre demo. Most recently, I got an iPad and can't easily explain why it's now my favorite computer.
The Kin hit me in a similar way. It's different, it's not for everyone, but I think its experience is something special. I'm going to try and explain why.
Kin Loop
The first thing I noticed after unlocking was an activity stream, which made a great first impression. I loved seeing personally relevant information so quickly. I think a lot of "social media" is dumb, but being able to see what my wife and best friends are doing at a glance is (and will always be) deeply meaningful for me.
Apparently Loop allows you to set favorites so you can make sure your best friends always float to the top. Nice touch. It made me grin.
The contacts weren't mine, but it was still fascinating to see the Loop pulse with current activity. I read through the posts and saw a lot of "Congratulations re: Kin!" Then, bloop, a new post came through Facebook: "Mike said: Having drinks with the Kin team!" Pretty cool.
Notifications
I do not like how iPhone handles notifications. Every notification works the same way: it blocks your work, and you have two options in the modal dialog: dismiss it or press a button and be whisked into a new application.
On Kin, the SMS notification arrives on screen without getting in your way. You can finish what you're doing (I think, I'm doing this from memory) then tap the notification bubble to respond to it when you're ready. I always felt iPhone did notifications wrong, and now Palm pre and Kin exist to show us how it should be done.
Kin Spot
With Kin, you can share anything without losing context. Press and hold on an image, some text, a url, whatever, and drag it into an ever-present "spot" on the bottom of the screen and boom. Instant sharing.
Maybe I'm strange, but this is a killer feature for me. (I bet most dads would agree) I'm constantly digging around on my iPhone to share things, and it's never enjoyable. Here's how it works on iPhone:
I see an image I like
Tap and hold on image
Save to photo library
Press Home button
Find Photos app
Tap latest image
Tap share button
Tap email photo
<type email info, send message>
Press Home button
Manually go back to app that had the image I liked
Here's how it works on Kin:
I see an image I like
Tap and hold on image
Drag to spot
Press spot to see upload options
Press upload (there are other options here)
<type email info, send message>
Press spot.
... and I'm back where I was, without losing context.
No contest. In comparison, iPhone's approach is rubbish.
Camera
Kin has a flash and a physical button for taking pictures. I'm all about reducing buttons, but the lack of a physical camera button doesn't work well on iPhone. I went photo crazy in the bar because it was so damn easy. I had forgotten what it's like to have fun taking pictures with a phone.
Do Less Better
In the case of the best Apple products, a "missing" bit of functionality usually owes its absence to a design team that carefully considered each feature, and had the courage to cut the fat and leave behind only the very best ones. I think that's what happened with Kin.
If you primarily use your phone to stay current and share your life with your connected friends, the iPhone's approach doesn't fit your life as well as it could. From what I've seen, Kin may fit it like a glove.
