With pretty much all of the UK under a cold spell these days, Twitter’s trending topics have frequently been occupied by the hashtag #uksnow. Now, we’re not weather forecasters, but the interaction and fascination of #uksnow grabbed our attention, like it did all over the Twitter network.

The idea was to send a tweet using the hashtag #uksnow, followed by your postcode and a rating out of 10 of the snow in your area. It enabled anyone on Twitter to be able to get real time, genuine updates on snow in a specified area.

We asked Twitter users to send us some Twitpics of the snow in their area by mentioning @INQMobile. The INQ Chat 3G makes it simple and easy to upload pictures and update Twitter straight from the phone.

We’ve taken a small selection and posted them here. Thanks to everyone who mentioned us in their Tweets and @Relentl3ss @martincouzins @iamkreative for the images below! You can follow us on Twitter by clicking here.

Racoon not fond of #uksnow

Ice Hockey Snowman

Building an Igloo

On Saturday, INQ opened a brand new kiosk store at Westfield London Shopping Center. Westfield is London’s largest shopping centre and is equivalent in size to 30 football pitches!

Pop over to our store for INQ accessories and handsets, including the latest INQ Chat 3G. You can also try out our handsets with live demo models. With a very busy shopping period approaching, our helpful staff can assist you with all the information you need. For help in knowing how to get there, just click here.

You can also view photos of the kiosk on Facebook, or upload your own on the INQ Mobile Facebook page.

It’s the news that a lot of INQ fans have been waiting for. The INQ Chat 3G has arrived in the UK and Hong Kong! The handset has been hotly anticipated and is set to be available in stores tomorrow.

The INQ Chat 3G will be available on the 3 network in Hong Kong and the UK. Keep an eye out on the Facebook page and Twitter feed for all of today’s Chat news!

If you’re in the UK and want to order an INQ Chat 3G online, just click here.

Also, there are two competitions running to win an INQ Mini 3G. In Singapore, tell us what makes you INQ on the INQ on SingTel Facebook page by uploading a wall post, picture or video to win an INQ Mini 3G with a 6 month subscription on SingTel’s iOne plan. In the UK, you can win one of four INQ Mini 3G’s on a PAYG tariff on the 3 network. Just click here to enter.

Likes : Music Gigs, Cats, Sneakers

Dislikes : Celery, Trance Music, Paperwork

This is the first of a series of interviews to give you an insight into the people and working practices behind INQ. It’s nearly a year since Sheen joined us back in January 2009.

Explain a little about the purpose of your role as Head of UI. What is it all about?

My role is to deliver the best possible experience for INQ handset users. The UI team at INQ make sure people are able to use our devices intuitively and effortlessly. We want you to get to where you want on your phone without thinking, without too many steps, without pausing.

So how do you go about making the best possible user experience?

First we need to see what is technically feasible and how phones work from a human psychological point of view. Then we focus on our creative pursuits such as interaction design and bringing our visions to life through colours, fonts, look and feel. Also, an important principle in making a great user experience is simplicity.

Describe your experience at INQ in the last year.

At INQ, we believe people should be able to choose how they communicate with everyone around them. The pertinent features of social networking, instant messaging and email are very important and must be recast for mobile. For example, user content should be uploaded easily to allow you to communicate quickly. One of the challenges we face at INQ is improving and innovating our future handsets without compromising existing simplicity and elegance.

So how do you think social networking can evolve regarding the user experience?

Success comes from services that take the ‘mobile’ element into the highest possible consideration. So to make the experience successful, social networking services will have to support the user when they are out and about. They will have to allow for immediacy, spontaneity and the fact that the user is immersed in the real world. This is very different from being connected through a PC.

This interest in mobile internet, when did it begin?

I have always been interested in adapting new technologies to make them easier for people to use. So five years ago I entered the field of telecommunications. The mobile internet was gaining traction and its potential to change peoples lives appealed to me.

So, how did you end up at INQ?

I’ll let you try and make sense of this. I used to be a DJ for about fifteen years in Sydney. Through music I got into using computers, so I studied computing and that’s when the internet started to happen. I then got myself a job working at a newspaper designing their online presence. For example, I worked on their classified section. I thought it was revolutionary how searching for a job was changing from checking newspapers to searching online websites. Then I moved into interactive TV and developed applications before moving onto mobile phones and improving the user experiences.

What is the best thing about working at INQ?

INQ is a great company with great ambitions and is very creative. For me, creativity equals ideas and executing these ideas is certainly one of the best things. Also, seeing people use their INQ mobile phones for the first time brings great satisfaction. The other day I heard an INQ ringtone on a bus. I felt happy to hear that, knowing I was part of it.

We’ve stuck some great work by British illustrator and photographer Brett Wilkinson on our recent help cards.

Wilkinson’s stuff is striking and colourful, which we like. He says he’s inspired by just about anything and everything:

“Photographs, music, nature, flowing forms, patterns, street culture and the universe.”

We love the eclectic nature of this man. We also love the reasoning behind his work. As he says,

“My imagination is a realm of shapes, colours and curious personalities.  I illustrate to capture a state of mind, full of happiness and memories.”

That’s definitely something worth sharing.

Discover More

Onesidezero - Brett Wilkinson’s own site, full of his latest work.

Wilkinson’s Flickr stream - check out the evolution of some of his pieces, including this one we chose:

INK THIS - creative workshops and exhibitions run by Wilkinson and artist Gurps Kaur to inspire and educate other artists.

@OSZdesign - Keep up with Wilkinson and his work on Twitter.

We’re delighted to announce the INQ Mini 3G is now available in Ireland. As of today, you can get it exclusively on the local Three network.

Be one of the first to get your hands on the latest Social Mobile by popping in to the nearest 3 store or by ordering yours online here.

With the INQ Mini 3G now rolling out globally. We take a look at what’s behind the box designs and illustrations that tell you a tiny bit of who we are at INQ.

Whether you’ve gone and grabbed the Mini 3G recently or have an INQ¹, you’ll notice that unlike other mobile phone purchases, where the box is opened in a rush then thrown in the bin with last night’s pizza box, the INQ boxes are something to cherish not chuck.

Our handset boxes have illustrations and designs to give you a feel of who we are at INQ. In March, we wrote a blog post about the packaging involving the INQ¹. Now with the launch of the INQ Mini 3G, the typical INQ zeal continues to burst out of our offices.

The design on the INQ Mini 3G packaging is the creation of Mexican illustrator Alberto Cerriteño. A family guy who moved to Portland four years ago, the greenest city in America. Raised and influenced by the colour, warmth and expression spread all around him in Mexico City. Someone who is inspired by vinyl toys and alternative cartoons. Alberto is someone we like, we are INQ, so lets stick him on our boxes. Why not?

And why should we stop conveying who we are with a few pictures on the cover of a box? No one enjoys reading through a phone encyclopedia manual. Well, we certainly never have. So we threw away the idea and introduced our help cards. Unique. Simple. Striking. The complete opposite of 156 pages of monotony. We prefer it that way. Don’t you?

The INQ Mini 3G help cards feature the work of four illustrators, but they’re not just colorful pretty pictures. They are informative, enlightening and most importantly they are useful. They are INQ. Are you INQ?

These are the images by Alberto. We’ll tell you more about the others soon. If you feel your work is INQ then email us: art@inqmobile.com