INQ Chat 3G review

Can INQ take on the BlackBerry range with a budget handset?

The definitive INQ Chat 3G Review
The definitive INQ Chat 3G review

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Another thing the INQ Chat 3G does well, as you can see by the title, is data - connection is very fast and the phone can handle some pretty large websites where a number of other more powerful handsets have faltered.

However, the problem we've mentioned before is probably at its worst here on the internet browser - the slowdown can be terrible. Even when opening a web page like the basic BBC Mobile the phone struggles, leaving us waiting a huge amount of time to scroll to the part of the page we want.

INQ chat 3g

Once the Chat 3G has had a chance to think about things, the phone does begin to work a lot better, with elements like bookmarks on the home screen working pretty well and loading fast enough - but waiting became an all too common theme on this phone.

There's also a large amount of social networking integration on the phone through the internet; if you want to share what you're looking at with the wider world you're able to do so easily by posting it in a Tweet, email or on your Facebook wall simply by hitting the relevant option in the menu - it's not something we do usually, but we quickly got to grips with it when using the INQ Chat 3G.

INQ chat 3g

The phone's internet browser won't be able to cope with heavier websites though, and obviously it can't do things like Flash video or anything like that. The zoom function is a little basic and error-filled too - it takes a long time and the text re-sizing isn't as accurate as it needs to be.

But if you're looking to basically scroll through the mobile internet (as the only network provider, 3, is keen to have you browse anyway) then it's pretty good for that - providing you let it warm up first.

INQ chat 3g

It is disappointing that the INQ Chat 3G, which we anticipated would be the best of the INQ range, doesn't have a better browser than the likes of the INQ Mini 3G and the INQ1 - but it doesn't and we can only label it 'functional' where on other phones it's a really attractive feature.

Gareth Beavis
Formerly Global Editor in Chief

Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.