PC World — With a better design and stronger specs, the Kin Two (Verizon (VZ); price TBA) outshines its sibling, the Kin One. But it isn't perfect: Limitations and omissions within the software keep it from being a threat to lower-priced smartphones on Verizon.

Microsoft Introduces 'Social Phone,' Kin

Design-wise, the Kin Two is much more attractive than its squat sibling. It has a larger display and roomier keyboard, as well. In my hands-on tests, I found the keys comfortable to press and nicely spaced. It isn't on par with the Sidekick, but it comes close.

I was impressed with the Kin Two's 8-megapixel camera. I took a few snapshots at the launch event, which took place in a dimly lit nightclub, and was impressed with how powerful the flash was. Faces were nicely highlighted without being completely blown out. Details appeared sharp and colors looked fairly natural in my test shots. The Kin Two also captures HD video, which I unfortunately didn't get a chance to test out.

Kin OS: Stylish and Intuitive

While it's a bit overwhelming at first, Kin OS is visually-pleasing and incredibly easy to navigate. The main screen, called Loop, displays your selected friends' status updates and messages as well as your favorite RSS feeds in a colorful collage of text and images. Flick to the left, and you'll see a panel of all your applications; flick right, and you'll see your contacts.

I also liked how easy it was to share photos with your friends via the Kin "Spot." The Spot is a green circle that sits at the bottom of the user interface. If you want to share a photo, video or news story from your RSS feed, you simply drag and drop it into the Spot. You can then tap the Spot and decide whether you want to send it to your friends or upload it to one of your social networks.

Another highlight: The Kin Two ships with the Zune HD media player for video and music playback. There's also an FM radio.

The OS was a bit sluggish while I was navigating through various menus, but this might be due to the fact that my test units were preproduction devices. I'll make a full assessment once I get my review unit.

Kin Studio: Useful, but Problematic

When you capture photos or videos on your Kin phone, they're automatically uploaded to the Kin server. You can then log into your Kin Studio account on your PC to view and share your media--no USB cables or microSD cards to hassle with and no tedious uploading procedures. This is an ideal feature for the non-tech-savvy audience Microsoft (MSFT) seems to be targeting with these phones.

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