Microsoft Rolls Out Minor Update For KIN Phones [Twitter Gets A Little Better On The KIN Phones & We Learn The KIN Project Cost Microsoft $240 Million In Revenue]

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In what seems like a surprise move, Microsoft has offered up an update for the KIN phones. And yes, both the KIN ONE and KIN TWO are included. That said, the update is not anything over the top, but it should be enough to make anyone using a Twitter on the KIN a little happier.

As for this update, assuming your phone has been updated properly you should see the software version listed as 1.0 with a build number of 2814.0.

And while the update is on the smaller side, it is still kind of refreshing to see any update at all. Especially so close to when Microsoft officially killed the KIN. But alas, the update for the KIN was Twitter related and according to the change log, covered some goodies including avatars, status messages and more. Though you still cannot retweet.

• Twitter avatars now show up in the KIN Loop.
• The way Twitter statuses appear when you select them has changed. They now appear similar to Facebook and Myspace statuses, complete with a comment form and feed. Nothing shows up in this feed, and if you comment using the form it posts to your Twitter feed but not as a Twitter reply.
• Although you still cannot retweet, if your Twitter contacts retweet it will show up in the Loop.
• If you select a Twitter contact you can now see their profile bio, i.e. website, about, hometown, nickname and real name.
• You can now link Twitter contacts to your KIN contacts like Facebook/Myspace/Windows Live.
• Not sure if you could do this before, but you can now pin Twitter contacts to your Favorites. If you select one that isn’t linked to any other contact, instead of giving you “Call, Text, Open” it will take you to their profile bio (see above).

Moving on from the Twitter related KIN update and we also have some news that Microsoft lost quite a bit of money on the KIN. Granted, not much of a surprise in that statement. But according to the most recent quarterly earnings report from Microsoft — they lost $240 million. Or as it was listed, that $240 was a “cost of revenue.”

With that, I cannot help but wonder if or when another update for the KIN will arrive. If I have to venture a guess, never, but then again I would have said that before this latest update. At least the current owners were given something, all (approx.) 10,000 of them.