I had time to look at the Kin One and Two over the past couple weeks, and I have to say, Microsoft really knows how to screw up a phone. It’s not quite a smartphone, but it’s also a little more than a regular phone, as it ties into the major social networks, has no app store, and they still charge you for a smartphone plan.

That being said, I got used to not being able to do anything but look at and update my status on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Windows Live, but that’s about all you can do, besides email.

Both phones feature hardware keyboards, and the One is small and squat, while the Two is a more standard size, both keyboards were difficult to type on, but were usable none the less.

The Kins also feature something that I can’t believe Microsoft has done is that it’s a new OS for them. Kin’s are labeled as a Windows Phone, but have nothing in common with Windows Phone 7, or Windows Mobile, it’s a totally new OS design. It’s got a bunch of panels that include all your updates and feeds and contacts, it’s kind of hard to explain, so I’ll show you in this short video.

The interface is nice, but all in all the phone is very flawed, it was very slow, again, I had no Verizon signal at my house, and I’m getting to the good part now, it’s an expensive phone to own (Now that Microsoft has killed it, I don’t know if you can buy one from Verizon) here is the breakdown of the Kin vs. the Palm Pre Plus a true smartphone.

Palm Pre Plus
Price: $30
Baseline voice with texting: $60
Unlimited Data: $30
Total cost of ownership: $2190

Kin One
Price $50
Baseline Voice with texting: $60
Unlimited Data: $30
Total Cost of Ownership: $2210 with a Zune Pass, $2570

I think calling this phone a smartphone is not the thing that worked for it, as it’s not a true smartphone, but since Microsoft decided to kill it off and have the Windows 7 phone team work on it, I think with the merger the interface and the new features could work for the new Windows phone 7. We’ll see how it all works out in the end, but my final word is to avoid these phones.