Helio Ocean is in the house
Helio Ocean
(Credit: Helio)Even though we played around with the prototype of the Helio Ocean cell phone back in March (see our lengthy first impression here), we were still excited when we received the final product in our gadget-hungry hands.
Yes, we finally have the Helio Ocean right now in the house, and save for a few user-interface improvements, it feels pretty much the same as that earlier prototype. The triple-decker phone has a bit of heft to it, but we liked its smooth lines and soft-touch surface, and the 2.4-inch QVGA screen is simply a sight to behold. The QWERTY keyboard has that same soft-touch feel, and we're liking the bubbly tactile keys.
We haven't gone through all the phone's features yet, but from what we've seen so far, it's certainly impressive. The smart-search feature we mentioned at CTIA is still there: we loved that we could just type in anything from the default screen, press OK, and instantly be rewarded with a page of search results. Other features include a 2-megapixel camera, EV-DO support, a music player that supports Microsoft's PlaysForSure DRM, and a vast array of messaging options. It even supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync so you can receive corporate email on the device.
There are a few things that we didn't like--we can't seem to multitask properly, and we're not fans of the number keypad--but we're in the middle of testing right now. There's a lot of ground to cover, so stay tuned for our full review soon!
Nicole Lee is an associate editor for CNET, covering cell phones, Bluetooth headsets, and all things mobile. She's also pretty geeky--she likes World of Warcraft, comic books, and shiny gadgets. E-mail Nicole.
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.