Microsoft's Kin phones unveiled, coming May

As we await Microsoft and Verizon's "mystery event" scheduled in just thirty minutes time, the first Project Pink handsets, currently only known as Turtle and Pure, have appeared in Verizon's inventory system and are confirmed at the Kin One and Kin Two.

Both devices are expected to hit the market in May 2010. As many of you suggested in our comments over the weekend, the Kin phones are being aimed at the younger, lower-end of the market who cannot themselves (or their parents) afford a fully-featured smartphone.

The devices will be exclusively available in the U.S. through Verizon. For more information, go to Verizon.com/KIN. Microsoft says it plans to bring the devices to Europe in "late 2010" exclusively through Vodafone. For more information, go to Vodafone.com/KIN. Basic and Premium packages will include contacts backup and unlimited texts. Microsoft's Kin site also highlights the various features of KIN.

The looks:

KIN ONE:

KIN TWO:

KIN Spot:

Spot is about sharing, drag pictures to the spot and pick people from your contacts to share with and then hit send. Or upload something to Facebook or start a conversation.

KIN Loop:

Loop is a stream of updates on news, events, web sites and social networks. It's all in real time unless you don't want it to be.

KIN Studio:

If it's on your KIN phone, it's on your page at KIN.com. It has tons of storage and backs up your pictures, videos, messages, and friends.

Device specifications:

KIN ONE specs:

Form factor: Vertical slide, QWERTY
Display: 2.6" TFT, QVGA (320 x 240), capacitive touch screen
Camera: 5.0MP CMOS anti-shake, autofocus, dual LED flash
Speakers: Mono
Memory: 256MB DDR RAM, 4GB storage
Battery: 1240 mAh
Connectivity: EV-DO Rev A, Bluetooth 2.1 w/A2DP, Hi-speed USB, 802.11b/g
Other: Assisted GPS, FM radio, accelerometer

KIN TWO specs:

Form Factor: Vertical slide, QWERTY
Display: 3.4" TFT, QVGA (480 x 320), capacitive touch screen
Camera: 8.0MP HDR CMOS from Omnivision with anti-shake, autofocus, Lumi LED flash
Speakers: Stereo
Memory: 256MB DDR RAM, 8GB storage
Battery: 1390 mAh
Connectivity: EV-DO Rev A, Bluetooth 2.1 w/A2DP, Hi-speed USB, 802.11b/g
Other: Assisted GPS, FM radio, accelerometer