Social networking buffs can now enjoy Facebook and other applications right from their handsets. INQ has launched two 3G social mobile phones known as the INQ Chat 3G and the INQ Mini 3G. Both these 3G enabled handsets package premium features at an affordable price.
The company unveils its first QWERTY handset with the INQ Chat 3G. However, the INQ Mini 3G is an entry-level social mobile. Apart from Facebook, Skype and Instant Messaging applications these handsets also incorporate Twitter. With the innovative Twitter application, users can send tweets and retweet through the internet instead of using SMS. The INQ Chat features a specially designed Twitter widget that posts Twitter updates to the homescreen.
Frank Meehan, INQ’s CEO, stated “We build phones that focus specifically on what people want to do most on mobile, and deliver it at a price point that’s easy for consumers and profitable for operators. We have completely broken the vice grip hold that high-end smartphones had on great mobile internet experiences, and made them available to everybody.
“With the INQ Chat 3G, we’ve reinvented the qwerty for consumers by creating a fantastic social mobile. With the INQ1, we were blown away by how much consumers were writing just using the standard 12 keys – 30% of them were regularly sending emails. So we know that a keypad will go down a storm,” he continued.
The INQ Chat 3G comes with a 2.4-inch QVGA TFT landscape display. Along with a 3.2 megapixel auto focus camera it also incorporates GPS functionality. It offers 120MB memory and can be expanded up to 8GB. The handset measures 114.5mm x 61.0mm x 12.8mm.
INQ Mini 3G incorporates 2.2” QVGA TFT landscape display. The dimensions of the handset are 102.9mm x 45.8mm x 12.8mm. It features a 2.0 megapixel camera and comes with 100MB user memory that can be expanded up to 8GB.
The INQ Mini 3G offers web-based email services like Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail and Gmail. Both the handsets can be customized with a range of seven colored backs. Further, the social mobile phones applications can be updated over the air. The 3G phones feature Brew 4.0 and Java MIDP 2.0 for application development multitasking which is supported by dedicated Switcher hard key. The company also introduces media syncing between handsets and PC or Mac.
With this sync software users can sync music from iTunes and WMP directly to their handset. These social mobile phones come with plug and play HSDPA modems that provide high-speed wireless broadband on PCs and Macs. Both the handsets feature presence enabled active address book that displays live status from all contacts facilitating users to select a media to contact them.
The INQ Chat 3G and INQ Mini 3G will hit the markets in Q4 2009.