Mobile carrier 3 Australia (known elsewhere as Hutchison Whampoa. Can’t think why that didn’t catch on) will shortly be releasing the INQ, which they are billing as “the world’s first social mobile”.
It is an interesting move by 3. After being the only Australian carrier to not secure the Apple iPhone, they appear to have decided to go a completely different direction by founding INQ Mobile to develop a phone that fills a very different gap in the market. The INQ is a stripped back mobile, offering few of the smartphone features currently popular on the market. What the INQ does offer is access to Facebook, Skype, Windows Live Messenger and other internet services built into the operating system. Additionally, it comes with a very competitive price tag; rumoured to be around AU$179. Considerably less than other web phones on the market.
This move seems similar to the release of the Skype Mobile last year. Users of this handset can access 1000 minutes of Skype talk and 10,000 Skype chats per months after purchasing the handset. Like the INQ, the Skype Mobile is a pared down, cheap mobile with a distinct difference to other mobiles. I have been using the Skype Mobile for about 12 months now, and whilst I do miss features like an effective PC sync, I love having access to a web tool I use everyday on a phone that I don’t feel bad about throwing around.
I am interested what other features the INQ will include at launch, and whether any key functionality or quality was sacrificed to keep the price down. If they can fit a Twitter client onto it, I will be more than interested in picking one up. If so, watch this space for a review in the future.
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