Helio Ocean: First impressions

Helio Ocean's QWERTY keyboard

(Credit: CNET)

Helio has wide-ranging messaging and e-mail capabilities

(Credit: CNET)

Helio Ocean compared to Sidekick 3, opened

(Credit: CNET)

T-Mobile Sidekick 3 on the left, Helio Ocean on the right

(Credit: CNET)

We sat in with Sky Dayton, CEO of Helio, earlier today, and he gave us the full rundown of the Helio Ocean. We even had the chance to play with it a little, and so far, we're very impressed.

As we mentioned in Crave yesterday, the Helio Ocean is a triple-deckered phone with a number keypad layer that slides down, and a QWERTY keyboard layer that slides sideways. It's rather bulky as a result, but not as bad as I initially thought. The 2.4-inch QVGA screen is great for watching video, the keyboard is nice and spacious, and it simply feels good in the hand. We even took a few photos of the Helio Ocean to compare it with T-Mobile's Sidekick 3, which could be considered a competing device.

The real showstopper seems to be in the Ocean's messaging and Internet capabilities. You'll have access to POP/IMAP e-mail, all the major Web mail services, plus you can get corporate e-mail via Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync. And if you're a fan of instant messaging, you can bring up an entry from the contacts list and immediately see if your friend is logged in (provided you entered his/her IM name in his/her phonebook profile). The full HTML browser is pretty neat too--you can blow a page up to its original size or shrink it to fit the screen.

Another thing we really liked is the Ocean's smart search feature. If you want to do a quick search on something, all you need to do is slide out the keyboard, type a keyword, and hit Enter. You'll be brought directly from the default home screen to the browser, and a page of all relevant search results from Google, Yahoo, and Wikipedia will immediately load. If you entered in a name in your contacts list instead, the phone is smart enough to direct you to it, and prompt you if you want to make a call. We only had a few minutes to play with this, so I'm sure there are several more details we're missing.

Of course, we've only scratched the surface of the phone's features. Packed with EV-DO support, a 2.0-megapixel camera, a music player (which supports Microsoft's PlaysForSure), and much more, the Ocean is certainly a sign that Helio is dipping its toe in the all-in-one convergence device market. Be sure to read our related CNET News.com article about what this means for Helio's future.

As for us, we look forward to having more time to tinker with the Ocean in the near future so that we can provide you with the full review. Check back with us later this spring, when it finally launches for $295 with a two-year contract.

[make_or_break]

Been more impressed had it been a GSM device

No CDMA for me, especially on a relatively young start-up network that has to piggyback onto Sprint/Nextel and Verizon for coverage and services that aren't currently available within Helio. Still, the device itself does have an impressive feature set, and goes a long way at bringing 3G to the masses given how Helio is trying to market itself. As long as you want CDMA, of course.

[Mike_Stark]

My first impression

The new Ocean's launching tomorrow, and I came across a promotional code to save some serious green when you go to buy it.

==> $75 off the $295 pricetag
==> $30 Activation Fee waived
==> $25 off first four months of service ($100 total)

Go to the Helio website and use the promo code B2BDGOD

I'm anxious to trade-in my Heat, even though I just got it a couple months ago.

[Mike_Stark]

My first impression

The promo code I posted Thursday night is good... it saved me a lot of money when I purchased my new Ocean (and man, is it sweet!)

B2BDGOD - use that code on the Helio website to save $205 dollars when you sign up.

[cima113]

Software could sink Helio's OCEAN.

I ordered Helio's Ocean and have been using it for about 4 days now and I gotta tell you, its a good phone but there are issues. Hopefully they can tweak the software and fine tune the users experience.

The phone has a simple interface UNTILL you use the web browser. It is beyond confusing as to how to get to some of their touted features. The browser needs better forward and back page buttons. It has a back button but needs a forward. The video stream link section forces you to scroll through pages of video clips you are not even interested in just to get to the ones you want. It would be nice if they grouped the videos by show names first and then list each episode. The main web page isn't customizable so you cant just quick pick the sites you use daily. You are forced to save them through a bookmark listing in a menu. Very annoying considering how much clicking it takes to navigate web pages.

Integration of media The phone has a nice camera and the ability to snatch images off websites. The audio player is surprisingly loud and clear. The problem starts when you want to use this media in say contact cards or use a song as a ring tone. Either the steps needed are just too complex to do, or the software isn't sufficient in assisting the user in making it happen.

Like I said the phone is good but the software needs work. The phone's software should make it simple to add an image from the web to a contact card, or wallpaper, or to select a song as a ring tone. They need to make the phone work for the user instead of the user working for the phone.