INQ¹ wins "Best Mobile Handset or Device" at MWC, golf claps
By Sean Cooper 
posted Feb 19th 2009 12:09PM
posted Feb 19th 2009 12:09PM
INQ's social networking monster took away top honors at MWC with a win for best mobile device or handset at the show. Taking a gander at the competition, it is the who's who of high end stuff including the T-Mobile G1, BlackBerry Storm, LG KS360, and Nokia's E-71. So why, you ask, could the admittedly middle tier set win out against what seems like some pretty serious -- well, Storm aside -- competition? INQ won because of how they've enabled Facebook deep integration, focus on your contacts as living, breathing, and ever-changing entities, great pricing, and a compelling user interface. We'd set a meeting to catch up with INQ at MWC hoping to see how things are moving along post-launch and talk about the future. Down the road was the bit we were most interested in, and lucky for us, INQ was willing to share some secrets. Let's just say with QWERTY confidence, the future looks absolutely stunning, both in form and potential. Congrats INQ, way to win an award. Gallery of the newly-crowned INQ¹ after the break.
This is madness! Obviously the iPhone is still the best phone, period.
Fools!
iphone is the best phone to just look at. :)P
Top 30 reasons as to why the iPhone / OSX misses the mark and should never even be considered for such an honor:
1. No multitasking (outside of a few nominal system apps needed for basic functionality -- ever wonder why it appears smooth, well no kidding, you are only running 1 app at a time 90% of the time)
2. No turn-by-turn voice navigation system (a poor man's Google maps version is available for the system however)
3. No Flash support inside Safari (SkyFire can do this with ease, and Flash Lite for Opera even works better than Apple's offering)
4. No copy and paste (WinMo handles this elegantly by comparison)
5. No VGA or WVGA screen (instead we are given a low-Res screen leaving much to be desired. come on Apple, at least give us VGA resolution if not WVGA)
6. No way to edit documents (SoftMaker Office for Windows Mobile handles this impeccably well, even Office Mobile suffices to a certain degree)
7. No bluetooth music streaming and/or file transfers -- A2DP (video is out of the question)
8. No voice command (WM devices have featured this for years now and it works brilliantly on them)
9. No video recording (seriously Apple, I mean come on, my grandmother's 5 year old flip phone has this feature)
10. No capability to take handwritten notes (Asian markets that rely on this and many of us Note takers in general that rely on this critical feature are left out in the cold)
11. No user replaceable battery
12. No physical keyboard (no amount of fooling one's self will make up for the lack of a true hardware keyboard)
13. No drag and drop file juggling
14. No tethering (natively)
15. No MMS (natively)
16. No external storage card support (Micro SDHC cards are up to 32 GB now, 8GB is NOT enough these days, especially for a media device, and besides choice of being able to carry additional media is always a plus)
17. No Java
18. No IR port (it's something many take for granted, using their phones as a remote for well...anything just about)
19. No Live TV (that doesnt require you to be connected to an app like Orb on your home PC, which defeats the purpose, why would I want to watch it on a dinky non VGA screen instead of just on my home PC when im at home anyways)
20. No camera flash
21. No camera zoom
22. No auto-focus
22. Same old, subpar, 2 MP camera for that matter as in the first iteration
23. No radio
24. No front camera
25. Limited video format support
26. Limited picture format support
27. Limited file format support in general
28. Only 128 MB of RAM (Cant run many apps simultaneously -- I mean not that it matters since multitasking is for all intents and purposes out of the question! New WM phones are getting 256+ MB of RAM, with 150+ MB free on bootup)
29. Sluggish performance (perhaps due to the aforementioned 128 MB RAM limitation. why does it take several seconds to open up the contacts list or why does it lag when typing text)
30. A very stringent and almost "closed" development environment (why does Apple have to give its seal of approval for every single app distributed on the phone. This is counterproductive and in many ways even stifles competition. Apple for the longest wouldnt even allow developers to write their own web browsers. SkyFire with flash would otherwise have been an option already for the iPhone, but that would threaten their own Safari browser. Let's not even get into all of the other potentially cool, and not so ethical apps that are simply not even allowed to exist)
Avast, ye swabs! The dread pirate FanBoi be sailin' the Apple ship our way in a scourge of jealousy.
Blimey! Her cannons be failin'....much like her iPhone did in the MWC best of show.
@Hamidxa
You day no Flash support inside Safari. Is there Flash support outside Safari? Last I heard no but I'd be happy as a clam to be able to play .swf files interactively if it was possible. Is it?
I am not and apple fan boy, if anything I'm an apple hatter. However, the iphone is hands down the best smart phone experiance out there.
Looks like there will be tons of smart phones with better specs out soon, but it's going to take at least another year to catch up to the total iphone experiance.
@ Scott
I would agree with half your statement, the iPhone experience is exceptionally good UI wise, but smartphone wise? It's incredibly easy to argue that the iPhone isn't even a smartphone with the lack of tethering, document editing etc. and personally it should really be included in some sort of high end consumer grouping as it's missing too many features to be called a smartphone.
@ Hamidxa: AWESOME list, though I'd say "No flash except Youtube videos" since apparently that's the only kind of Flash Apple has deemed valuable to iPhone users. :)
@ scott
It is by far not the best smartphone out. I dont consider it a smartphone at all. More like a PMP with a phone built in. I've had one and sold it to a friend for 150 dollars, then he sold it to another, and then he sold it to another person. But in its defence, I am never happy with my phones I always get bored with them and replace them.
Oh yeah and you need to replace your A with a E.......Experience.
00000
It's pseudo-flash at best, and even then it's restricted to the built-in Youtube app (which WinMo also features, but on WinMo we have full fledged Flash as well)
Gnormie,
Agreed, iPhone is NOT a smartphone per se and should not be classified as such, but rather as a multimedia phone with a few "smart" features tacked onto it at best. However, even as a multimedia device it lacks a lot support for plenty of common formats.
@Hamidxa
I tip my hat to you...If I had a hat on.
This is the type of list Engadget would have written about the iPhone if they weren't afraid of offending Apple users and Apple HQ.
They gladly write it about Android, Win Mobile, and yes they will do it with the Pre too.
Too bad.
@Hamidxa
You did it. That was epic.
...That's all the iphone is good for!!!! looking at!!! (nothing else)
@Hamidxa
1. No multitasking: Why would I want to do 2 thing at once? I can only do one thing at a time.
2. No turn-by-turn voice navigation system: If you can't find your way around your own city you have no business living there.
3. No Flash support inside Safari: I don't want Flash. Besides all the games, movies, and anything else on the internet, the only thing it's used for is ads some of the times.
4. No copy and paste: Who needs that? I don't even copy and paste on my computer at home, not even to respond to lists.
5. No VGA or WVGA screen: Why would I want a huge freakin ancient VGA screen on my iPhone. I couldn't take it anywhere.
6. No way to edit documents: lol i got a iphone so i didnt have to boring stuff like spredsheets.
7. No bluetooth music streaming and/or file transfers -- A2DP: Who want's to look like a jerk with a bluetooth on their ear?
8. No voice command: Who wants to look like a jerk talking to their phone?
9. No video recording: That's why God created camcorders. How hard is it to take around with you everywhere in case you ever want to take a 20 second video clip of something?
10. No capability to take handwritten notes: Lol that's why I got a phone so i don't have to write anymore.
11. No user replaceable battery: I trust Apple to replace my battery more than I trust myself.
12. No physical keyboard: Why would I want one when I have a keyboard that requires me to look at that beautiful screen all time?
13. No drag and drop file juggling: How hard is it to open up the extremely resource hungry iTunes, go through all the pictures that I have, pick one out and then load it to be synced, then sync it just to get one picture on my phone?
14. No tethering (natively): I don't want to steal from AT&T and use up all their bandwidths. I trust them.
15. No MMS: Why would I want something that's instant when I could wait until somedy remembers to check their email?
16. No external storage card support: Hey the $100 difference between the 8G and 16G is totally fair.
17. No Java: Lol I get java all the time when I walk into Starbucks to show off my phone.
18. No IR port: It can be done. All you have to do is get an IR reader for your computer. Record every single funtction on the remote of your choice as a seperate WAV file. Upload them to your iPhone. Get an IR transmitter LED and wire it up to a headphone jack. Then just put in your iPhone and play the WAV files at your TV. It couldn't be simpler.
19. No Live TV: iTunes sells TV sereies. I don't care if it's not live because I totally enjoy watching all of last seasons episodes that I watched last year.
20. No camera flash: All flash does is give you red eye.
21. No camera zoom: Why do I need a zoom whe I can just move closer?
22: No auto focus: Why do I need fancy things like that, nobody ever takes pics that are in focus anyway.
22. Same old, subpar, 2 MP camera: Do you know how many pixels 2MP is? That's 2 million pixels. If that's not enough for you, you have no business taking pictures.
23 No radio: lolz its got a ipod in it i dont need a radio.
24. No front camera: Why do I need two cameras? All a front camera would do is take a picture of my face.
25. Limited video format support: It supports iTunes videos, what more do you want?. Using anything else would be stealing and not the way God intended.
26. Limited picture format support: With that beautiful camera you can just take all those pictures again. If you really wanted a picture from your computer you could take a picture of the screen.
27. Limited file format support in general: Who needs files on their phone? It's not a computer lol.
28. Only 128 MB of RAM: But it's got such a powerful processor. And besides with all the computers I had in the past you could ALWAYS upgrade the RAM.
29. Sluggish performance: But do you see how beautiful those transitions are? I'm fine with a app takin 30 seconds to load just cause I get to see the animations
30. A very stringent and almost "closed" development environment: I dont care if it drives away the big developerrs i still got 5 flashlight apps. and i dont want a different browser cause apple knows how to develop for the iphone best. i actually like that safari crashes so much, it makes me take a break from using the internet so much so i can go outside.
And in case you haven't gotten it by now /Sarcasm
Insky: Well played again good sir, well played again.
Look_Around_You: Thanks, and it goes without saying that when talking about iNgadget one should not expect them to be truly partial or objective when it comes to the Apple vs anyone who's not Apple debate.
Apple fan-boi outrage in 3... 2... 1...
This phone looks kinda turdish. How could this be the best phone at the show? I have a Storm btw.
Try reading the fucking article Goddamnit.
Also how are you enjoying your apparently broken clicking?
I've read of clicking problems, but haven't had any myself. Call clarity is amazing. And its nice being able to use my device anyway i want.
I have no problem typing on the iPhone keyboard. I think virtual keyboards have no place on resistive screens. I finally got to try out a Storm yesterday, and I must say, I hated the keyboard and would take an LG Dare over it any day. And the Dare's keyboard kinda blows.
To be fair, it took me a long time to become a fast Tyler on the iPhone keyboard, so I suppose the clickable capacitive screen could be efficient after plenty of use. I was just instantly turned off though.
Typer** ... iPhone wants to change that to Tyler... Probably because it's not a real word... It does make my comment look mighty ironic at first though!
The correct term is "typist."
I wonder how low we can get the comment-to-"lowest ranked" ratio. Lets try for three comments (including this one) and watch iLA fade into invisibility......
Seriously?
How come G1 is always referred to as "T-Mobile G1" instead of "HTC G1"? All other phones (BlackBerry Storm, LG KS360, and Nokia's E-71) have the names of their appropriate companies' names.
HTC in this case is an OEM and sold the phone to T-Mobile to brand. It's also the T-mobile Wing, T-Mobile Shadow, AT&T Tilt, etc.
Cause it says T-Mobile on the case.
because HTC Dream is T-Mobile G1, start reading.
Agreed.
HTC should be more vocal and aggressive when it comes to branding these phones. They should work on getting their names out there just as much as LG, Samsung, Nokia, etc.
It's a shame that most of these awesome phones on the market rarely ever get that HTC label attached to them, and instead go by these other brands.
For what it's worth (from a couple of quarters ago):
"HTC hits the big time - now 3rd biggest smartphone brand in Q208"
http://wmpoweruser.com/?p=933
I have lost all respect for MWC.
Sean, why "-- well, Storm aside -- "? Are you saying that the Storm is not serious competition? I can understand giving your opinion of a device (that's why we come here) but what does that comment hope to accomplish? If you don't like the Storm, don't use it, don't report on it. Leave it to others on the team who can give a good reason why it shouldn't be included as serious competition, instead of a glib remark.
I completely agree..that remark was unnecessary Sean
I dont see the big deal with the phone. It looks just like the Nokia 5610(which looks good, just nothing amazing). So they ripped off that look, and put some gimmicky facebook stuff on there? Dont techies realize things like facebook, myspace, etc come and go like the wind. Average phone given great honors.
Was that phone even covered by Engadget?
And, doesn't the Pre do a better job with Synergy? Or was the Pre out of the competition being a TBA device?
I'd imagine that the Pre's pre-release status is the reason.
The INQ1 is available now.
I got this 'Cheap' phone for my wife last week and i just can't get over how incredibily integrated with web 2.0 this phone is. It beats my Nokia N82 into a pulp! (Not to mention iphone).
Very Impressive!
INQ can keep its award and its fugly phone too.
I want The HTC Whitestone, or the Samsung OmniaHD, or the Samsung Show, or The Toshiba TG01, or the Nokia N97, or The Archos/Android smartphone, orthe LG Arena or...nearly everything else but that horrible turd.
I feel really dirty now that I've publicly given apple such props. :(
I'm a little confused by this decision. I checked out the website for the phone, and while it's decent, there's nothing really innovative about it. It's a basic phone that comes preloaded with apps focusing on social networking, all of which are available for just about every phone out there.
There's nothing about the hardware or the interface that sets it apart from anything else. There was either some serious lobbying going on or the "judges" just didn't want to have a bigger name win the award.
It MWC. I'm sure it was a cardboard box on the table where whomever cared among the attendees voted.
Really not some grand competition.
It's a great, affordable phone. Very little can match it in the price range.
"...Facebook deep integration, focus on your contacts as *living, breathing, and ever-changing entities*"
Damn, I wish most of my Facebook friends were like that.
Well... Everyone seems to be complaining that all these other phones are better than the INQ and are more deserving of the award... maybe it won because as a phone it stands out so much from its direct competition.
I mean, outside of number of units sold, the iPhone isn't much better (if at all) than any of its competitors... it misses so many basic features that the generally disappointing Storm has... and I don't want either one of those phones, but honestly i'd have a hard time choosing between the two if I was foced to.
Maybe this phone is THAT much better than its direct competition to make it worthy of such an award. It's like having Toyota winning truck of the year, and having a bunch of people complain that "Well, my Escalade or Hummer has this and that and does this and looks like that..."
From the register.co.uk. Some features sound pretty cool. The phone's also like £75 off contract rather than £400-600.
"The INQ1 displays Facebook in a mobile-friendly format, aiding legibility and minimising loading times when viewing the site over 3G.
We liked the fact that the INQ1 automatically pulls information from Facebook, such as a friend’s avatar image and status, and plonks it into the phone’s own contacts folder. So when you scroll to 'John' you’ll see his latest Facebook picture and the usual message telling you what John's up to.
INQ1’s ability to auto-update itself is another handy feature that ensures you’re always at the forefront of friend-related information. It also means you can fiddle with Facebook when you’re out of network coverage, such as on the tube, and be confident that you’re status change will be updated automatically once you emerge at street level.
We found the ability to poke someone through INQ1’s contact list pretty useful too, because it meant we could do it with greater ease and speed than if we’d need to hunt down the feature on Facebook itself.
But Facebook isn’t the phone’s only strength, because it’ll also keep you connected to Windows Live Messenger for instant messaging and let you place calls over Skype."
I like how people are dissing the INQ without even ever used one. It isn't a nice looking phone, but its pretty solidly built and does what no other phone does at the moment.. no matter how many of you pipe up with apps for this and that.
Hamidxa - you're list is mostly petty pointless things. You have to accept with its flaws the iphone is still a fantastic experience and delivered really well.
I'll keep my E71 at the moment tho.
No, my list is most certainly NOT petty things.
You have form confused once again with function.
Petty is "oooh, look, shiny colors".
Petty does not = 90% of the the items on my list.
Most of those are deal breakers for me in fact, and why I would never purchase an iPhone or even use one if given to me for free.
It's too limited in terms of hardware and software, and consequently to limiting in terms of functionality.
And I also have my shiny fix in the form of Touch Flo 3D for Win Mo by HTC.
I am impressed they didn't just go for the easy option of the phone with the most impressive specs and instead seem to have given the award to the INQ for offering something different in its price range.
Will they be releasing this in the US? I like how I can keep my network on the go and be cheap.
This INQ phone looks like a stealth version of a particular Nokia.....
That thing looks EXACTLY like a Nokia 6500. Knock-off much?
http://www.mobilephoneshopuk.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/nokia-6500-slide-phone.jpg
a few points:
- the MWC awards are voted for by people who work in the mobile industry (not just consumers), with the votes being counted weeks before the show. which means none of the handsets that were announced at or just before the show were eligible. It is not a fanboy popularity contest.
- the awards are for handsets that are actually in the market now, not for handsets that will only be out in a few months.
- the people who vote can only vote for devices that are nominated. it's up to the manufacturers to nominate their own devices.
- the iPhone was not nominated, because apparently Apple couldn't be bothered, so there was no way for people to vote for it.
- the INQ1 won because it does some impressive things with social networking and web services, and integrates them right into the phone's OS and UI. it's especially impressive considering its low price. there are certainly many more powerful and feature-rich phones on the market, but the INQ1 is trying to take web services into the low-mid market, which is a very very good thing, and something that no other manufacturer has really managed to do yet.
I'm not suggesting this is the best phone in the world by any means, but i whole-heartedly agree with this decision.
To offer a phone at $100 without contract, that makes free Skype calls (when topped up with $20 of airtime every 3 months), is constantly logged into facebook, and can synchronise that data with your contact list, and to also function as a usb broadband modem for $10 per gb, is something very spectacular, in it's own way...
They also offer it for $25 a month free of charge with an 18 month contract, with 1gb per month data, unlimited sms and 300 minutes airtime...
Other mobile carriers around the world should really take note. I mean, if all this functionality can be put into a ridiculously cheap handset, on a ridiculously cheap priceplan, what excuse can there be for a lack of modem functionality on other networks/handsets?
I don't care what it does with Facebook, Skype and Windows Live... it's a hateful, hateful phone. Someone mentioned that the iPhone is only smooth because it doesn't multitask. Well, this runs horribly whether it's trying to multitask or not.
Again, I don't care if it's £80. There are £59 Sony Ericssons that do nearly as many things in a much better way.
Then someone mentioned the iPhone's 'puny' 2 megapixel camera. This has 3.2, and it can't take a decent snap to save its life.
I could go on.
It's got a lot of features, but they're all ruined by the user experience. I've sold mine on eBay now, and my old K800i is far nicer on a day to day basis.
I've got an INQ1 sitting on my desk at the moment, and while I certainly don't think it's perfect, i'm pretty impressed with its contacts list (can voice call, sms, MMS, Skype call, Skype chat, AIM chat, MSN chat, Facebook poke, write on wall, message or view status updates - all from the contacts list) and easy integration of Facebook. There is no other phone on the market that can do this out of the box. The Skype implementation is really good, and build quality is solid, too. I like the news and weather widgets.
you've also got to take into account the value of the plans it comes on.
Admittedly the camera is crap, the browser is a bit weak and it would be much better with a qwerty keyboard, but for a cheap, "dumb" phone it's more than acceptable. Comparing it to a K800i which is an entirely different and much more expensive device is not really fair.
It's not as good as my BlackBerry Bold or an N-series Nokia, but it's also about 1/3 of the price. It won the award because it's cheap and has high potential for taking mobile web services to the mass market. that's why the mobile industry (MWC is run by the GSMA which includes a lot of mobile network operators) liked it more than a slew of high-end phones from other manufacturers. it's an exciting product.