Two of Samsung’s anorexic offspring are saying hello to the world a little prematurely, but we’re ok with that. The Gleam aka SCH-U700 will launch on VZW covered in gold. All we know other than network are the camera and external music controls and display. Hooray! The skinnier of the two Samsungs is the SPH-A513 aka Fin. It will be the thinnest clamshell on the market with a 3-megapixel camera. It’s called the Fin and it’s thin, get it? Hahaha. It will be available on Helio with the full suite of apps and features some of us at CrunchGear have come to love. Can’t wait to get my hands on this baby. Samsung U700 Gleam for Verizon and A513 for Helio [Phone Arena] → Read More
We love it when a device has an enthusiastic following. We love it more when that following comes up with badass ways to hack said device. And we love it when said enthusiastic following hacks said favored device and the results are fantastic. We love the Ocean by Helio, one of the most amazing and overlooked handsets on the market. If you haven’t seriously looked at this thing yet, you should. We love Opera Mini, short of the iPhone’s implementation of Safari, it’s the best mobile Web browser, hands down. And now we love the hacking community at Heliocity, as they’ve bunged up a way to run Opera Mini on the Helio Ocean. → Read More
Oh happy day! Helio officially released Mail for MS Exchange last night into beta, so all the business-user-haters can quit their griping. All Ocean owners with an All-in account will be privy to the beta for the next 60 days. You’ll be able to sync your Contacts, Calendar and E-mail from the MS Exchange Server OTA. At the end of the beta period, the final release of Mail for MS Exchange will launch for $9.99 a month for All-in members. To get started you need to sync with your corporate Exchange Server that’s set up for Exchange ActiveSync protocol, which is compatible with Exchange Server 2003 SP2+ or ES 2007. Helio File Viewer will also launch in 30 days, so you’ll be able to check out Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF attachments on your Ocean and it’s free for all subscribers. I told you some hot new stuff would be coming from Helio. → Read More
Verizon may be able to call themselves the most reliable voice and data network in the country, but they’re certainly not the first to allow users to upload videos to YouTube via MMS. The fact that they’re releasing a press release touting such a feat is pretty ridiculous and embarrassing. Verizon, pay close attention to what I’m about to say. Helio was the first provider in the US to give users the ability to upload videos directly to YouTube via MMS more than a month ago. HelioUP is the coolest feature I’ve seen on any service provider hands down. You can upload pictures to Flickr and videos to YouTube within a matter of minutes. Pull your head out, Verizon. Get your facts straight before you go running your mouth. Press Release → Read More
It seems like the only way for virtual mobile operators (MVNOs) to get any news today is by shutting down. Amp’d, the high-flying mobile operator, is powering down on July 24. Or to be more accurate, they are “potentially suspending US operations on July 24th.” I guess TechCrunch could be suspending U.S. operations on July 24, too, but we wouldn’t be posting that unless we thought it was pretty certain to be happening. The company has been going through bankruptcy but it was not certain they would be shutting down until now. Meanwhile competitor Helio, which entered the market at about the same time as Amp’d, keeps on surging. Last week they announced that they reached 100,000 customers and have ARPU (average revenue per user) of $100 – way above the average for mobile startups. A lot of Helio’s success can be attributed to their new Ocean, a killer dual-slider phone. I actually considered using the Ocean over the iPhone because it has a keyboard and great instant messaging support, but it doesn’t sync with Macs. → Read More
Earlier today I hinted that Helio might be releasing some mind blowing new features in the coming weeks and lookie lookie what I found while tinkering with my Ocean. MySpace Mobile 2.0 has been released and it’s made the MySpace experience on a mobile so simple that even a monkey could use it. A stupid monkey! → Read More
We may or may not see a new phone device from Helio this year, but rest assured what you see above is definitely not it in any way, shape or form a new Helio. It’s a terrible Photoshop job to begin with and anyone thinking it’s real has a screw loose. Look for a few changes in the coming weeks that will rock your world and 2008 will blow you out of the water. Helio isn’t going anywhere, in fact, they’re going to turn the industry on its head. Helio’s New Ocean [via Giz] → Read More
Loopt has announced their partnership with Sprint to bring the first social mapping service to the US of A. For those unfamiliar with Loopt you need only to look at Boost Mobile and their “Where you at?” campaign. It essentially keeps tabs on your friends in your Loopt network and shows you where they are via GPS. Helio has a similar service with Buddy Beacon. Sprint customers will now be alerted when friends are near as well as viewing geo-tagged content while on-the-move. The hot new service will be available on more than 25 Sprint and Nextel phones for $2.99/month in the coming weeks. Sprint → Read More
We were the first to tell you about the upgrade to Helio UP last week and now we have a few more ‘official’ deets for all the Helio subscribers. YouTube Mobile is now free for Helio All-In members. It took some bitching and moaning from customers, but it happened. Of course data charges still apply for A La Carte memberships. You can’t win ‘em all. Besides, you’re getting YouTube for FREE! As you already know, your video and photo content can be synced with YouTube and Flickr, but you have no idea how easy it is. Once your Helio UP account is linked to your YouTube and Flickr accounts everything you snap or vid automatically get posted. It’s so easy, right? It gets even better because in the next few months a YouTube dedicated application will be launched with features that you can only find on Helio. That’s saucy. Don’t go anywhere. I’m not done, yet. MySpace Mobile 2 has also been launched, which is a dedicated application you’ll only find on Helio because T-Mobile is a few years behind the game. MM 2.0 is exactly what party animals like Lindsay Lohan need when they’re slutting gallivanting around LA. When they take pictures of themselves wielding knives, skiing, and whatever else it is that spoiled brats do then they can post those pics immediately via a MySpace bulletin without the hassle of hosting the picture somewhere else. Oh, Helio, I’m falling pretty hard for you. → Read More
Helio users are lucky people. Besides not being nickel and dimed to death with extra charges that don’t actually cost the carriers anything, they get badass handsets like the Ocean that do pretty much everything, and rate plans that don’t leave them with self doubt in the morning. And things are about to get better. To be announced Monday, Helio is upgrading its Helio UP service. Currently it’s an online storage locker for photos and video taken with Helio devices. But come midnight tonight, it’s a lot more. Users can upload photos from their phones handsets directly to their Flickr accounts. Likewise, video can be sent straight to YouTube. Coupled with the built-in MySpace support, that is so socially-networkably radical it makes my head hurt like the first time I saw Megafox. Er, Megan. Fox. It’s unofficial until Monday, so we don’t wanna hear about it if it doesn’t work for you on the first try. But the message is this: Helio is making its already strong offerings stronger, and in all the right ways. If the iPhone’s not your bag, look at the Ocean and at Helio. They’ve got the best hardware/network synergy we’ve seen yet, and they’re making it better all the time. → Read More
It’s finally here! After months of waiting, the NYC Helio Flagship store officially opened its doors for business. I took a quick peek around and it’s definitely not 100 percent done, so consider this a ‘soft launch’. That’s not to say there are paint buckets and scaffolding strewn about the store. Some of the art work is missing and a few other things here and there, but you wouldn’t know it unless someone told you. Bloops, did I do that? The crew is super nice and helpful, so stop on by and say hello. A little birdie also told me a new device will be launching towards the end of the Summer. If the evolution of Helio devices is any indication of things to come then something really hot is going to drop. I can’t wait! More pics after the jump. → Read More
I’m a Sidekick 3 fanboy through and through, but Helio is definitely making its case. I’ve had an Ocean for a few weeks now and I’ll admit that I love it. The GPS feature is hot and it definitely helps me out when I manage to get lost in NYC. I came across some really cool vids that Helio has put up on Youtube and I thought I’d share it with everyone. This particular video is of STASH and his ongoing mural for the Ocean on the Upper West Side of NYC. Not only is the art hot, but the music by Lady Tigra will rock you out. Check out all the other Helio vids here. → Read More
It’s a lazy Sunday afternoon and the news is beyond dead, so I thought I’d tinker around with Google Street View in search of some compromising pictures of unsuspecting citizens. What I found was pretty confusing and just a little bit messed up. The picture taken of the Helio store location is at least 6 months old. I was under the impression that pictures taken for Street View were fairly recent, but I was wrong. How long has Google been taking pictures for the hottest feature in maps? Has anyone else noticed any dated pictures when using Street View? → Read More
Three months ago I spotted the Helio store being built in my neighborhood and it looks like it’ll be opening up very soon. My peeps at Helio have told me it could be open as early as this week. If you’re in the area then you should definitely stop by and take a look because it looks way cooler than the Santa Monica shop. The store is located on Broadway just north of Houston. → Read More
When Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) Amp’d declared bankruptcy earlier this week, a lot of people pointed to competitor Helio as the next one to fall. There are suspicious similarities between the companies. Amp’d launched in the U.S. in December 2005. Helio entered the market just a few months later, in May 2006. Amp’d raised $360 million in capital, Helio raised $440 million from parent companies Earthlink and SK Telecom. Amp’d claims 200,000 subscribers, and says it grew so fast that its back-end infrastructure couldn’t keep up with demand, requiring the bankruptcy filing. But Amp’d is a MVNO and uses Verizon’s cellular networks, suggesting that there may be a bigger, or at least an additional, problem. Industry insiders point to poor financial management and credit terms that were so easy that a good portion of Amp’d customers aren’t paying their bills. I spoke to a company spokesperson for Helio today to see how they are doing. They are riding high on the launch of their new Ocean device (also pictured above), a high end dual slide phone that flips up for a number pad and sideways for a full QWERTY keyboard. They claim to have nearly 100,000 customers and are on pace to generate $130 million in revenue over the next twelve months. Helio’s service is pretty cool (I have a couple of demo phones that I’ve tested). Integration with IM networks and MySpace is seemless. The devices are actually designed by Helio and built to their specifications, whereas Amp’d devices were off-the-shelf varieties that customers could get from any carrier. Helio was also the first cell phone company in the U.S. to offer phones with GPS capabilities, allowing users to see where they are, get directions to places they want to go, and also see the physical location of all of their friends who use Helio. That last feature has proven to be viral, the company says. As soon as one person gets the phone, a few friends are likely to join soon thereafter. A lot of Helio’s revenue comes from download purchases, such as music videos. Users can also gift downloads to friends, or beg them to give them one as a gift. It all results in more downloads, and more revenue for Helio. Helio may end up with the same fate as Amp’d, but there is at least some evidence that the company may have a rosier → Read More
Just a quick heads-up: The Helio Ocean became available for purchase as of midnight EST. Those wishing to purchase the new device right this instant, visit Helio.com or call 1-888-88-HELIO. If, however, you can wait until later in the day, it’ll be available through Helio retail stores. And next week it’ll spread to GameStop and EB Games locations. → Read More
The Helio Ocean marks a sea change in the evolution of MVNOs. Previously allotted for a limited demographic, the Ocean signals a significant market expansion for the cellco youngster Helio. Aimed directly at the Sidekick crowd, the Ocean could be poised to erode some of T-Mobile’s bountiful cache of hip youngsters with cash to liquidate for cool technologies. Since it announced the Ocean back in March, Helio has been floating pretty on the buzz created by the new $295 device. It was a good position be in, but now with the device nearly released, it’s time to defuse the buzz and see how the device performs. The Ocean washed up on our doorstep yesterday and I’ve been wading through it over the past 24 hours. Here are my thoughts: → Read More
I’m not feeling very well today but I wanted to slap together this video of the Ocean as compared to other smartphones I had around the house. Take a gander. → Read More
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. → Read More
