Posts tagged inq

At Mobile Today they’ve been chatting to INQ CEO Frank Meehan about the manufacturer’s intentions to release three new phones before the end of 2009.

However, Meehan stated the planned releases of two more INQ devices and a new Skypephone will see the company looking beyond 3, “We are in discussions with other UK operators and by 2010 we plan to sell phones on operators other than 3.”

One of the handsets is sure to be a ‘Twitter phone’ with the micro-blogging service at its heart that will function in a similar manner to the INQ1’s Facebook integration.

As well as looking to expand its range of handsets further in 2010 the brand will also be aiming to make headway in new territories, notably Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.

3UK has reported that INQ1 users are, in the words of Mobile Entertainment, ‘over-indexing’ in regard to data usage on the handset.

This above average activity sees 65% of users making the most of Facebook, the majority accessing it at least one a day. It isn’t just Facebook either, with the other social networking services available on the INQ1 performing well too, “30 per cent regularly use email, 19 per cent use Skype and 50 per cent use Windows Live Messenger (3-4 times the 3UK average).”

Marc Allera, 3’s sales and marketing director, said of the figures, “If an internet communication service is well designed, always on, and simple to use then the take-up potential on mobile is huge. […] The INQ team has very successfully addressed this.”

Mobile News has more on this from both Allera and INQ chief executive Frank Meehan.

On the review site Ciao the INQ1 is scoring well, especially when it comes to Look & Feel, Durability & Robustness and Range of Features.

The individual reviews pick out different aspects of the INQ1 they like with jreay21 approving of the contract despite not being sold on the device itself. This is quite the opposite though of both nivekfs and sofearbear who both praise the handset with nivekfs decreeing the INQ1 as the answer to Facebook, Skype and Ebay while on the move.

Been using an INQ1? Let us know what you think.

Australia.to has, amongst their news pages, discussed the INQ1 and found it to be somewhat of a social networking superstar.

However, it wasn’t all instant gratification, “The INQ is a brilliantly conceived device which takes a while to use to its full potential.” Nevertheless having made their way through the layers of functionality the device was seen to be a hit, offering all you’d expect of a mobile, as well as doubling up as a modem and plugging you straight into Facebook, Skype and Windows Live Messenger.

Their complete review can be found here.

INQ have confirmed they’ll be releasing a Twitter phone in Q4 of 2009.

Mobile News covers the basics, mentioning the INQ1’s tight integration of Facebook and that the unconfirmed INQ2 “will have Twitter support baked in the case.” Rumour is the device may even have a QWERTY keyboard enabling users to fire out tweets with ease.

Alexkinch.com has also spoken about the arrival of the Twitter based INQ handset. Included are quotes from 3 UK Sales Director Marc Allera on the success of the INQ1, something that they’ll clearly be hoping to see replicated by the new Twitter phone over the Christmas period.

SmallManGeorge, from SmallManGeorge’s Blog, has taken on an INQ1 review. He points out that he feels all the applications should be “on the slide menu to make things a little less confusing” instead of having some in the slide menu and some in a traditional menu.

For a conclusion though he states, “I think this phone is good for myself, casual phone users [and users of social media]”.

What do you think, have you had an opportunity to check out the INQ1? Go on and read the full post and let SmallManGeorge hear what you think!

According to Amy-Mae at Pocket-Lint, 3’s original Skypephones, the S1 and S2 which offered ‘a dedicated Skype key and free Skype calls’ are being retired. But the good news for Skypers is that with the promise of ‘as many as six INQ-branded mobiles in 2009’ Amy-Mae reckons that we ‘could be on for an imminent new model in the range, to fill the S1 and S2’s shoes’.

What would you like to see in a new Skypephone? Head over and let Amy-Mae know your thoughts.

The guys over at Mobilenews have revealed some quite interesting news. INQ are apparently in talks with Twitter about the possibility of including the micro-blogging platform in their array of applications – joining Facebook, Last.fm, Skype, Windows Live Messenger and eBay.

INQ chief executive Frank Meehan has said, “Twitter is something we are very much looking at” - good news for anyone who loves their social media.

Head over, read the post and leave them your thoughts.

Out of Control is an Aussie blogger with an INQ1, and they’ve given their readers the full picture on the handset.

The post is positive about the device and concept, “Many of us are living on a tight budget but still want to enjoy the convenience and entertainment from technology, here’s an inexpensive solution: Enter INQ1 mobile.”

There is also a plethora of great images, click through to view!

Wednesday night saw the first 3 Pop Quiz of the year, held at the ‘Crown and Two Chairmen’ in Soho, London and we took a few of our pals along to battle for the trophy. Up against teams from Electric Pig, Real People, Mobile Choice, Stuff, Who’s Jack and T3 to name but a few, Kai, Marianne and Angelika plus Matt and Michelle from 3Mobilebuzz, did battle in the ‘Spring Flings and Social Butterflies’ themed quiz.

This was a quiz with a twist though – the teams were positively encouraged to cheat! Using the Sony Ericsson C510, our team hunted high and low for the answer to puzzlers such as “What’s the average temperature in London during March” and “What’s the collective name for a group of butterflies?” Twitter, Wikipedia, Amazon – all manner of sites were used, but a massive stumbling block came when an entire round of ‘name that tune’ was dedicated to The Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen, things didn’t go so well. After rallying slightly with a couple of general knowledge rounds, the team managed to come 7^th out of 9 (though mainly due to every other team having many more players and in one case, a laptop! But our team wasn’t bitter, much). For the record T3 claimed the title.

All that remains is a big thanks to Kai (who took some excellent photos), Marianne and Angelika for coming along and getting involved – we’ll get ‘em next time!

Voice. An Opinion have been summing up Mobile World Congress in part 2 of their take on proceedings in Barcelona.

This second instalment discusses the concept of “The Social Phone”, models that in whatever manner enhance and support the social networking experience. They believe that a mobile device is exactly the way such spaces should be updated, “[mobile devices] let you capture audio, video, text ‘at the point of inspiration’”

In light of this they discuss the INQ1, “It’s not perfect, but then few things are in this very-quickly changing area, and they are to be congratulated for what they’ve got right.”

For more of Voice. An Opinion on MWC ’09 and the INQ1 click through.

Ciara O’Brien of Minibyte is a tech reviewer for the Irish Times and has recently reviewed the INQ1.

According to the about section Ciara is a fan of all that is shiny and classifiable as gadget, so maybe it is no wonder that she’s seeing the INQ1 as “…designed to appeal to someone just like me.”

Running through the features the review ticks all the boxes you’d want, and concludes with a mention of the usefulness of being able to use the handset as a broadband modem.

Jump through to let Ciara know your thoughts.

INQ1’s success at MWC continues to keep tongues moving and it isn’t entirely just about the winning of the Best Mobile Handset. Take Sean Cooper’s post on engadget, “Down the road was the bit we were most interested in, and lucky for us, INQ was willing to share some secrets. Let’s just say with QWERTY confidence, the future looks absolutely stunning, both in form and potential.”

There is more on the win at SiliconRepublic and AllMobiSoft, there is a particular simply way of winning the winning INQ1 at Pat Phelan.dot net – just leave a comment on his article ‘Want to win INQ1, phone of the year from 3’ and come Tuesday the social-networking handset could be yours.

The INQ1 has won GSMA’s award for Best Mobile Handset at the Global Mobile Awards 2009.

Announced at Mobile World Congress the INQ1 beat off tough competition from Nokia’s E71 and the T-Mobile G1 to claim the title, with the judges believing the INQ1 “represents a significant step towards the mobile device as a social networking hub and also represents superb value for money. Its approach to the deep integration of services such as Facebook outshines that of much costlier smartphones, and it presents a compelling proposition by treating the phonebook as the focal point of the device.”

Will this set a trend? Are we about to see more devices built around social networking, addressing communication via handsets beyond text and voice? Let us know what you think…

All the winners and judges comments from the Global Mobile Awards 2009 can be found here.

Pocket-Lint’s Stuart Miles has predicted a budget smartphone frenzy with the announcement made by Qualcomm regarding a new chipset they’ll be launching after the success of the INQ1.

Revealed at Mobile World Congress, Qualcomm’s chipset the MSM 7227 will allow manufacturers to produce handsets beneath the £100 mark. Placing them in mid-range handsets, they’ll be getting a 600MHz application processor, hardware-accelerated 3D graphics, integrated Bluetooth 2.1 and GPS.

Do you see the market heading this way? Jump in and let Stuart know your thoughts.