HOLYTORNADO!

INQ Hong Kong Launch event

So it seems that social media has gone mobile in a big way. Yes, we all heard of those great Facebook and Twitter apps for the iPhone that just work brilliantly. And yes, you can get Facebook on other handsets as well. However, the mobile upstart, Team INQ has put together a nice piece of kit for the ever struggling mobile operator 3 that does social networking one better. It’s called the INQ¹.

The Gadget Inspectors have appropriately fallen in love with this device, as seen in their video.  And there are some pretty good reasons for it as well. Anyone who has worked in the device side of the industry will tell you that mobile phones are all about design, design and design. Not just the outside, but the software as well. 

Given that the handset itself doesn’t look that much different than let’s say, the Nokia E66, just what is it that makes this interesting? I can already hear the echoes across the blogosphere. “Ah, it’s just a gimmick!” In part, it is just a gimmick, albeit a well done one. The gimmick is that unlike Nokia, INQ has taken it’s UI to task. The icons for all of the embedded social applications are in the main screen menu, making it a quick flip to get what you want. While Nokia’s applications are well and truly hidden in submenu’s and folders. 

On top of that, there is excellent integration with its applications. Java has long been a drawback of mobile phones in that it’s a ringfenced application with limited integration. Here however, the integration is smartly done. I especially like being able to utilise Facebook as my addressbook and the automatic push of Twitter posts. It would be interesting to see just how difficult it is to set up all of one’s social accounts on the phone; an area where the iPhone excels, and the others struggle.

Packaging is another area that INQ has gotten right. While Nokia, Samsung and Sony’s packaging is sometimes stylistic and fashionable, they can also be downright corporate looking. 

With the INQ¹, they sought to “create an object of beauty – something to cherish, not chuck. All too often, packaging needs up in landfills, or recycling bins at best. While we’d like people to keep it, use it and treasure it. When we design our handsets we remix and edit internet services so that the play best on a mobile. Similarly, we remixed the idea of a box and made it into a place to display artwork.  The box art, and the illustrations on the help cards, come from people whose work we really like,” states INQ’s blog. 

The artist for this box is Yuko Shimizu who is also credited on the box itself. Other artists whose work will soon adorn future INQ handsets can be found here.

It’s all very reminiscent of the early part of the century when Nokia partnered with famous designers to create their phones. These so called Limited Editions always sold out even before hitting the stores. It does make one wonder why Nokia didn’t spin off a business producing just limited edition handsets for the design conscious, like they did with the Vertu for the ultra-rich. Instead, new upstarts are taking the thunder away from the market leaders. 

For INQ’s part however, despite a fair start, they have a long road ahead. First off, they are already a generation behind the others, who are already moving towards touch-screen phones. Secondly, their distribution is far too limited, being solely available through the mobile operator 3. Thirdly, putting one’s eggs in the social networking basket may sound like smart business today, but who can say which platforms will dominate in the next two years. And eventually, the majors will learn from these upstarts, take their own UI’s to task and reinvent them from the ground up. Or just buy out INQ. Anybody want to vote for a Sony INQ3?