INQ releases three standalone social networking apps for Android

Social Widget Suite, People and Social Sync all live in beta on the Android Market store.

INQ is best known as a manufacturer of handsets, but the company has now launched some of its social networking software as standalone Android apps.

Three went live in Android Market this morning: Social Widget Suite by INQ, People by INQ and INQ Social Sync. All are free downloads, and are listed as beta releases. Users are advised to download all three to get the most out of them.

Social Widget Suite is a collection of live widgets that pulls down Facebook content and displays it on the Android home screen, including status updates, photos, videos and links.

People by INQ is more about keeping tabs on a user's key Facebook contacts: it automatically suggests their five top friends the first time they open the app, and then focuses on delivering their updates.

Finally, INQ Social Sync is described as "the engine behind INQ's social networking integration", syncing social networks with the Android handset. "Once installed, you'll find it in your Android accounts, quietly syncing information to and from your phone," explains its Android Market description.