The gang at Android and Me seemed to have made quite a number of acquaintances on their sojourn through CTIA and MotoDev Summit. Specifically, there were three people along the way they reportedly talked to that led to the most tantalizing of rumors. First down the rabbit hole is a Sprint developer who claimed the first 4G (i.e. WiMAX) phone will be an Android device, which honestly wouldn't be all that shocking given the company's love for and recent history with the OS. Next up is a Samsung exec that intimated we shouldn't expect Android 2.0 "Eclair" until Q2 2010 -- interesting in its own right, but looks like those whispers of Sholes launching with anything beyond Donut isn't gonna come to fruition now. Our third definitive individual is an INQ head employee who let slip its handsets would be finding its way onto a US carrier's network in 2010 and would have a "pimped out" customized Android skin chock full of social networking the likes of Spotify, Skype, Facebook, etc. The rest of its report is much ado about nothing -- no LG android phone this year, no TomTom app this year, and no standalone Google Maps navigation software. Yeah, that's quite a number of Android rumors to digest, and unfortunately nothing definitive. Looking forward to the future?

[Via i4u]

While the Spotify music service continues to tease us US-bound folks from afar, there's word of a Spotify handset now to make us even more jealous. The phone is apparently being built for Swedish provider Telia (Spotify already accounts for 35 percent of digital music sales in Sweden), and according to TechCrunch, INQ is building the phone. Interestingly, the last thing we heard from INQ about future plans was a forthcoming Android handset, and we also have a source that says that Spotify probably wouldn't be placed onto a regular BREW-powered INQ handset, so the optimist in us would like to believe that this Spotify phone could be INQ's big Android play -- there is already an official Spotify Android app to make that whole process seem even more doable. Either way, Telia's Spotify handset should be on the market in a "couple of months."

[Via Pocket-lint]

The INQ Mini 3G is quite the intriguing little phone. It has the dimensions and outward appearance of a standard issue featurephone, yet aims to provide the multifunctional utility of the bulkier QWERTY keyboard-sporting smartphones that now roam these lands. With deep integration of Facebook, Twitter and Skype, it's designed to be a do-it-all social networking device, so we thought we'd run a few status updates through it to see if the latest spin on an award-winning heritage lives up to its billing. Slide on past the break to find out.

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.

While you'd expect the first hands-on shots of INQ's new sociable Mini 3G and Chat to emerge on Twitpic, it's TechRadar doing the honors. Both of these featurephones are fairly attractive in their own right, with each being suitably slim and chock full of status updating power. In fact, we'd say the Mini 3G's red and black QWERTY keypad is amongst the sexiest we've seen. Why not judge Like™ for yourself by giving those read links below a look?

Read - INQ Mini 3G hands-on
Read - INQ Chat hands-on

INQ's unique take on the featurephone just got a significant facelift in the form of the new INQ Mini 3G and the INQ Chat. Leaving behind the INQ1's last-gen looks, the new INQ Chat offers a QWERTY keyboard in an E71-esque chassis, 2.4-inch screen, GPS and a 3.2 megapixel auto focus camera, while the Mini 3G takes up the T9er's mantle with a slim candybar form factor, 2.2-inch screen and 2 megapixel camera. The big deal of course is still the (award winning) software side, which already includes features such as Skype, Facebook and Windows Live Messenger integration, along with a Synergy-style integrated address book. New additions include a Twitter app, push Gmail, and iTunes syncing, courtesy of DVD Jon's doubleTwist software, and INQ claims that it'll be much more proactive with software updates this time around. The phones are only dipping their toes into the media playback pool, with hardly any onboard storage, empty microSD slots, and the ever-annoying USB-to-3.5mm converter headphone jack situation, but all the parts are there. INQ's also going to pull together an "app store" of sorts by curating freely available Java applets compatible with the handsets.

We had a look at the phones, and while the style might seem aggressive for some, the build of both phones is pretty quality for the target market, and they're certainly tighter in the design department than the INQ1. The keyboard on the INQ Chat is quite good, especially for featurephone land, and we like that INQ kept some T9-style predictive text in the software to make QWERTY use even more of a pleasure. No, these phones still don't replace smartphones, but they're designed to be a low-cost alternative to the smartphone for carriers, who are a little tired of heavy phone subsidies and intense data use from the iPhone types -- and sure wouldn't mind making a few bucks off your Facebook addiction. Unfortunately, there still aren't any plans for bringing these phones to the States. INQ is "in talks," but for now these handsets are Europe bound, and should hit stores by Q4.

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]

INQ's first handset, the INQ1, got cozy with your friends on Facebook, letting you check their updates and let them all know what's happening in your 'hood while making Skype calls and checking your e-mail. The company's coming back for more with the ingeniously named INQ2, pledging to add Twitter support into the mix in a move to get more social network-agnostic. No further details are available at this point on what (if any) other services the upcoming handset will interact with, or whether it'll have a somewhat more original name, but you can be sure we'll keep you updated.

We're happy to see that 3's customers with the INQ1 will be able to safely roam on 1900MHz while tooling around the States -- nothing about a phone billed as social network-centric says that you should be traveling to countries where you can't stay on the grid, after all -- but we're a little less happy with the band and technology selection here. Okay, fine, it comes as no surprise that the phone has been tested only for 2G and without any sign of 850MHz, but we know the INQ1's maker Amoi has done North American stuff before, so why couldn't they humor us? For the same reason they couldn't make it look like anything but a generic Nokia slider, maybe?

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.