If you were near an internet display terminal yesterday, you might've tragically stumbled upon one of Microsoft's
Kin promo videos. Sure, the product might be slightly condescending to its supposed target market, but the promotional videos are outright MTV-gone-bad, full of hipster shorthand and fake "reality" bits. The "Day in the Life" videos are particularly egregious, featuring a guy on a road trip to burn a box of mementos from his ex while accompanied by his two new girlfriends, a terrifying parade comprised of facial hair and Williamsburg-esque terror, and a tragically-near-30 couch surfer trying to remember a drunken night of excess through pictures. Strikes a bit close to home, we must say. So, in case you missed the spots you can check a couple out after the break, but to wash the palate we've also provided our very own "Kin-less" spin on the concept, with the help of a Windows Mobile 6.5 handset we just happened to have lying around.
posted April 13th 2010 1:26PM
oh my goodness im first?!
@Nickerus nope. don't even try.
@Nickerus lol you got your hopes up
@Nickerus
fail.
@Nickerus
look how stupid you are.
@Nickerus
Wow this hurts... lol
@Nickerus
Nope, but I assure you that you're still a dick.
That was beautiful, Paul, nice work
@ScienceProUSAcom
+1 Brilliant video :)
I agree, great job Paul. Now for something I think you really need.
*hug*
The Kin looks awful. The Studio, on the other hand, looks awesome.
@Shidell i agree they need to leak the Studio and Interface to multiple systems and platforms.
@Shidell
No...
They need to make the studio a separate product and function as a social networking aggregator. Killer app? I'd say so.
@Shidell
I the Kin's real demographic is 12-17 year olds. Adults I think would know better than to buy what looks like child's play. College students are not as dumb as Microsoft may think, we want power, functionality, aesthetics, bigger displays for media playback AND social networking.
@Ryujin
Studio looks a lot like pagestream and the courier's (alleged) web interface to my eye...
@Eternity
Really? College students want power and functionality? Then why do I see so many Macs around campus?
@Eternity You do. I do. I think the majority have more of a life, aren't complete gadget heads and would be happy with the Kin.
@Eternity
Actually, I want a phone that is as dumb as possible so that I can stop gawking at a damn screen and maybe get some work done/communicate with real life human beings.
@Eternity
maybe if you're a NERD, like all of us here. If you're a NORMAL college student, you probably don't care as long as it works well and does what you tell it to do.
Microsoft's gone hip!
Microsoft: trying so very, very hard to be cool and just coming across as lame and pathetic. It all started with James Allard shaving his head and legally changing his name to J in his extreme hipster makeover.
Perhaps a spinoff company focused on the youth crowd would be a better bet.
(Oh, and please call me HF from now on.)
@Kwame Nkrumah
Nah, they've just gone hipster... not the same thing at all.
@HotFuzz : Yeah, they could name it something edgy, like 'Danger' or something like that.
@HotFuzz
Please. Where's the snarky posts about Apple's pictures of people kayaking or takling about going to Tahoe? Everything's got their target demo (i.e. showing activities their target demo thinks and wishes they do), but I guess this one is far enough away from the Engadget editors that it's mock-worthy
@Kwame Nkrumah
Kwame Nkrumah's an Engadget fan!
I'm starting to hate shallow depth of field.
@rkd
100 years of cinema starting to grow old on you?
What do rednecks like to do on Halloween?
Pumpkin
(Ahahahahaha, I'm lame)
LMFAO!!!
Made my Day! Engadget FTW
@Plazmic Flame
"at least its not windows mobile" rofl!
I'd prefer watching this advertisement over any Apple commercial anyday...
And Paul, in terms of being condescending, Apple is King in that category.
@konceptzoflife What the hell does Apple have to do with this. Jesus. Don't waste your breath defending these terrible videos.
@rkd Maybe it's because they're MS's leading competitor?
Or maybe you didn't take note of that because you've been in a shell.
So great.
I read the news today oh boy
@Air King
About a lucky man who made the grade
+ 1
I want to see more Paul Miller skate footage! Next camcorder hands on please?
Well done, really, well done haha +1
Heh, no... Its NOT Windows Mobile!!
I actually like this Kin idea more than I thought I would.
@futurerheza
You can be my friend, Paul. We both live and work in manhattan, skateboard, and love gadgets.
I also stalked you on Facebook and found out that you're from Washington State, and that you went to the same high school as my mom! Oh wait... shit just got real creepy there. :-\
Ugh, I am sure all those people have Twitter accounts.
LOL, best post of the decade... at least you did not fall from the skateboard, well we did not see the bloopers.
Seriously, the kin is not the phone for the geek guy but for the rest and that's a good thing for Microsoft, we are a very large minority in this world.
It is the smartest dumb phone
best engadget post ever! love it!!! =)
@grapeDrank You need to settle down.
@grapeDrank
Can't see the ads yet (hallo thare iphone), but engadget complaining about hipsters is a bit rich, no?
+ for Nickerus 'cause i felt like it.
@0android0
Why thank you!
Please do more. Gadget mumble-core. I can see it now.
@futurerheza
I'll take this Kin any day over my Android-Powered Samsung Galaxy that is stuck on 1.5. and I'm very serious.