INQ Chat 3G

The INQ brand, which has been brought to India  by Aircel, currently sells two of their devices - the INQ 3G and the INQ Mini 3G - here in India. We got our hands on the former and put it through its paces to give you this review. The INQ 3G has a full QWERTY keypad and true to its name, 3G connectivity. It also integrates all the prominent social networking services such as Facebook, Twitter and Orkut through built-in applications. It also features an interesting UI design that goes well with the overall product. But is that good enough for it to compete against established rivals from major brands like Nokia and BlackBerry? We'll find out soon.

Bundle

• INQ Chat 3G
• Battery
• Charger 
• Headset 
• USB Data Cable 
• User Guide

Hardware

For the untrained eye, the INQ 3G would just be another BlackBerry phone. RIM pioneered the QWERTY keypad on a candybar form factor through its BlackBerry range of handsets and other manufacturers were quick to pick it up for their own handsets (Read: Nokia E-Series phones). But the form factor is possibly the only thing that's common as the INQ 3G features plenty of design details that would differentiate it from any BlackBerry handset out there.

For starters it has a much more youthful design, which shows through the use of bright colors, unlike the BlackBerry handsets that has a stricter color palette consisting mostly of various shades of black. Bright red adorns the circular D-pad on the front and some of the keys. The rear cover comes in a variety of colors and our review sample came with an outrageous bright shade of bubblegum pink that made our eyes water every time we looked at it.
The keypad on the phone is one of its highlights. It features large, chunky buttons around the D-pad, which itself is pretty large. Each button has a pronounced curve to it and has a delicious click. The D-pad is also fabulously comfortable to use, thanks to the wide circular rim that cradles the massive centre select button with the 'Q' symbol on it.

The QWERTY keys were almost as easy to use despite their smaller size. It features two SHIFT keys on the bottom edges and a fairly large SPACE key in the middle. There is also a convenient '.com' function on one key, which can be accessed by pressing one of the SHIFT keys. Period gets its own dedicated key but every other symbol, including the much used Comma, requires you to press SHIFT to access them.
Overall the keypad is pretty amazing but my only grouse with it was the incredibly dim backlight that was only visible when you were in complete darkness.

Above the keypad is the display with the earpiece for calls. The INQ 3G does not have a camera on the front for video calls.

Around the edges the phone features a chrome garnish to add further visual pizzazz to the design. On the left side is the miniUSB port, which has been carelessly left open, and a slim volume control button. On the right is the camera shutter button, which unfortunately, despite the presence of autofocus, does not let you focus first and then shoot, but instead prefers to do it automatically. Surprisingly there is no 3.5mm headphone jack and the audio is routed through the miniUSB port, along with everything else.

The backside has just the camera lens at the top and the loudspeaker beside it. The camera is a 3.2 megapixel shooter with autofocus but there is no flash and no lens cover either. On removing the back cover, which comes off easily by just sliding it upwards and turning it around, you'll notice that INQ has put a little puzzle for you to solve there. Once you figure that out (or not) you'll see the large 1500 mAh Li-Polymer battery and the SIM card slot beside it. On top is the microSD card slot, which is hot swappable.
There is no denying the fact that the INQ 3G is definitely an attractive looking handset. The curvy front side with chunky buttons and little chrome detailing between them, the shiny chrome sides and the large colorful back panel with some more silvery chrome sprinkled around the camera lens makes the phone stand out from the usual crowd of QWERTY phones. It's also very solidly build, without any creak or groan from the body during the testing process. The way the battery cover snaps into place and the way all the buttons move and work all inspires confidence into the handset's build quality. It's also pretty slim and light, making it easy to slide into your pocket.

Software

INQ has made a pretty good looking interface for the Chat 3G. On the home screen you can see a row of widgets for various applications. You can add and remove them from the settings menu as you please. The main menu is not a grid of icons as you normally see but has tiles instead. Each tile has a cartoon strip-like animated look to it and turns to greyscale when you highlight it. The sub menus don't share the same interesting design creativity an are simple lists that remind me of the ones in BlackBerry phones, except here they are in black instead of blue.
You can navigate the menu using the awesome D-Pad and the two softkeys. If you need to access additional functions than what are visible on the screen just press the menu button, just like you would on a BlackBerry phone. The interface design is pretty simple and easy to use and thankfully not sluggish, as is often the case on budget handsets. You can install Java applications on the phone but there is no multi-tasking available.
One good thing about the phone is the solid integration with social networking websites. The phones comes with Facebook, Twitter as well as Orkut applications built-in, three services which are very popular in India. The apps are a bit basic but nevertheless are useful. Also, the integration extends to other functions of the phone. For example when you go to the messages menu, along with SMS, MMS and email, you also get the option of creating a new tweet or direct message or Facebook status message. In photos application you can upload images directly to Facebook or Twitter services. This is something that is bound to be a hit with the social networking crazy young population of the country. 

 

Connectivity
The INQ Chat 3G is a tri band GSM handset. It supports 3G and HSDPA, along with GPRS, EDGE, Bluetooth and even GPS connectivity. Sadly there is no WI-Fi to complete this list, otherwise the phone would have got almost top marks in this department. The call quality and network reception on this phone is pretty decent. Unfortunately, the loudspeaker is pretty weak and barely audible.
The phone is sold in India through Aircel. However, as we observed the INQ Chat 3G could be used with any network as it wasn't network locked to Aircel.
One of the cooler features of the Chat 3G is the push mail support. So now you can just configure your GMail account on to your phone and automatically receive free push mails onto your phone for free.
The web browser on the phone is pretty decent and websites look rather well on it. Page loading speed was also pretty decent, although we wished the phone had Wi-Fi connectivity for even faster browsing. You can use a 3G SIM card with the phone if you want a faster browsing experience as Aircel doesn't support 3G as yet.
The INQ Chat 3G comes with Google Maps pre-installed. You can use it with the built-in GPS to navigate around and see where you are located on the map. You don't get features like turn by turn voice navigation though. 
Multimedia

The phone comes with a 3 megapixel autofocus camera. Unfortunately, there is no flash for the camera. The camera has a shutter button on the side for taking pictures. However, it is not a two step button as you would expect on a phone with an autofocus camera. In fact there is no control over the focusing. You just press the center button or the shutter button and the camera would automatically focus and take a picture. Images taken in daylight were of decent quality but those taken in low light weren't impressive at all.
The INQ Chat 3G has a pretty decent music player. Unfortunately, the phone does not have a 3.5mm headphone jack and the provided headset has average audio quality. The loudspeaker is pathetic and you can barely hear it playing.

 

Battery Life
The INQ Chat 3G comes with a massive 1500 mAh battery. Even if you use all the social networking services and make calls and send messages, the phone still lasts for two full days on a single charge.
Verdict
The INQ Chat 3G is priced at Rs. 7,990 athough you can buy it for around Rs. 7,300. At that price the phone offers some really good features that are worth sitting up and taking notice of. You get a full QWERTY keypad, good design and solid build quality, the interface is well designed and easy to use and the social network applications that are built-in are really handy.

On top of that the phone offers features like 3G and GPS, which are not common in this price range, not to mention push mail service. Most of all the phone exudes a sense of being well-made with some good creativity and attention to detail.
It does have a few shortcomings though, such as, no FM radio, no 3.5mm headphone jack and a pretty weak loudspeaker. The camera quality too is average and we found the keypad brightness a little hard to see in the dark. But despite that the phone still represents good value and we would definitely recommend it those who don't want to spend a lot of money on something like a BlackBerry but want something similar.