Helio Ocean First Impressions

Are you ready for some red hot unboxing action? I know you are. The Ocean from Helio hits the streets later this week but which girlish, excitable bloggers got it first? CG, that’s who. Here are some red hot photos after the jump and expect a video review tomorrow afternoon once we figure out what this monkey can do.

Size-wise, this phone is considerably smaller than the Sidekick family but the unique sliding mechanism turns it from a QWERTY phone to a standard keypad slider in seconds. Does it live up to early hype? Our initial impression is that this is a strong contender in the casual email and AIM smartphone market. I usually compare OSes to my favorite “smartphone” OS, Danger’s, and I am please to report that this is almost as easy as the Sidekick UI.

Both Blake and I will be digging through this bugger this afternoon and we’ll keep you posted when we have a final, overarching review. Until then, feast your eyes on the majestic Ocean.