INQ Mini 3G

Product: INQ Mini 3G
Website: www.inqmobile.com/inqmini
System Specifications:
Price: £60 – Pay As You Go, £15 on contract

FROM THE COMPANY that brought out the very first Skype phone and last year's sociable INQ1 'Facebook' phone, now comes the INQ Mini 3G 'Twitter' mobile phone.

This new mobile phone's form factor is that of a candy bar design, which adds to the existing family of the INQ1 slider model. Now they're only missing a flip/clamshell handset and full touch screen phone which could very well be on the horizon.

The INQ Mini 3G 2.2-inch screen is capable of displaying 240x320 pixels, the same dimensions as the INQ1 only it's a much better screen quality than the first handset and it does show off colours and images much better. For a budget phone it's a reasonable quality screen, although it's not really a budget phone in the truest sense of that category as it's not light on features in any way. Instead, it's a rich social networking handset, full of software that makes it stand out from the budget phones of today.

INQ Mini 3G keyboard differs slightly from the regular format, as all the keys are on a three-bar design across the keypad without any individual separators for each key. As a result pressing down on these keys proved to be a tad awkward in fast typing, as they were incredibly stiff with little or no return on every key press. This could very well be down to the build quality in this low cost phone, in order to keep the retail cost really low. From experience the stiffness could ease up in time; after a week so of use it felt easier, but we're not sure if that's because the rigidness of the keys eased up or if we just became used to it.

Navigating around the OS is done from a rounded D-Pad controller, or from a button on the side which launches a ticker bar that houses its many applications.

It comes with the almost industry standard way of charging, the USB port. Only they've opted for a miniUSB instead of the microUSB as they've doubled up this port as the audio headphone socket as well - again to reduce costs.

Internal memory is still the same as the INQ1 at 50MB and we eventually hunted down the microSD slot buried under the removable back cover and easily mistaken for an air vent. INQ Mobile told us that the Mini 3G is capable of supporting just an 8GB microSD card, but we had no problems using a 16GB as well.

The Mini 3G runs on a 184MHz ARM QSC 6270 Qualcomm chipset and uses the chipset maker's own Brew platform. The interface is very close to the mobile OS behind the original INQ1, only now they're calling their customisation of the Qualcomm platform the INQ System1.

The Mini 3G includes a 2MP camera - a drop down from the 3.2MP version found in the INQ1 - but despite the phone's social networking focus, TwitPic or a similar ability is missing as an option when sending an image.

Sadly, we struggled with reception on the INQ Mini 3G. Unlike its predecessor, we found it very hard to obtain a good signal on the Mini 3G in a variety of locations, while in those same locations the INQ1 could obtain a clear and perfect signal every time - raising some flags as to the viability of the phone being a possible successor to the original handset.

That said, when we did eventually get a signal, it was consistant and strong with the data being delivered to the handset in matching quality.

The applications and OS on the INQ Mobile 3G appear to run a lot smoother than in the past, all of which has its foundation and improvements being made since the INQ1 came out late last year.

With the focus of the Mini 3G being on social networking, integration with Facebook, Skype, Windows Messenger, Email and now Twitter is all more thorough than seen in other handsets.

Also Facebook friends details cross-pollinate into the phone's address book automatically, and a person's Skype and email contacts are recognised and also added, just as before.

As it's a true multitasking OS, loading up any other applications whilst in another is easy without cancelling out the current operation. For example, in the middle of a Facebook message you can easily check if that person's online for a Skype instant message, then wander back to the Facebook message without losing the existing data.

The Mini 3G does lack a good calendar, for instance we would love to have seen the ability to insert Facebook events or even sync with Google calendar - as the Mini 3G addresses Gmail very well. Similarly, only Windows Messenger is included for instant messaging, where a Facebook IM client could have been more useful although we haven't seen it anywhere as yet.

Another notable omission from INQ Mobile's latest phone is built-in access to the music streaming service Last.Fm, which heavily featured in the INQ1. This may very be due to the boss of INQ Mobile now being on the board of Last.fm rival Spotify.

There are some other niceties which complete the phone, from an Itunes-eqsue pc client called Doubletwist down to using the phone as a 3G dongle.

Despite the INQ Mini 3G boasting the same 1150mAh battery pack as the INQ1, the Mini pales in comparison in terms of longevity. We clocked the Mini 3G at lasting for two hours and thirty five minutes on calls before dying an unceremonious death, whereas the original INQ1 lasted another one hour and forty minutes before giving up the ghost. This is also with the INQ Mini 3G screen automatically blanking out when a call is connected and the INQ1 just dims a little in brightness.

With VoIP calls being another key feature in using the phone we ran the we tested the battery life using a Skype to Skype call and once again the INQ1 outperformed the Mini 3G, which survived just two hours and five minutes, 40 minutes less than its predecessor.

In Short
The INQ Mini 3G is really a truly social networking focused handset, rather than a phone housing social networking features. There isn't one large social networking client overlooked, although we would have hoped for a better quality phone this time around and better battery life.

The last version was also a budget handset, but it still looked and felt of a quality build, where the Mini doesn't exude quality. As they are even undercutting the INQ1 in price point, it's fair to say this was planned all along and shouldn't detract potential buyers of the handset. µ

The Good: Social networking based mobile phone, low cost.

The Bad: Poor battery life, no 3.5mm audio jack.

The Ugly: Badly located microSD slot, problems with phone signal.

Bartender's Report:
7/10