New INQ ‘Facebook Phones’ Are Based On Android

Socially-oriented phone maker INQ has launched two phones designed for Facebook users. These are not the Facebook phones that some had predicted – and are in fact built on Google’s Android platform.

While some had predicted that Facebook would make a phone platform similar to Google’s Android, the company has always denied these rumours, some of which linked it with Google partner HTC. Several Facebook-centric phones based on Android are expected at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week.

Some people only need Facebook

The INQ Cloud Touch and Cloud Q include Facebook as the default for most online activities, and users do not need to insall a Facebook app. For their music player, they have a dedicated Spotify key.

INQ worked closely with Facebook, and the phones are “built for people worldwide who use Facebook as their primary means of communication,” said INQ’s release. The phones  have built-in feeds for Facebook updates, put together around INQ’s Visual Media Feed.

They use the Android 2.2 (Froyo) operating system, however, and use Google services for activities, for instance using Google Calendar to upgrade Facebook Events into a fully-fledged diary. INQ says the approach is modular, so an upgrade to Gingerbread will be easy in future.

These are the first phones to use the Facebook Social Graph API, which has raised privacy concerns, but which will give users quick access to Facebook Places location services and other Facebook goodies.

The phones are endorsed by Facebok, whose head of mobile business, Henri Moissinac, said: “The INQ Cloud Touch and INQ Cloud Q bring Facebook to people with a single touch while they are mobile and demonstrate the power of socially aware devices.”

The INQ Cloud Touch uses a 500MHz Qualcomm 7227 chipset, has a 3.5inch HVGA touchscreen, and a 5 Megapixel autofocus camera. Other hardware features are the regulation micro-USB charging, 3.5mm headphone jack, and microSD storage.

The phones are not “Facebook phones” however, as they are not Facebook-branded. Instead, the social network giant is following advice and simply encouraging a variety of Facebook oriented phones from different vendors. A future step might be to add voice to Facebook chat, and include a softphone, but there are no indications that Facebook is going to do this any time soon.

HTC is also expected to launch a Facebook-centric phone at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week.

INQ is a subsidciary of Hutchison Whampoa which has previously made phones oriented to Skype and other social media.