At a small (but select) gathering tonight INQ – the makers of the ‘social’ handset the INQ1 – that grew out of the operator Three announced ‘Update 1’, an over-the-air refresh of the INQ1’s application suite which makes a number of improvements and feature-additions. These improve Windows Live Messenger performance, give better general stability, pre-cache Facebook photos for performance and improve the battery life (the improvement is described as ‘significant’ – up to 50% longer depending on use). Users will be prompted to update the software in 4 to 6 weeks. INQ’s marketing director Jeff Taylor commented that INQ expected to provide further updates in the future and that, where possible, new features would be distributed to all INQ devices as additional handsets were added to the range.
At the event, the team also announced the INQ1 had been short-listed as one of five devices in the GSMA Global Mobile Awards ‘Best Handset / Device‘ category to be announced at Mobile World Congress in a fortnight and the launch of a media and blogger-relations programme ‘INQ+’ intended to provide a forum for feedback and beta testing of forthcoming software / devices.
