INQ1 'Facebook Phone' brings Address Book 2.0 to life
(Photo via Pocket-Lint)
I was lucky enough to make it to the launch party of the INQ1 on Three tonight. This is a really incredible mobile handset that brings to life the concept of Address Book 2.0.
Here are some of my favourite things about it:
- Synchronised Address Book. Your phone address book is linked with facebook, skype and msn. Contacts have their facebook thumbnail automatically shown with their current status and you can initiate facebook wall posts, skype calls, etc
- Shared Inbox. A single inbox shows your sms, IM’s, facebook messages, pokes, etc.
- Webkit. The built in browser is based on the cutting edge webkit, the same as the iPhone, Android G1, Symbian S60, etc. There was super poor phone signal reception at the launch party so I was unable to run it against the WURFL test suite or try and iPhone web apps like x.facebook.com to see how it behaved.
- Last.fm. This is the first time I’ve seen a phone with last.fm streaming built in. The music player also scrobbles songs, a wonderful contrast to the poor scrobbling ability of the iPhone.
- Offline support. If you interact with the apps when there is no signal, such as sending a facebook message when you’re on the tube, it’ll queue up your interactions untill there is signal again.
- Doubles as modem. You can hook up the INQ1 to a laptop and use it as a 3G broadband modem.
- Cheap. It’s free with a £15/month contract or £80 on Pay as you Go with no contract. This includes unlimited data, sms, skype calls and calls to other three customers. An absolute bargain compared to the iPhone or Android.
There are a few downsides of course. The handset is ugly, theres no app store and the UI isnt as slick as it could be. You can write your own Brew apps for the device but don’t expect the same level of integration with the inbox, address book, etc for your own app unless you can negotiate with the carrier. This means no integrated twitter or brightkite client.
It is however hugely promising for a first version and hopefully it will continue to improve and bring the mobile web to the masses.
