14 DAY TRIAL // INQ Cloud Touch was confirmed by TELUS in early June, but from an internal leaked document we learned that Koodo Mobile would offer the device as well.
Although neither of the carriers mentioned the exact release of INQ's Facebook phone, it appears that Best Buy will be the one to debut the handset in Canada.
While customers will be able to purchase the INQ Cloud Touch from Koodo Mobile for $200 without a contract or $50 on the Tab, it appears that Best Buy is offering the same branded version of the phone for $199.99 off-contract or $49.99 on the Tab.
However, it appears that the phone cannot be ordered online for the moment, so potential customers will have to walk to the nearest Best Buy store to purchase the Cloud Touch smartphone.
The Facebook-centric device comes with a 3.5-inch HGVA capacitive multi-touch screen with 262k colors support and 320 x 480 pixels resolution.
This is one of the two Facebook-oriented phones announced by INQ at the 2011 Mobile World Congress, the other one being the Cloud Q.
Bearing a standard bar form factor, the Cloud Touch is just an entry-level Android 2.2 (Froyo) smartphone that provides users with a higher level of Facebook integration.
Among the features of the device, one can notice that the phone only packs 4MB of internal memory, but fortunately features a microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 8GB, 2GB memory card included).
To emphasize the fact that the phone aims the mass market, INQ gifted the Cloud Touch with a low-performance Qualcomm MSM 7227 processor clocked at 600 MHz speed.
Software-wise, the Cloud Touch is one of the first phones to use the Facebook social graph API, which enables users to follow updates from the friends they interact with the most.
In addition, with the new Facebook app, users will be provided with live feeds on the home screen and one-touch links to Chat, Friends, Messages, Wall and Notifications.