You got lucky, I've had 2 WM phones, one was less problematic than the other, but both gave me issues. As far as ActiveSync not working well for me, don't really see how that could have been me not knowing what I was doing. I installed the software, I hooked my phone up to a USB port. WM 5+ was really hit or miss, people either had zero problems with it, or they had a good deal of problems. With that said I've never had a problem with any other smartphone I've owned.
A big part of WM problems are similar in nature to Windows problems in general. MS make it's money licensing the OS, not the hardware, so it's up to the hardware manufacturer to optimize WM for their phone. There's no standard. Some manufacturers do a decent job making WM run well on their phones, others could care less. That why every WM phone I had I had tons or registry adjsutments, third party apps replacing built in functions, and custom roms, because every stock version of WM I have ever used has been shit.
As far as the Kin, I don't think it will be the Sidekick replacement they want it to be. A big part of the Sidekicks original userbase that really made it popular was the deaf/hard of hearing community, but most have moved on to BB and iPhone now. The only way this succeeds is if it goes to budget carriers like Cricket, MetroPCS, Simple Talk, and Boost, but even those carriers are now starting to put out smartphones. I know between a BB Curve and a Kin, Im going with the BB.
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