3-Way Calling on Kin TwoM

Does anyone know how to make a 3-way call on a Kin TwoM? I would really like to use this feature, and I saw online that it was available for the phone.. And I hope that's true lol

From Page 47 of the KIN Twom Users Guide...
Conference calling You can set up a conference with two other callers:
1 Make your first call from the Dialer screen or a contact card.
2 Once your call has connected, tap Add call to open a list of your contacts
with phone numbers. Choose to Dial new number, or tap a contact from the
list.
3 Tap the contact you want to add, or type the number in the dial pad and tap
Call.
4 Once the call is connected, the in-call screen displays a Flash option. Tap it
to merge all the calls.
Once you’ve tapped Flash, the two calls are “merged” and treated as one call,
which means you can’t drop either of the calls. No Caller ID will be displayed;
you’ll see Connected at the top of the in-call screen.
I've never tried this myself, so I don't know if it really works or not.

Similar Messages

  • Has anyone found any way to read books on kin twom?

    i know i ve seen someone ask this question but it wasnt really addressed the same way, has anyone found a way to read books on kin twom? whether it be through a google portal as i heard someone say, or any other way to do this, preferably without needing the wifi to use it (obviously i would assume you need the wifi to get it in the first place,but maybe not need to be connected to read?) if there is any way, even if throught an online prtsl, please let me know. also, please forgive me for my word usage, i am not by any means a technical person, thanks!

    I recently added an ebook called Planet of the ******, to the Kin Twom .  Of course, this being a Kin, I had to get creative.  I found freeware called RasterBook to convert a html ebook to .jpg.  This allowed me to load the jpegs through Zune.  Now, when I go to camera -->albums, I can read the ebook.  
    The way I figured out to do it:
    1. Download the freeware RasterBook
    2. Open notepad and type in the following: start RasterBook.exe --width 480 --height 320 --rotate 90 --overlap 20 --format jpeg
    3. Save the file as kin.bat in the directory C:\Program Files (x86)\RasterBook 
    4. Download a .html version of an ebook.  I found a free one (Planet of the ******) at Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page)
    5.Double click on the kin.bat file.  This launches RasterBook
    6. Open the folder containing the .html of your ebook. Drag and drop the .html file into the RasterBook window.
    7.  Click on the button "Render Book" in the RasterBook window. 
    8. You will see your .jpg files start to generate.
    9. Finding the resulting .jpg files is a little tricky.  The RasterBook freeware kept throwing the ebook .jpgs in the folder C:\Users\<your username here>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\RasterBook or C:\Program Files (x86)\RasterBook.  There seems to be no rhyme or reason to where the hundreds of jpg files save to.
    10. Once you find your.jpg files load them using Zune to your Kin.
    11.  Then go to camera --> albums and you should be able to find the book.
    12.  To read each page of the book swipe the screen to the right or the left to advance to the next page in the book.

  • How to check in the KIN TWOm is in a store near me?

    I am wondering if there is a way to check through the website if a store near me has the KIN TWOm is in stock

    I don't think you can check through this site. You will have to call the stores directly. There is a Store Locator button at the upper right though.

  • Free ways to make Kin more useful and entertaining

    Reading through the forum, it seems most of us got the Kin because we did not want to pay for the $29.99 a month data plan.  In that same frugal spirit, I don't want to pay for a Zune pass or any other kind of service that costs money.  I was hoping that folks would share tips/tricks/sites that enrich the Kin experience for free or almost free. 
    Since, I live in a metropolitan area, I ride public transportation to and from work.  This gives me almost two hours of unoccupied time for my Kin Twom to keep me entertained.  I'm no techie.  So please forgive my tips for being so basic.
    So far, I have been enjoying audio books, movies, and music that I've downloaded legally and at no cost from the following sites:
    Free Audio Books
    http://librivox.org/  - At LibriVox, volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain (aged past the terms of the copyright) into digital audio (eg. mp3), and then make the audio files available to the world, for free.  You download the mp3 files from the site to your computer's zune music folder and then load onto your Kin through Zune.
    Free movies
    http://www.classicfreemoviedownloads.com/ - This site has a rotating list of movies in the public domain.  You download the mp4 files from the site onto your computer's zune video folder and then load onto your Kin through Zune.  I've just downloaded "The Lady Vanishes" (1938)
    Free Music
    http://www.artistdirect.com/music/free-downloads - This site is sponsored by Virgin Atlantic records and lets you download music from emerging artists for free.  You download the .mp3 to your computer's Zune music folder. Note: only some of the music on the site is free.  So don't get confused and actually purchase.

    Hello All,
    I had hoped to stumble onto a way to enjoy streaming internet radio on the Kin.  Alas, I only have found sites that let you call into a phone number and listen to a radio show.  I don't have that many minutes to burn.  If anyone has had success finding a site to listen to streaming internet radio, I would be glad to hear about it. 
    In the interim, I have found another good free and legal movie download site (http://www.archive.org/details/movies) that works with my Kin and Zune.  The site caught my attention because it offers Night of the living Dead.  This movie has always been in the public domain because of an omission by the film editors to add a copyright to the film.
    One of the links on the site points you to this bloggers top 40 movies availble for free from archive.org.  You might enjoy other movies from this list.
    http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2010/08/11/top-40-best-free-legal-movies-you-can-download-right-now/

  • What is going on with the kin TWOm??

    I want this phone so bad!! I have called everybody that has anything to do with this phone!! Nobody is giving me any answers at all. However i called the manufacture and they said they stopped making them a month ago soo... ?? Please verizon can i get a answer that is right. And is their any way at all I  could get this phone? anywhere?
    Thanks!!

    For about the past week there've been several "Kin Twom" phones ebay auctions in "new other" condition which ebay and the seller define as
    "New other (see details): A new, unused item with absolutely no signs of wear. The item may be missing the original packaging, or in the original packaging but not sealed. The item may be a factory second or a new, unused item with defects. See the seller’s listing for full details and description of any imperfections."
    "The phone may be classified as Overstock, Manufacturer Refurbished, Buyer Remorse / Carrier Return, or Used. Since we purchase in large quantities, we do not know the specific history of each model."
    And now and then I see a "Kin Twom" phone in "new" (not "new other") condition for auction on ebay.

  • Contacts saved on the KIN TWOm

    I just spent a few hours keying in all my contacts from my old phone.
    Now I'd like to know if there's a way to save or export them to my computer.  If this phone needs to be replaced under warranty and I get another KIN TWOm I sure don't want to have to repeat this tedious process again.
    Is there a way to export my contacts that are on my KIN TWOm and import them if needed?
    Thanks

    I am not sure if it would be possible. You probably already know, that backup assist syncs the backup to an online database, that you can access through My Verizon. I am not sure if there is a 'sync with computer' option from the website, if it could grab your outlook, gmail contacts, etc. Assuming it could: then it would be similar to treat the backup assist and your computer as the same source. Now, from there, like stated, you can get contacts from backup assist to the phone (it requires a trip to the store): i'm not sure if they have to physically hook up a separate phone, to the kin phone, to do so. But if they do, then it would be about as simple as loading the backup assist contacts to a separate phone, and then hooking up that separate phone to the Kin. I don't know if you own the phone, or if you are currently shopping, but the phone does have a hidden programming menu (accessed by dialing ##77647266488, access code is 000000; note that you have to dial this from the 'phone app', you can't call it from a saved contact, etc because it isn't actually dialing a number, it is just running a process that goes to the programming menu). In that menu, there is a contacts menu, and in there, an import contacts, and export contacts.
    screenshots of the programming menu:
    The problem: no one knows where the phone imports from, or where the phone exports from. When you press export, it will say 'contacts successfully exported!'. My guess is, it creates some 'standard' file type containing your contacts, and when you go in-stores, the machine that they use accesses the actual memory of the phone, and in whatever folder it stores it in, they can just pull it from there, or import a file into the phone in the same manner. I do know, that a while back, i was playing around in this menu and accidentally pushed 'import contacts', and then i had duplicates of every contact, which was a pain to go through and delete. So it seems likely that they have that file type i mentioned ont he phone, and depending if you push import or export, it'll either create the file, or import that file type into the phone contacts list (maybe..could it be as simple as connecting the phone to the computer via usb while pushing this button..?? but i doubt it, its never that easy with microsoft; maybe you or someone else can try it though, just in case ).
    I don't know how much computer knowledge you have, but I read another thread saying they were trying to use a workaround, with a program called 'Python' (also another method in-progress called 'bitpim') to access and edit the phone, both its code, and just as a file on the computer (think, mass storage device-type access). I also read somewhere that someone was able to open the phone's contents ont he computer, but the problem was he couldn't open individual files like they were locked, or read-only. But I bet, if you can open it up on a computer, then you can pull the file out, or copy one in, and then it would make transferring contacts possible at home on any PC. But, if you're like me and either/both don't have the knowledge or the time to figure this out, then you have to live with no exporting contacts. If you do have this computer knowledge though, go ahead and try it out.
    With one exception, i bet in-stores, they are able to access the phone's files and pull out that export file, so maybe they would be able to transfer that to My Verizon, or another phone/database to back-up. Just to warn you though, Verizon reps are not computer science majors, so they likely wouldn't be able to figure this out (if they haven't already, that is), and from my experience, most reps don't even know that this phone was re-launched.
    I'll just ask though, if you do figure this out, please share Many, many of us would like to know.
    Edit: Here is a link to the microsoft forums that has an extensive, technical discussion about reading the phone as a usb device, editing the phones and trying to get contact importing/exporting to work, etc. Within this thread, 3 other threads working ont he same thing are also linked.
    http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/pmxphone/thread/9b23d62d-f399-4957-9d42-4a443fb55bc3

  • I broke my KIN TWOm, HELP!!!

    So, this morning I broke my KIN TWOm two months into a two year contract and I have NO insurance... What are my options?
    I am willing to spend upwards of 80$ to get a new one, refurbished version being an option.
    Also: I still have my previous Verizon phone, if that helps.

    In what way is it broken? Something not covered by the manufacturer's warranty? (Damage from drops and water are not covered.) If you don't have insurance and are not eligible for upgrade, you may be able to purchase a refurb. Call customer service and ask. Otherwise, look on eBay.

  • Has anyone else honestly had GOOD luck with the Kin TwoM?

    I recently purchased a Refurb Kin TwoM off ebay...I havent yet activated it but I did want to pass this along to others (as I was curious about) that I WAS able to take my old Samsung Intensity to a VZW Store and they transferred all my contacts within about 5 minutes! I wanted to make sure that would work first before anything!  Also, I tested out the wifi @ home and Mcdonalds and it connected just fine!..its like a Wifi-Enable Mp3 player right now and it only cost me $40, so hopefully once i fully activate it the actual PHONE will work!  There are a few quirks Ive noticed like others have pointed out..such as the screen lock doesnt actually lock the volume controls on the side....and the browser is awesome for a basic phone but isnt quite as smooth or 'fluid' for webpages like our Ipod Touch is...(but you really shouldnt compare it to any smart' devices that like) Im not sure if its true for all Kin's but I havent been able to play videos offline like Youtube? anyone else have this issue? I also wish with there were some simple Apps like FB / Twitter/ Maps available but I suppose I cant expect too much!

    I know I'm tempting fate by posting this, but yes, I've been quite happy with my KIN TWOm.
    I got mine originally in June, 2011. A couple of weeks later, it dropped from the holster on a dirt path and must have hit a pebble or something, because a small section of the screen stopped working. VZW sent me a "Certified" replacement (cost me $99 because of the apparent physical damage), and it has been performing fine for the past 13 months.
    Sure, there are some software quirks (It's Microsoft, remember?) but the benefits clearly outweigh those.  Probably the thing I miss most is the lack of any voice recording/command function.  But I love that it has WiFi, and the nice camera and 8GB memory let me take over 400 pictures when my normal camera was stolen on the second day of a trip to Europe.  The Zune music player is nice as well, and the e-mail client, while limited in function, is much nicer than the one on my previous phone.
    As for the actual phone functions, I text more than I talk, and the physical keyboard is very nice for that. As for voice calls, I do that pretty seldom, but have not had any problem with dropped calls, volume, etc.
    OK, the big elephant in the room is the "black screen" that seems to affect so many people. It's happened to me a few times as well. I think my background as a computer guy has helped me deal with this.  When this has happened to me, it's always been when the device was "sleeping", and just didn't want to wake up. Like maybe it wasn't recognizing the interrupt from the "back" button. In those cases, I've found that holding the button down a little longer, opening the keyboard, or briefly pressing the power button will get its attention. Or sometimes I just need to let the device rest for a minute or two and it manages to untie itself.  There have just been a very few times when I've had to do a cold boot (remove/replace the battery).
    You also need to be careful as to how you put the device in your pocket or belt holster. Make sure that you don't position it in a way that the power button can be accidentally pressed when you sit down. There have been a few times when I take the phone out of my pocket and the little power off confirmation box is displayed. If that happens, be careful not to touch "OK" -- unless you want to power off.
    Anyway, maybe mine is living on borrowed time, but overall I've been very happy with it so far.
    I know there are others who have not had such a good experience, but this thread asked for people who were happy with their KINs, and I am.

  • Anyway to read books on the KIN TWOM

    Hey all,
    I was wondering if anyone had found a way to read books on this phone. I apologize if this has been answered somewhere else.
    Thanks for your time.

    I posted this response to a similar question:
    I recently added an ebook called Planet of the ******, to the Kin Twom .  Of course, this being a Kin, I had to get creative.  I found freeware called RasterBook to convert a html ebook to .jpg.  This allowed me to load the jpegs through Zune.  Now, when I go to camera -->albums, I can read the ebook.  
    The way I figured out to do it:
    1. Download the freeware RasterBook
    2. Open notepad and type in the following: start RasterBook.exe --width 480 --height 320 --rotate 90 --overlap 20 --format jpeg
    3. Save the file as kin.bat in the directory C:\Program Files (x86)\RasterBook 
    4. Download a .html version of an ebook.  I found a free one (Planet of the ******) at Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page)
    5.Double click on the kin.bat file.  This launches RasterBook
    6. Open the folder containing the .html of your ebook. Drag and drop the .html file into the RasterBook window.
    7.  Click on the button "Render Book" in the RasterBook window. 
    8. You will see your .jpg files start to generate.
    9. Finding the resulting .jpg files is a little tricky.  The RasterBook freeware kept throwing the ebook .jpgs in the folder C:\Users\<your username here>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\RasterBook or C:\Program Files (x86)\RasterBook.  There seems to be no rhyme or reason to where the hundreds of jpg files save to.
    10. Once you find your.jpg files load them using Zune to your Kin.
    11.  Then go to camera --> albums and you should be able to find the book.
    12.  To read each page of the book swipe the screen to the right or the left to advance to the next page in the book.

  • New User KIN twom needs help!

    Hi guys, I recently purchased a Kin TWOM because i wanted a decent phone without having to pay for data plan. I have some questions that I need help answering/confirming because I searched online and it'll be nice to have all my answers here.
    1. WIFI
    Q: I understand that the kin two can go on wifi FOR FREE as long as you turn the 3G network off.
    Would turing your phone to airplane mode be good enough to NOT use the 3G at all or do I need to go online and do a data block on the phone?
    Would turning the data block off online, completely turn off the 3G network, so i guess incase of emergency, no use of 3G?
    I can still receive text without 3G (text is not part of data- i think?)?
    2. Games
    Are there any games you can download from computer to the phone? I saw that someone posted mytouchgames.com as a site inwhich you can lay games on it or something. I want to play games and see if can imput by comp.
    3. ZUNE
    I never had a zune before and have no idea how it works. I believe this is free. I saw that all you need is to download a program and I can start putting my music from my computer to  the phone and just play it like a mp3.
    Can you use mp3 from the computer, put into zune and use it as a ringtone?
    Ringtone on phonezoo..sending it to the phone would not cost anything? But i'm not sure where to save it to because i don't think i want it to be permenant. Can I send it to the zune program
    Some people also mentioned sending by email..i don't really understand it. Are we sending it as an attachment? or a link??
    4. Bluetooth
    Can you transfer music/pictures/ect. from phone to phone via bluetooth? I would probably like to send pictures to my sister when I see her WITHOUT using text. If not, is the only way is to transfer pictures from phone to computer and post it online?
    5. MISC
    I heard that there was an issue regarding the phone being on silent and still ring, can someone clarify? like if its on vibrate, the alarm would still go off,  but if people called, it'll be on vibrate?
    THANK YOU for your time in answering these questions.

    icekitsune714 wrote:
    Hi guys, I recently purchased a Kin TWOM because i wanted a decent phone without having to pay for data plan. I have some questions that I need help answering/confirming because I searched online and it'll be nice to have all my answers here. Hi and welcome to the boards!
    1. WIFI
    Q: I understand that the kin two can go on wifi FOR FREE as long as you turn the 3G network off.
    Would turing your phone to airplane mode be good enough to NOT use the 3G at all or do I need to go online and do a data block on the phone? Correct, wireless providers do not charge for Wi-Fi use. However, it's very difficult to tell on the Kin whether you're using Wi-Fi or 3G, so I do recommend a data block. As you stated, you can also put the phone in airplane mode, but that does shut off the radio, so you will not receive any calls or texts when you do this.
    Would turning the data block off online, completely turn off the 3G network, so i guess incase of emergency, no use of 3G? Correct, you would have to go online to My Verizon or call customer service to enable data. If you think you'll occasionally  use it while out, maybe you want the $10 data plan ... $1.99/MB adds up fast!
    I can still receive text without 3G (text is not part of data- i think?)? Yes, you will still receive texts. You can even receive MMS (pic and vid messages), but the customer service rep has to set this up correctly on your account. Be very careful that the rep doesn't remove the data block to allow MMS -- you will think you're using Wi-Fi and the charges will really add up.
    2. Games
    Are there any games you can download from computer to the phone? I saw that someone posted mytouchgames.com as a site inwhich you can lay games on it or something. I want to play games and see if can imput by comp. No experience with this, sorry.
    3. ZUNE
    I never had a zune before and have no idea how it works. I believe this is free. I saw that all you need is to download a program and I can start putting my music from my computer to  the phone and just play it like a mp3. Zune is great. It's free to use (unless you decide to purchase the Zune Pass, which is a music subscription for $15/month, plus you can keep 10 songs every month for your own collection). When Zune installs, there's a setting that syncs all the music and pics already on your computer. So when I installed Zune, all my music from Windows Media Player was there. You simply drag and drop to put on your Kin. You can also subscribe to podcasts through Zune. Plus the Kin does have an FM radio, which sounds good and shows current songs playing if the info is available.
    Can you use mp3 from the computer, put into zune and use it as a ringtone? I don't think this worked for Kin users.
    Ringtone on phonezoo..sending it to the phone would not cost anything? But i'm not sure where to save it to because i don't think i want it to be permenant. Can I send it to the zune program
    Some people also mentioned sending by email..i don't really understand it. Are we sending it as an attachment? or a link??
    4. Bluetooth
    Can you transfer music/pictures/ect. from phone to phone via bluetooth? I would probably like to send pictures to my sister when I see her WITHOUT using text. If not, is the only way is to transfer pictures from phone to computer and post it online? I read that the Kin Bluetooth only works for headsets, not file transfer, but I'm not certain.
    5. MISC
    I heard that there was an issue regarding the phone being on silent and still ring, can someone clarify? like if its on vibrate, the alarm would still go off,  but if people called, it'll be on vibrate? This is because the ringer switch does not lock. So if your phone is in your pocket, you can bump the switch and put it in another mode. So you think it'll ring and it's on silent, for example. 
    THANK YOU for your time in answering these questions.

  • Kin Twom initial setup

    I just bought a Kin Twom and I cant finish the initial set up, When it asks to put in your email it wont go past that part, and it says if i do not complete that part i will have limited access to my phone and also will pop up that part of the phone set up every time I restart my phone. I have most data stuff blocked so i cant get any data fees, I called verizon and they unblocked my data for a few minutes and it still would not take my email... just wondering if anyone else has had a problem with initial set up of the phone.

    Courtney,
    Are you certain your phone is twom?   I have discovered that mine was mislabeled and is the original two so it has the older OS on it.  I believe it is trying to use the now dis-functional KIN crap to login initially, hence the failure.  The easy way to tell is whether there is a green spot at the bottom of your screen after you reject the setup and get to the sample menu.  You could also look under the battery at the serial numbers... I think there should be an M somewhere? (My old ONEM had an M). 

  • Kin TWOm Re view

    Been on the fence since the Kin 2m came back out,Read all the reviews here,the web and on verizons site itself.Read about the no text fwd,no ringtone down loads, & no apps,but then thought,i dont need that any way.fwd may 3 texts in 20yrs of owning a cell phone,downloaded maybe 3 rintones in that time,and dont really want to pay for a data plan to download & use an app to open my garage door! Then Verizon had it for free during their christmas promotion,so i ordered one,got it a week before christmas,but the wife wouldnt let me open it until xmas day.so i had it for a week now and figured i'de throw in my 2 cents.
    General feel/apperance: Yes the back does feel kinda "cheap" and slippery.But will get a case off amazon like posted in earlier reviews.Dropped it twice so far with no issues.Like the size & weight.The Touch screen is very nice,its bright and easy to see and use.
    Wi Fi: Its great! Had a few issues connecting to home wi fi,but had same issues with my 6yr olds Nintendo Dsi,got on after 2 days of trying.Had no issues with free hot spots.Seems very fast also.But does drain battery quickly.Only use it if the home lap top is being used by other family.Did the data block with Verizon,and use the airplane mode.
    Call: calls are loud and crisp.Used andEnv 2 before the 2m,and much better sound with the 2m.dont like you can't disable the touch tone sound when dialing,but will live with it.Like how i have a favorite contacts page by swipping left,then can touch someone,and have the option to call/text from there.
    Messages: Like the threaded messages,with the calls listed along with texts.Dont like how it dosent keep track of characters used,only have the 250 text plan so like to keep my texts short.Like the quick smiley/sybols key.
    Keyboard: Great keyboard! nice feel to the push of the keys,i definatley know when i push a key.Only con with keyboard is kept messing up between the o/9 key and the p/0 key when typing the 0 at first.And the top row is kinda close to the top slide,but got used to it after a day or so.Like the smiley/symbol dedicated button,the call button & search button.was alot easier texting after reading the pdf users manuel on Verizons web site.Found out u can push the green "shift" button twice tou keep the green key active.
    Camera:Awsome! Great pics! haven't used video yet.Used the touch shutter button only,the dedicated camera button is hard to use with slider open.like how it stores photos,recent,favorite etc.
    Zune: Another great feature! downloaded the software before i got the phone so knew what to do when i got the phone,like how it downloads pics to computer and puts them in albums on phone.The radio feature is awsome,sounds great through supplied head phones.Have put any music on yet,but will soon.The free 14 day Zune pass trial is ok,but after the 14 days are up.from what i've read,you loose all acess to the song you downloaded unless u subscribe.
    Cons: Not really cons just some things that one might be used to with past phones that u cant do with the 2 m.Like download ringtones,gonna try the sites mentioned here tho.The no volume lock,havent had an issue yet with this,but can be annoying.I actually like some of the ringtones/alerts that come with the phone.And havent had any issues with hearing them.Dont like that it dosent have an alarm only setting for sound.used that alot with old phone.
    Overall: Great phone if your looking for a feature phone.If you want to download apps,games or ring tones,dont buy it.Verizon & Microsoft can make some $$ with the kin onem & 2m if they realize there are people out there,like me,who want a touch screen,8mp camera,wi fi & zune,but dont want to pay for data.They can use these phones as a stepping stone for people to try it,the upgrade to a smart phone later and pay for more data.Kinda a teaser phone.Overall loving my kin twom! Battery life is great,unless u use wi fi alot.
    My Question: Like to send pics/text to Facebook,but wont let me send text/pic to the facebook e mail address i got from Facebook.Any one know a way around this?
    Thanks to all the reviews that helped me decide to give the 2m a try,i am really happy with it! 4 stars!

    one thing i forgot to review,was the no contacts transfer,i had no issue with this,only had about 30 in my old phone and wasnt bad doing it manually.was a good thing for me,got rid of some old ones,added new ones or updated them,plus verizon is splitting our area code soon,so we will need to dial it with any number,gave me the chance to add them to phone now.Like how you can put in multiple #'s home,work,etc. and Really like the feature of birth days and anniversary and business contacts,notes on people,& addresses all in one page and it syncs to calendar automatically!

  • Our KIN Twom phone ringers are too quiet.

    Our KIN Twom phone ringers are too quiet. 
    Are loud ringers/ringtones available?  We have the volume all the way up, and still can't hear them. Do I have to make my own loud ringtones, or is there a way to increase the system volume?  We have tried all the suggestions in the manual, but even with the volume turned up all the way, they are hard to hear if you aren't in the library or som  other quiet place.

    Agreed. Well..depends on how deep of a sleeper you are. But..i wanted an 'alarm' alarm on my phone anyways, so i found 2.
    As far as ringtones/alarms/etc go, both phonezoo.com and myxer.com work well. myxer doesn't require registration while phonezoo does, however i found that phonezoo has a much larger collection and better customization (haven't found the 'volume' on myxer to make any difference, and that is all myxer has over phonezoo), as well as it is all free, where myxer is some free, some of charge.
    I would suggest saving them to your pc, then sending them through email. It may be my paranoia of 'unknown' sites having my phone number, email, etc, but i don't want any extra telemarketers/spam that i don't have to have. For phonezoo, i just didn't provide a number (or at least a real one), which isn't required if you just save it to PC, then email to the phone (###@vzwpix.com). And if you're really paranoid, create another email for registering anyways (i used a secondary email i already had).
    Here are the links to the alarms that i used:
    http://www.phonezoo.com/ringtone/205379540/alarm-clock-1.htm
    http://www.phonezoo.com/ringtone/90368644/alarm-clock.htm
    Note about ringtones with the Kin phones: you can't rename or delete them, as many of you already know. However, when you save a ringtone of the same name onto the phone, it will overwrite the old one. Lesson was, name the ringtones to names you plan on keeping (before you save/send to the phone), although you don't have to worry too much about the actual alarm quality. If you edit it in a way you don't like, you can just re-edit the ringtone and send it as the same name to overwrite it. This helped me, where i created a ringtone that cycles exactly 2 times before the phone goes to voicemail (~9 secs, fyi. and ~24 for a single cycle)
    For those 2 alarms, i just called them @Alarm 1 and @Alarm 2. The @ is so they appear at the top of the list. To my knowledge, you can't organize the ringtones into the categories of 'melodies', 'alerts', or 'alarms'. What i did instead is put a symbol in front of the name, so they appear above the list of melodies anyways. To be honest, most/all of the default melodies aren't worth much, although i find that the alerts/alarms are noises that i do like and use. For anything custom, certain symbols 'translate' correctly when transferred to the phone, including ! and @, and others that i didn't try. Ones like * and _ don't work out, the phone translates them to number sequences (_ is 95 or something like that), its just trial and error as to which actually register the symbols. Name it to what you want on the computer, and send it to the phone. You'll recieve it on the Kin, but before saving it, make sure the name is what you want it to be (symbols, caps, spacing, spelling, etc), and if theres errors, change it on the comp and re-send it.
    On top of having them sorted above the default melodies, this also allows me to sort them by 'type', aka ! is alarms/alerts, and @ is ringtones. Just my custom way of sorting things, i'm sure numbers work the same too, so theres plenty to cycle through, just put them in front of the ringtone name.
    I also added 3 completely silent ringtones to my phone, of different lengths (short, medium, long). On my old phone, i was used to vibrate only, so this is for if i ever decide to make only certain tones vibrate only, i can just set it to the silent ringtone, with vibrate on in the system settings.
    Link:
    http://www.phonezoo.com/ringtone/205318823/total-silence.htm
    just edit it through phonezoo by changing the lengths, and saving them under different names.
    Cheers.

  • Kin Twom shuts down computer when connected

    I searched this forum and cannot find a solution to my problem. I can open up Zune with no problem. Then when I connect my Kin Twom to the computer via USB cable, it would try to connect then shut down my computer every time I connect.
    I did not have this problem before until now. I even updated the Zune software to no avail. Anybody have a solution to this problem?

    Hi Adonis,
    I understand your discontent; I would be frustrated if my computer powered off when I connect my phone to it. Since the issue appears to be with your computer, I would recommend removing the Zune software completely and then re-installing it as some files may have become corrupted and are causing your computer to power off. Keep in mind that we are not able to troubleshoot computer software/hardware issues.
    Please note that this is a peer to peer forum and while our Social Media Team monitors the activity on these forums, we offer more efficient ways to get troubleshooting assistance for critical issues that require immediate attention.
    You can contact us on Twitter @VZWSupport Monday to Friday 7am - 10pm and Saturday 7am - 4pm CST.
    You can also call us at 1-800-922-0204 for immediate assistance from 6am to 11pm CST any day of the week including Sunday. For assistance with phone issues please have your phone fully charged and available for troubleshooting when you call us.

  • Kin TwoM: Review, FAQ, Q&A, troubleshooting, etc.

    I bought the kin twom 3 days ago. We qualified for the new every 2 free phone, contract renewal deal, so i've been looking around for a few weeks, doing my research on forums here and there. So, i already knew most of the quirks by the time i bought it. To those who have made detailed reviews, thank you. It helped me decide whether to buy this phone or not. So to contribute back and perhaps help others searching for answers to the Kin twom, I am making a review/FAQ/Q&A to hopefully help answer questions, add my own insight, as well as information that i've found from scouring this and other forums. I  also have a few questions of my own that i will ask. It will cover many questions that i have seen asked around, questions i  had in mind before i bought the phone, as well as questions and observations i now have.
    ***and i am hoping somewhere a verizon/microsoft rep is reading this and passes the message along..that this is one of the  best feature phones out there, all it needs a a few minor firmware/software fixes, and really is as close to the 'perfect'  feature phone that i and many others have been looking for***
    This is a very long review, so I will post it in separate posts (apologies for the double.. 10x post).
    Contents:
    **1 Overview, pro's and cons
    **2 Physical quality
    **3 Wifi
    **4 Phone: calls, messaging, etc
    **5 Camera
    **6 Zune
    **7 Secondary apps: alarm, calculator, calendar
    **8 Cases
    **9 Sensors
    **10 Questions
    Background: my old phone was a razr v3m, back to the stone ages. It was a free phone when i bought it, and i was looking for a free phone upon upgrade too. This phone is $50, but for a one-time charge, that was within budget for me. I also used the new every 2 $100 towards purchase offer to get it free. That being said, this could be why i love this phone, because in nearly every way, it was a HUGE improvement. The type of things i was looking for in a phone: good call quality, qwerty keyboard,
    good camera. I mainly use my phone..as a phone. Call, text, and because i don't carry a camera around with me,
    having an 8 mp with me and HD video was a huge bonus. I don't mind touchscreens, as long as it has a separate keyboard with it (i can't stand just having a touch keyboard, because you can't really do anything unless you are looking at it, and even  then, you can miss keys). Looking online and finding this phone and that it had the great camera and full keyboard as a feature phone (no data) at a low cost, i was instantly drawn towards it.

    **1. First things first, this is a feature phone, not a smartphone. There are no apps. They call their programs 'apps', but they are really just every phone applications, like phone, calculator, messages, browser, etc. You can imagine why this phone failed its first time through as the kin twom, being a smartphone. It would make just about the worst smartphone out there. I also was not looking for the social networking type phone that this was originally marketed as. This phone is for people who DON'T want data plans, don't want to pay extra. It is currently being sold for $50 with a contract renewal/new contract, and $220 without a contract. The kin onem is a smaller version of the kin twom, if that is the form factor you are looking for, and that is currently listed as $20 w/ a 2 year contract, and $120 contract-free. They are very similar phones, from what i know, they have identical user interfaces and software.
    Here are the user manuals for the two phones:
    Kin Onem: http://cache.vzw.com/multimedia/mim/kin_two_m/kintwo_m.pdf
    Kin Twom: http://cache.vzw.com/multimedia/mim/kin_one_m/kinone_m.pdf
    I read this even before i bought the phone, but that could be because i am pretty picky when it comes to buying new products, especially knowing i want it to last at least 2 years. It would be a good idea to read this, although it is understandable if 150 pages isn't your definition of light reading (although this review is pretty long itself..)
    Here is also a link to a very helpful review video of the Kin twom (thanks to ertrox342, fantastic job!), you can see many of the features here. *note: for blocking data other than airplane mode, read further down my review*
    Part 1
    Part 2
    Response to comments
    off the top of my head, i will list pro's and cons of the phone (some of which will be covered in further detail below). Many of the cons have been listed all over these and other forums and are more bugs than just cons of the phone, but i will list them anyways.
    ***Pros:***
     *mostly deals with the functionality of the phone. In my opinion, it far exceeds my expectations (being a feature phone, low budget and all)
    -full qwerty keyboard: lots of spacing between keys, space on its own line, good for bigger hands, etc. (although i've heard people complaining theres too much room between keys..i don't see how you can have too much room, in my opinion thats probably because they're used to a squished, shrunk keyboard from a previous phone)
    -8 MP camera, 720p HD video, with flash, some lighting settings, and auto-focus (well beyond what i expect from a phone). No, the flash does not work with the video, nor can you use it as a flashlight, which is a little bit of a downside, but not unbearable. it does do have a burst setting, where it takes 3 successive pictures, good for motion, or where you need to capture a photo at the right time (think..the classic jump in the air).
    -great capacitive touchscreen: very responsive, registers well, very comparable to apple's iPhone, iTouch response. Has pinch to zoom, double tap, 2 finger tap, scroll features.
    -Wifi. Yes, internet without a data plan. the browser is based off IE6 (from what i've read), it opens most pages, plays certain videos (youtube is the main one, microsoft must have used a custom plugin to get videos working), really what you expect from a phone.
    -Zune player.  along with wifi, these are all extra bonuses i really didn't expect on a low-budget feature phone. although i am used to apple's itunes, it is a full player on-board the phone, it just takes getting used to the interface (unless you already own a zune)
    -FM radio. again, a bonus. Is within the zune player, and now i can listen to radio, or mainly for me, sports games, etc. One downside though, will be mentioned later (cons, **6)
    -3.5 mm headjack: standard size, i don't like it when phones decide to throw on a 2.5 mm headjack, although they both are 'standard', 3.5 is much more common, and saves you a trip down to radioshack and some $$ to buy an adapter, or new headphones.
    -good call quality, speakerphone works well, etc
    -Great battery life: that could be from what i am used to, my old phone needed daily charging, would often go low-battery in 3/4 a day, and it always had a low-battery beep that could not be silenced without silencing the entire device. It has lasted for 2 days now though, and that has been under pretty heavy use from me testing the new phone.
    -threaded messages: again, the main thing i use a phone for is calling and texting. The messages are sorted by contact, you CAN send more than 160 characters per message (it auto-divides them into individual messages), even to non-verizon customers. That was one of hte most annoying things about my old phone, was once you get to 160 characters (to non-verizon customers..but who really keeps track of who is verizon and who isn't), you had to send and start writing a new message. And yes, you CAN send/recieve MMS simultaneously to having a functioning Wifi (the 'right' way to block data, explained later, **3)
    -Alarm, calendar, calculator: one more thing i generally use my phone for..alarms and the calendar.the original kin didn't have a calendar/calculator, but microsoft did add these to the kin onem/twom models.
    -auto-brightness: brilliant. it works wonders for the battery life, and it adjusts it to a great level when needed. When it is dark..not very bright. when you're outside, brighter screen so you can see it. however, the sensor on the phone can sometimes be covered up by your hand, which makes the screen darker for the setting you are in, which might be what is happening to those who say the auto-bright doesn't work well. I haven't found the exact sensor location yet, but i believe it is the little dot by the earpiece.
    ***Cons:***
      This list is much bigger..but that does not mean that the cons exceed the pro's. The pro's are actual functionalities of the phone, the con's are minor quirks here and there, they can be bothersome, but not crippling. For most part, they are listed from most annoying to least. I will list as many con's as i have seen mentioned around the forums, as well as some of my own, so you can judge the phone for yourself. They don't all necessarily bother me.
    -volume buttons: they do not lock when you lock the phone. That is a sign of poor software engineering..but its bearable (lock..doesn't that mean lock everything, except unlock?). I ordered a case however, that hopefully will make the volume buttons a lot harder to accidentally push. I think what they had in mind was being able to change the volume while listening to music, but if it is locked, then it should be fully locked..they didn't get this one right. One thing about the phone, however, it seems to have sensors on it, whether infared, light, or just pressure/touch sensors, where the actual buttons don't register unless it senses it is 'being held'. Not quite sure how it works, but will discuss later (**9)
    -alarms do not have vibrate only: even if your phone is set on vibrate, there is no vibrate. i do have work-arounds, though, that will be discussed later (cons, **7)
    -messaging: only threaded messages. cannot just sort by time, with all contacts integrated. Also, no one has figured out a way to delete individual messages (or access the message info, for that matter), only the entire conversation. After using the phone for a while though, i realized i never would actually want to just sort by time anyways, it does sort by time in between all contacts, just not in between all messages. Also, people have said there is no way to forward messages, which i could not figure out either. However, i can't think of the last time i've forwarded a message anyways, so that doesn't bother me.
    -no contact groups. So far, i have not figured out how to make groups. I would love to pin some groups to my favorite contacts, rather than just individual contacts, but the only thing i figured how to do was to 'link' contacts. That groups them together, but then you don't see the names of the contacts, only their numbers (and i don't memorize numbers..not since i didn't have a cell). this is also directly related to mass-texting: you can send mass texts, but have to select the contacts individually, or use these groups where you can't see their individual numbers anyways, and have to select them one at a time.
    -Verizon's own backup-assist does not work with this phone. I'm guessing this is because the original kin had the online studio to sync everything, and they didn't bother making it compatible. When they made it a feature phone, they didn't bother making the backup work because it was backed up a separate way. Also, i've read that it does not support bluetooth OBEX profiles, which means you can't transfer contacts via bluetooth. It does have bluetooth in general, though. 
    -it was said in one of the other posts that verizon has been updating its systems to be able to transfer contacts for the new kin models in its stores. I don't know whether that is fixing the backup assist compatibility issues, or providing a way to direct-connect the 2 devices and sync the contacts, but that is promising news to those who don't want to spend the time entering in all of your contacts.
    -slippery backing: the material to make the backing of the phone is very slippery, what i would call poor quality plastic. sounds quite hollow too..like it could break with a drop. However, i'm getting a rubberized case for it that will hopefully fix this and not make it feel like i am going to drop the phone at any time (details later, **8). While the backing does feel cheap, the front half of the phone is very solid. it is a very thick, hard plastic, and doesn't seem like it would break upon impact. I did get a screen cover for it anyways though, because for its cost, i would rather put one on than be bothered by a permanent scratch. They are quite cheap online, although i did buy mine through verizon (they actually gave me a droid incredible cover because they didn't have kin accessories, but the screen sizes are about the same, so i can't complain).
      -along the same lines, because it is slippery, it is very hard to press the back button when holding it with 1 hand. i wish it had a back button on the touch screen along with the physical button.
    -form factor: the phone is largest along the front of the phone, and slighty chamfers in as you go to the back. when it is in your palm, it feels firm and tight, but when using things like the camera, it really would've been a better design to just not have that chamfer. From feel, i believe it only feels funny because the back cover is so slippery. When the case i ordered comes in, hopefully it will have enough friction to stay put and feel good in the hands.
    - a general lack of settings: there aren't many theme settings (only color), and no font sizes (for some reason, you can't zoom in on texts or anything else for that matter, other than the browser and pictures), so be weary if your eyesight isn't the best. Like mentioned with the alarm, there is no vibrate as a sound setting, only a global 'vibrate with sounds' setting. A work-around (that i haven't tested yet, but would most likely work) would be just to create a blank ringtone, and call it vibrate, and keep that global setting on, but you wonder why didn't have a vibrate only setting in the first place. When the phone is put on vibrate, alarms still sound.. but they don't vibrate. but when the global vibrate is on and the phone is on low, medium, or high volume, the vibrate does work for alarms. Kind of backwards. poor software debugging, if you ask me, but its bearable.  I wish you could custom move where the 'recent' and time dashboard were on the interface to the top corners, when holding it landscape, it is a lot more natural for me to press the top of hte screen, not the bottom.
    -no touchscreen keyboard. it doesn't have a touch qwerty, and it also doesn't really have a keypad touch either. while the keypad does come up with calls, you can't use it for texts, or inputting anything other than just a basic phone call. in other words, you have to open the phone to type. it doesn't have t9/predicative texting, and no quick texts either.
    -no back button on the touch screen..only the physical key. I wish microsoft would release an update with an optional setting to make a back and home button  appear in one of the corners much like the time dashboard and recent buttons are.
    -this isn't a kin specific gripe, but phones with accelerometers/auto-rotate in general. I've never had a device that had auto-rotate, so it will just take some getting used to, to keep the screen from not rotating the other way when i don't want it to (if i want to use the phone lying down, i will have to turn it the other way, etc).
    -qwerty keyboard: the enter key is right next to the backspace key (not to mention that return and backspace icons look very similar...). Aftera  while, you sort of remember which one is which, but having them further apart could've been a better design (there is about a half inch of free space on each side of the keyboard). Also, the keyboard does not have cursor arrow keys (up, down, left, right), and they don't come up on the touchscreen either. With all that free space, it would've been really nice if they added cursor keys, but the touch screen works well enough to just pick the spot you want to move the cursor to.
    -fm radio: have to have headphones plugged into phone to use the radio. the headphones act as an antenna for the radio, which is really weird that they didn't bother putting in an internal antenna, because the phone itself already has an internal antenna..there may be a way to 'fool' the device into thinking that headphones were plugged in, but then you could use the radio with just the speaker (i don't think the quality would be too bad without the headphone antennas because the phone has so many conducting parts already..why didn't they just put in an internal FM reciever?).
    -no alarm only setting in with volume
    -no microSD slot. although i kind of expected this, much like the iphone or some other smartphones don't have slots, just built-in memory. But i doubt i'll run out of 8 GB, because i don't think i'll be using this as an mp3 player.
    -the end call button on the touch screen is pretty small (and there is no physical key to end the call), but nothing i won't get used to.
    -ringtones: from what i've read, you can't directly add custom mp3 ringtones to the phone. You have to send them via MMS to the phone. Also, there hasn't been a way to delete ringtones, as far as i know. The default ringtones aren't any good (they also have pretty cheesy names, a carry-over from the social-marketing of the original kin). You can transfer ringtones to the phone, from another phone and MMS, or by emailing your phone at ##yourphonenumber##@vzwpix.com. You also can't rename ringtones. In other words, though, if you do get ringtones (through MMS or texting it to yourself by email), make sure they are named the way you want them to be, and that you are ok with them being permanent, at least until a solution is found. I did read, that if you save the ringtone through zune, under the music folder, then you can delete it when you want.
    -Cannot access kin as a mass storage device. Have to sync through zune. Although Zune isn't that bad (it is windows, and i own a PC running windows 7, making them very compatible and interlinked), i am used iTune's interface, so i just have to learn Zune's UI. You add and remove music, pics, video, etc between the phone and computer through Zune player. It is a free download software. You can also organize photo albums through zune on the computer, it just takes some getting used to if you aren't already a zune player user. I do not know if Zune player works on Mac's, but i read that they are going to be releasing a mac version soon.
        download link: http://zune.net/en-us/products/software/download/default.htm
    -ugly interface: unlike most touchscreen phones where the icons are small and there is blank space, the kin twom has large 'flooded' icons that cover the entire home screen, and aren't editable. I don't think it is that ugly, but it certainly is a change from 99% of the verizon-default interfaces.
    - Background wallpaper: cannot orient the picture direction. I don't care too much which direction the lock screensaver is, but it may be true that you can only have the picture set in 1 direction. It does not change with the accelerometer auto-rotate, but what you can do to change between landscape and vertical is take the picture in the opposite direction and then apply it. I read on one of hte other posts that they can only set it as a landscape background, but i have only been able to set it as a vertical background. That is how i normally hold my phone anyways though, so no problem.
    -Some people have said that the camera button is hard to press, and when you do, it often shakes the phone, causing a blurry picture. i haven't really had problems with that. One thing you have to realize, is it is a 2-step push camera button. Hold half-way to focus, then snap the rest to take the picture. If you push it all the way, it will quickly auto-focus and then take a picture. Same goes for the touch-screen camera take button. The phone can try to slide open a little when taking pictures, but i've found a way to hold it so it is firmly in your hands. Just make sure you are holding the back of the phone on the bottom, not just the screen part.
    -There are no voice commands (as far as i've noticed, if there are, someone correct me on this). I'm putting this under con's because it is something the phone doesn't have that most phones do, but for me personally, i almost see this as a pro. Now i won't accidentally be pushing buttons and hear 'please say a command'. Now, if you use a headset or something like that, that could be a downside.

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