Microsoft launches two oddly-shaped social networking handsets, called KIN, and aimed at teens.

Paul Nesbitt

Microsoft has unveiled the Kin One and Kin Two, a brace of oddly-shaped smartphones, aimed at teens. These are the smartphones, which up to now have been known by their codename, 'Pink'.

Both models run an OS, which is a variant Microsoft's Windows Phone 7, with a different user interface. The KIN's touchscreen-based user interface called the KIN Loop, and it displays real time feeds from social networking sites, including Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

Both handsets, which were built by Sharp to Microsoft's specifications and include music functionality lifted from Microsoft's Zune music player, which has never been released in the UK: built-in Zune features include music and podcast playback, video, FM radio, and a Zune Pass subscription, which enables you to download music from the Zune Marketplace (Microsoft's equivalent of iTunes).

Neither handset can accept memory cards, but you can upload and download sync data with Microsoft's KIN Studio service.

The KIN One is an oddly rounded handset with a sliding QUERTY keyboard, a 5 megapixel camera with LED-flash, GPS, a 2.6in 320 by 240 pixel touchscreen display, a mono speaker and 4GB of memory.

The KIN Two is a higher specced model with a QUERTY keyboard, a 3.4in touchscreen display, an 8 megapixel camera with LED flash (which can also capture HD video), stereo speakers, and 8GB of memory.

So far no prices have been announced but Vodafone has announced it will be exclusively offering the KIN in the UK this autumn.