Re: Kin TwoM: Review, FAQ, Q&A, troubleshooting, etc.
fisharefriends
Contributor - Level 3

**10. Questions

 

  I do have some questions of my own, if anyone can provide some answers:

 

-does this phone have contact groups? specifically, is there a way to pin groups to favorites, and have them act like individual folders, like most other phones do?

   -along the same line, how do you send mass texts, besides the linking of contacts, which doesn't show the contact name next to the number?
-anyone have any luck figuring out how to delete individual messages?
  - accessing the message info?
  - forwarding messages?

  - selecting an email from a contact to send a text?

-Any info on being able to backup/transfer contacts status (in-store, through the file transfer, new update to backup assist and the kin, etc)?
-any way to get alarms to purely vibrate?

-when i set alarms to once only, after the alarm goes off, it doesn't delete itself like my old phone did. However, it does say 'saturday', no plural, so does it delete itself the next day (have not gotten around to testing this)?

-any way to delete ringtones (besides saving them to the music folder)? whether direct access, or through a computer, with changing settings..

-how do the sensors actually work? (read section 9 for what i am getting at)

-way to use radio without headphones?

-are there voice commands on the kin twom? it can come in handy with headsets that use it.

-anyone know more details about the hidden setup menu, its settings, etc?
-anyone work at microsoft, and would kindly pass along the message to fix these firmware issues, or have answers (not just assumptions) if they are putting these phones back into production and support, rather than just clearing inventory?

Very long review (took longer than it would've needed to transfer all my contacts..hopefully the rumor about verizon releasing updates to its in-store system to allow contact transfers is true so i don't have to spend a few hours doing that), but i hope it provides insight to a phone that failed, and now is one of the best feature phones available. This phone has features that no other feature phone has, and that is what makes it a great phone. Yes, there are software issues and some problems of that sort, but it just depends on whether they will bother you and how particular you are about them. I hope microsoft/verizon releases a patch/update for this phone to fix many of those issues, but even if they don't, most of the problems have workarounds. Lets hope these phones sell like hotcakes, and microsoft/sharp/verizon restarts production and support for these phones!

This phone is not a smartphone. this phone is not a feature phone. It is a hybrid of the 2, right in between the 2 categorys. Hope this helps in making a more informed choice to buying a phone, or has answers to owner's questions. If anyone has corrections to any of this information, please feel free to correct it, that would be helpful to me and other readers alike. Thank, Cheers.

 

 

ps. Microsoft/verizon is closing down their kin studio service January 31st. For those owners, they can get any free 3G phone upgrade by march 31, 2011. I don't know what this says about the kin onem/twom, but i hope it means they are diverting that support to the m models and release a firmware update soon, rather than cutting off all kin support.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/11/kin-studio-closing-january-31st-verizon-offers-free-phones-to-a/

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Re: Kin TwoM: Review, FAQ, Q&A, troubleshooting, etc.
KeepOnSingin
Newbie

I just got the Kin last night, and I'm trying to figure it out -- how do you close the browser? If you go back to the home screen, does that do it? I was playing with it (in airplane mode, plus my line has all data blocked...but I'm paranoid), and I couldn't find a close button or anything.

 

As to the vibrate for alarms...I can't figure that out either!

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Re: Kin TwoM: Review, FAQ, Q&A, troubleshooting, etc.
fisharefriends
Contributor - Level 3

From what i've tried, it seems like closing out of the browser is as simple as the back button. This is just a guess, but i don't think the wifi/internet actually transfers anything outside of the browser 'app' window. While you can go back into the browser and it keeps your last page 'open', i think what it does is stores that page data in the memory cache, so you can quickly access it again. If you are like me, and wish that there was a home screen for the browser, you can always just favorite the page that you want as your home screen (say, google is what i use), and just select it as you exit the browser. This phone does have browsing history, so that is why you are remaining on that site when you go back into the browser. I guess just don't do any fishy activity from your phone browser, because it will remember it (unless you clear the cache memory/cookies etc, which you can do in settings).

 

Like you are doing, if you are only using Wifi (airplane mode+data blocked is a bulletproof  solution..you're not paranoid you just don't want the ridiculous data charges), then when you quit, just disable Wifi. I only turn it on when i actually want to use it (and its a breeze too, because you can access the wireless settings through the time dashboard). THe main reason i do this is to save battery power. If it is always scanning for a wifi connection, it will eat up your batter really quick (just like if you are in a no-service location like a deep basement or tunnel, your phone will die 5x faster than if you had service).

 

Hope this answers your question.

 

I will be testing the custom vibrate alarm in the future (next week or so), so i will let you know if it works. Theoretically, it should, you would just have to have your phone on low, medium, or high. I have no clue why the phone alarm doesn't vibrate when the phone is on vibrate, that is a firmware coding bug on microsoft's part.

 

I could not figure out how to edit a post that i posted last night, i guess these forums have a time limit on edits. So, i will add it here.

 

**4 Phone (cont'd)

Cursor and QWERTY keyboard functionality and layout: with the kin, you are allowed to move the cursor by touching on the screen. Also, if you hold your finger down where you type messages, it will blow up that 'window' and you can slide your finger across the text, and the cursor will follow it. The type cursor does 'live update' when you do this, so if you are making a precision edit to a text, this is very helpful. In the past, i have also been able to highlight entire words at a time, as well as the entire message, but i have not been able to replicate it, so i can't post how to do that. I'm pretty sure you can, though. The phone does not have arrow cursors (physical or on the touchscreen), but i just barely discovered this cursor 'scrolling' and it almost eliminates my gripes about not having arrow keys because you still can precisely navigate a text and place the cursor where you want to.

 

The backspace button has a very nice, quick repeat time on it, and there is no super long delay before it starts deleting characters. It is very comparable to a computer repeat time, which i really like. If you need to delete long sections, this is very useful. (also, the highlighting words functionality helps deleting whole words, or even whole messages, but i can't get it working atm, if someone else could answer this that would be great). The regular keys (alphabet) do not have a repeat to them, but when you do hold them down, if that letter has symbolics to it (like say, accents on vowels, etc), it will pull them up in a menu on the touch screen. The spacebar does have a repeat to it if you hold it down, it is also quick like the backspace button. THe keyboard also has caps, and symbolic quick keys, where if you push them twice, it locks it in capslock and 'numlock' until you push that button again. The symbolic functions are painted on in a neon green color, which can be hard to read if your vision isn't that good, but when the keyboard backlight is on (yes, it has one..auto-brightness will turn it on in lower light, or i believe it will also turn on when you use manual brightness, but i'm not sure), they are easier to see. Numbers make up the symbolic key's top row, then the next 2 rows are many other commonly used symbols.

 

There is no predicative texting, which is kind of a bummer but not that big of a deal with the full keyboard. There is also an emoticon quick key (although smileys appear like Smiley Happy, and i don't normally put noses..but oh well i guess i will have noses now), which can also be scrolled through for the rest of the symbol keys that don't appear with the symbol shortcut. I do not know if when you send these texts to phones that don't have all the symbols, if they just appear as blanks, but i believe this is what happens. This is not a kin problem, just an 'enhanced text' phone to simple messaging phone function. There is a search quick key (search 'apps' and contacts), and a call key (brings you to the phone). It is well spaced for larger hands, and spacebar is on its own line. You can watch the video posted by another reviewer (linked to in section **1) to get a visual of the keyboard layout.

 

I am very satisfied with the keyboard, although there are times i wish there was at least a touch keypad with predicative texting for quick replies, but i will live it's not that bad.

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Re: Kin TwoM: Review, FAQ, Q&A, troubleshooting, etc.
Pammy
Contributor - Level 1

Thanks for taking the time to type of all of this info and thanks for the link to Myxer.  I tried Myxer and was able to download new ringtones that I wanted to use as an alarm, because the existing ringtones that came on the Kin TwoM aren't loud enough to wake me up.  I was able to get the new ringtones onto my phone through Zune, but don't see the new Ringtones when I edit the alarm and select the new ringtone for the sound. I see the ringtones under music on the Kin TwoM, but not in the list of ringtones .  Any tips for me?  Thanks.  Pam

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Re: Kin TwoM: Review, FAQ, Q&A, troubleshooting, etc.
Pammy
Contributor - Level 1

Found what I was looking for.  I text the ringtones through Myxer to your phone, but that just sends me a text message with a link in it that you have to click on, and I can't seem to get my phone to connect to my home network, so for me, it was easier to save the ringtone to my laptop, then MMS it to my phone by sending an email with the ringtones attached to MyPhoneNUmber@vzwpix.com , then that gives you the option to set it as a ringtone.  Worked great.  Thanks again for the pointer to Myxer.  Pam

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Re: Kin TwoM: Review, FAQ, Q&A, troubleshooting, etc.
fisharefriends
Contributor - Level 3

I went to myxer and was playing around with it a bit, and i actually couldn't get it working. when i tried sending them to my phone, it came up with a message that said 'this phone does not support myxer' or something of the sort.  It looks like i need a walkthrough as to how to use the site. Like, how do you download the ringtones straight to your computer? I've only been able to find the send to your phone option.

 

Is there any way of organizing ringtones? I'm assuming no (hopefully just not atm), because you can't even delete them, but i wish you could move them between the 'melodies', 'alarms', and 'alerts' sections, like subfolders work on a computer. Hopefully microsoft and/or verizon are listening to this, we would love for this phone to be supported with updates.

 

As far as sending ringtones through the self-email (###@vzwpix.com) MMS, that worked fine for me. I recieved them, but i could not play/preview it before i saved it. Has anyone been able to do that? I also wish that you could save them as sounds ('music files'), not just ringtones, anyone able to do that? When emailing yourself though, you can send any mp3 file (i'm assuming you would want it around 30 secs or less) and save it as a ringtone. Thats how you put on custom mp3 ringtones. i tried sending a MMS sound through another phone (samsung intensity II), and it said that the phone did not support EMS (enhanced messaging system), so it couldn't open the file. Is that true? For a phone that was marketed as a smartphone initially, shouldn't it have all the functions that even most feature phones have today?

 

So, we got a samsung intensity II with the family plan, and if microsoft/verizon are reading this and hopefully planning for future updates, the easiest suggestion i would say is..look at the settings interface of that phone. You have custom settings for all calls, messages, alerts (low battery, device connected, voicemail, missed call, all of it), reminders of each one, vibrate or not, the whole package. That is how it should be. I guarantee no one is going to complain that the settings menu is too full..no 2 people are going to like the exact same settings, so being able to customize them, being able to customize the phone in general would do wonders for its sales. Just my opinion. 

 

Read every review on this phone. 99% of the negative ones aren't complaining about the phone itself, but are complaining about silly little settings (or lack of), bugs, and things that generally are found on the simplest phone.  Message forwarding, editing/organizing/deleting ringtones, backup assist (which every other verizon phone supports), custom settings, vibrate w/ alarms, volume lock w/ phone lock, deleting individual messages, voice commands (for bluetooth and such), simple things like that.  I hope you guys are listening, it would be very, very much appreciated. This phone would really take off if those were fixed.

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Re: Kin TwoM: Review, FAQ, Q&A, troubleshooting, etc.
SydneyK
Master - Level 3

fisharefriends, thank you for all the time you put into these reviews and  helping others with their Kin devices.

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Re: Kin TwoM: Review, FAQ, Q&A, troubleshooting, etc.
fisharefriends
Contributor - Level 3

You are welcome, it took a lot of time, but i hope it is helpful to owners and shoppers alike. The more of us there are, the higher chance there is of getting support and updates for this phone (and renewed production, not just warehouse inventory clearing), so i have some benefits too.

 

Note to Microsoft: If you want to have a considerable impact on the phone market, this phone will help! It is the best feature phone by far, but sadly its software quirks and bugs are turning people away. The smartphone market has fierce competion by Android, iPhone, Windows 7 mobile, Blackberry, etc., but you can easily steal the no-data market with a few updates to this phone!

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Re: Kin TwoM: Review, FAQ, Q&A, troubleshooting, etc.
fisharefriends
Contributor - Level 3

I have a quick question: has anyone been able to turn off the dialer sounds? There is a setting, in sounds, to turn off system sounds (and in the manual, it says it includes lock/unlock, usb connect, and dialer sounds). I have it off, but the dialer still plays tones when you push a number.  Does this happen to anyone else? Have we found another bug with the phone's firmware?

Re: Kin TwoM: Review, FAQ, Q&A, troubleshooting, etc.
Pammy
Contributor - Level 1

Just curious...  if software updates or firmware updates come out, how will Verizon / Microsoft release them to current owners of the Kin TwoM / OneM ?   Will they notify all owners by email or postal mail about the updates or will we have to just keep our eyes peeled on a forum or somewhere else?   Thanks.  Pam

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