We've enjoyed seeing what INQ is bringing to the featurephone space, most recently with the Facebook and Twitter-centric INQ Mini 3G and INQ Chat handsets (which still haven't been announced for the States), but things are getting a lot more interesting on word that INQ is going to be using Android for upcoming touchscreen smartphones. We're guessing INQ will be blending its Synergy-style blended social networking capabilities with traditional Android goodness, much in the way HTC and now Motorola are approaching Android. So far all INQ is saying is that Android hasn't done well against the iPhone so far, and that "you need to get the experience better," promising "cool things" in response to this self-defined challenge. You know what else is a "cool thing"? America.

INQ's whole lease in life is making mass-market feature phones with heavy doses of social network integration, and considering how much acclaim the INQ1 slider has received on account of its Skype and Facebook functionality (not to mention the fact that they've sold 700,000 of them), it only stands to reason that the Hutchison subsidiary would be looking to come out swinging with a new model or two. In fact, we already know that INQ's looking at doing Twitter integration, and now we know from an interview with the company's chief exec that there'll actually be two new models -- one of which will be a themed "Twitter phone" -- in time for the holiday season. Though Reuters suggests that that'd make it the first mass-market phone with a Twitter client, devices like the Sidekick LX 2009 already do it -- so INQ won't necessarily be the first in the game, but if can bring its wares to more than the Sidekick's... oh, one fricking carrier, they've got an angle.

[Via Phone Scoop]

So, how does one successfully snatch away market share from Telstra and Optus? If you're Hutchison or Vodafone, you merge! Announced today, two of Australia's smaller operators have decided that an equal joint venture would be the best approach to moving on up, and while they aren't suggesting that the current economic conditions influenced the decision, many analysts are suggesting that the tie-up could help the newly formed VHA fend off adverse effects from slowed spending on mobile communications. Once together, the combined group will have a local market share of around 26 percent, and Hutchison Australia's current chief executive, Nigel Dews, has been chosen to lead the new venture. Under the agreement, VHA will market its products and services under the Vodafone brand, though it will retain exclusive rights to Hutchison's "3" brand in The Land Down Under.

[Via MobileBurn]

Maybe we're just way, way off base here, but we're fairly certain the UK mobile market doesn't need yet another competitor that won't offer anything substantially different than what's already out there. According to a new report from The Observer, BT is considering the launch of a mobile phone operation as part of a "joint venture with T-Mobile and 3 in a bid to boost profits by cashing in on the migration of broadband and internet services to mobile devices." Of course, BT has dabbled in hybrid handsets before, but as expected, adoption was remarkably low. Our take? We can't see a washed-up mobile operator being any more successful in today's trying times than it was originally, but hey, we'll gladly sit back and watch the fireworks if it has the stones to try.

[Via mocoNews]

We're not quite sure if you really understand just how quick 21Mbps is, but it's fast -- really fast when you consider that we're talking about mobile broadband speeds. Ericsson and 3 Scandinavia have hooked up to upgrade the operator's current HSPA network to hit the aforementioned speed, though it'll be just Sweden and Denmark seeing the enhancements at first; of course, the duo has promised that the upgrade will eventually expand out to other locales, but details are scant beyond a 1H 2009 planned launch date.

[Via UnwiredView]

You probably remember 3 network subsidiary INQ's announcement of the INQ1, their first stab at a phone? Well, it's launched in London and is officially "coming soon." As previously mentioned, the phone is nothing fancy or revolutionary, but its integration with Skype (just like 3's Skypephone), Facebook, and a handful of other consumer-friendly apps is something worth taking note of. When available, the slider will come in black and silver and though we don't know the exact price, last we heard it would cost under £99 with no contract. No details on the handset making its way to the US as of yet -- it's complicated -- but we'll keep you updated. Don't forget to check out a few shots of the (very attractive) packaging after the break.

[Thanks, David M.]

Overseas mega-corp Hutchison, which owns the 3 network, has a new handset subsidiary called INQ, which is going after the social-hungry youth market in a big way. INQ's first handset, the INQ1, doesn't look like anything special -- just a frumpy-looking slider with a decent screen -- but start poking around and you'll find a massive amount of software for such a dorky phone from a handset upstart. The big angle here is Facebook integration -- INQ has a Facebook app to rival Facebook's own work on the iPhone, and ties Facebook contacts, chat and messages into all parts of the phone. The phone enjoys similar integration with Skype (including making Skype calls free over the network, like 3's Skypephone) and Windows Live Messenger. Other apps include an eBay tracker and a full-on WebKit browser. None of this is revolutionary, or even particularly polished, but the work INQ has done at integration, like a unified contact list, could do to be copied by even the major smartphone players. What is revolutionary is the price: INQ plans to sell primarily through pre-paid carriers, who are expected to retail the featurephone for under £99 without contract. The HSDPA phone, to be "officially announced" on October 13th, will hit the UK in November, and can apparently be flashed to work with US carriers -- with a launch planned for here next year. Oh, and the killer app? The phone doubles as a plug-and-play 3G modem. Yeah, US carriers are going to take real kindly to this one.

Hold up just a second, this is more than your average WiFi-powered Skype handset for yakking it up while you're wandering around the abode in your skivvies. In fact, it's none other than the follow-on to 3's Skypephone of last year -- the aptly-named Skypephone S2 -- offering HSDPA data, a 3.2 megapixel camera, 50MB of memory with a microSD slot for plenty more, and pretty much all the Skype support you can handle (hence the name, we suppose). Skype-to-Skype calls are completely free from the phone, and the Skype service can be kept active by adding £10 (about $19) monthly on a pay-as-you-go arrangement; otherwise, the phone can be had for as little as zilch if you sign up for a monthly plan. It'll work as a broadband dongle, too, which we think officially makes this thing oodles more useful than even the most capable of WiFi phones, skivvies or otherwise.

[Via Tech Digest]

We hate to make you feel like a loser with your 1-point-whatever Mbps upstream data card there, but over in Italy, Ericsson and 3 are doing everything they can to put that card out of business. It appears that through nothing more than a series of software and infrastructure tweaks, the companies have managed to establish uplink data connections at a whopping 5.8Mbps. Oh, and get this -- it's not some fancy, futuristic trial, either, this was all done using 3's existing commercial network. Good news for Italians, and ultimately, good news for anyone that's not looking forward to waiting for LTE to take over.

[Via Phone Scoop]

So it turns out Skype was more than a mere experiment for 3, apparently, seeing how the FCC just approved its rumored new Skypephone -- though contrary to what we'd heard, the documentation indicates that the candybar might end up being called the IM2, not the S2. Crucial difference, we know. Anyhow, the phone sports a 3.2 megapixel cam, HSDPA (up from the original's mere UMTS), and features a rather attractive brushed metal backing, not bad for a phone that's theoretically designed to save you cash by routing calls over the internets. Still no launch details for the thing just yet, but at least we now know we'll be able to use it in the good ol' US of A without drawing the FCC's ire.

The Symbian Foundation's founding member list was nothing to sneeze at, featuring the likes of Vodafone, Samsung, LG, AT&T, and of course Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola -- but the initiative is getting even stronger here with the addition of a couple other major carrier players, a chipset giant, and a heaping handful of software firms. From the carrier side, 3 and America Movil get added to the list; Marvell joins Texas Instruments from the silicon side of things, and the app developers now include Aplix, EB, EMCC Software, Sasken, and TietoEnator. We're not going to lie, we're not familiar with some of these devs -- but when you're fighting juggernauts like Android and LiMo to win the hearts and minds of the open-platform public, you need all the ammo you can get.

Not quite a year since the original Skypephone made a minor splash across the pond comes word that the second iteration is nearly ready to be removed from the oven. Slated to launch on 3 (of course), this candybar-styled handset will reportedly boast HSDPA connectivity, a 2.2-inch QVGA display, a respectable 3.2-megapixel camera, integrated Skype and "built–in modem drivers so you can use it as a dongle for your PC or Mac." We're particularly fond of that last part -- are any of you other carriers listening here? Check it out sometime in the mysterious future for a currently undisclosed price.

[Thanks, Linsey]

Why can't we just have and enjoy the latest, greatest pre-4G technology for a few frickin' minutes without having our collective attentions immediately redirected to the next latest, greatest thing? Qualcomm has gone and spoiled all the fun by announcing that it'll be setting up HSPA+ trials with Australia's Telstra, Italy's Telecom Italia, Hutchison 3 in the UK, and Telefonica this year to deliver downlink speeds up to 28Mbps as an evolutionary upgrade to the networks' already-deployed HSPA systems. If all goes well, Qualcomm expects that the technology could be commercialized as early as 2009, potentially putting it head-to-head with the very first volleys in the race to true 4G via LTE. 28Mbps, 173Mbps... we think we know which one we'd rather have in our backyard.

[Via MobileBurn]

Because the mobile industry isn't nearly monetized enough as it is (we jest, we jest), big players have come out of the woodwork at Mobile World Congress this year to announce some pretty heavy initiatives with the goal of revolutionizing the way we're hit up with advertising on our phones. Nokia has actually come forward with two mobile ad headliners: first, the Nokia Media Network is now official, bringing together ads on Nokia's own sites as well as 70-plus publishers' and carriers' properties under a single umbrella, all made possible by the company's 2007 acquisition of Enpocket; second, Nokia Siemens Networks has announced a turnkey solution for folks wishing to bite the targeted mobile ad bullet, spanning from consulting to infrastructure and ad delivery. Meanwhile, the big five carriers in the UK -- Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile, O2, and 3 -- have announced that they're working with the GSM Association to develop a common standard for measuring mobile ad reach, a marked change in some of the carriers' typical policies of keeping customer metrics well out of reach of potential advertisers and therefore limiting interest. One of those carriers, O2, has separately revealed that it has launched its own mobile advertising service (take that, Nokia Media Network) following a 2007 trial that will allow advertisers to get really, really down and dirty with their target demos -- age, location, browsing behavior, and so on -- through a system that generated a 6 percent click-through rate in testing. As long as the average phone display stays QVGA or lower, we're pretty sure we're not down with teeny, tiny banner ads all up in our business, but it's the wave of the future, it seems.

[Via mocoNews]

Read - Nokia Media Network
Read - Nokia Siemens Networks
Read - UK mobile companies to develop advertising standards
Read - O2 sets sights on mobile advertising market