INQ 1 review

INQ 1 Review

Reviewed by: Andrew Lim

Reviewed on: 18 December 2008

The list of features doesn't end there -- there's a Web browser, although it's more of a WAP browser, displaying pages in quite a clunky way. We preferred using Opera Mini for our browsing needs, which you can download by visiting mini.opera.com -- it displays full Web pages properly and lets you zoom in and out of them with ease.

The INQ 1 comes with a 3.2-megapixel camera, but doesn't have a flash, so shots in low light won't come out very well

A 3.2-megapixel camera on the back of the INQ 1 takes acceptable pictures in daylight, but the lack of flash means shots in low light don't come out well at all. There aren't many options, but you can shoot video, set a timer, adjust the size and quality of pics and share pictures via Bluetooth, email or Facebook, of course.

The INQ 1's music player didn't overwhelm us: it doesn't look great and is fairly basic, but you can set a playlist and search through albums, artists and tracks. It's a real shame there's no 3.5mm headphone jack and, worse still, there's no adaptor in the box -- instead you get a poor pair of headphones with a mini-USB connector.

An interesting feature we stumbled on is that when you plug the INQ 1 into a PC, it automatically installs software and pops up a really simple interface that lets you connect the PC to the Internet, using the INQ 1 as a modem. It's a very simple idea we hope to see on more handsets in the future.

Performance
Audio quality during calls is good, but we did want to turn it up a little louder at times. The speakerphone is loud and the headphones were okay, but if you're used to high-end headphones, be prepared to be disappointed. If using the provided headphones doesn't do it for you, you can use wireless stereo Bluetooth ones.

Battery life is quoted at 324 minutes talktime and 329 hours on standby. We found that with moderate use, the battery lasted over a day, but of course this figure will vary depending on what features you use and for how long. If you want to save battery life, cutting down on 3G will help, as will turning the screen's brightness down.

Conclusion
The INQ 1 is a diamond in the rough. Okay, it's a simple phone with a few unusual features, but compared to its competitors at this price, it's a real achievement for a company's first phone. Yes, GPS and Wi-Fi would be lovely, but this thing only costs £80 and it works like a charm.

If we were going to give INQ any feedback, we'd tell them to keep up the good work, but please add a full Qwerty keyboard next time -- and pre-install Opera Mini. We'd also like to see a xenon flash on the camera if possible. Overall, we're very impressed with INQ's first outing and can't wait for more.

Edited by Nick Hide