The Pantech Duo (aka It’s-not-the-ocean) has been officialized today by AT&T. The Windows Mobile 6 smartphone is a true world phone, and will work in most countries supporting GSM. Like the Helio Ocean, the Duo has dual-sliding keypads, one T9, and one’s QWERTY. We’re big fans of the Ocean for its design, but it’ll be interesting to see how the form factor carries over to WinMo 6. We’re not big fans of the phone’s OS, but it’s better than nothing. The phone is running on AT&T’s HSDPA network, which means it’s fast. We get downlink speeds of 1.2Mbps regularly here in Seattle, and the theoretical speed limit is 1.4Mbps. Not bad at all. AT&T is positioning this device as a half-consumer, half-business handset, which makes sense. You’ll see more phones hitting this dual-purpose demographic in the future, and we’re glad to see it as a market segment that’s growing. AT&T, Pantech Double-Up on Cool with Slim, Dual-Keyboard Pantech Duo [AT&T Press release] → Read More
What’s the old saying, ‘thin is in’? Yeah, that sounds about right. Who likes a fatty, anyways? And who the h-e-double hockey sticks wants a clamshell? I need QWERTY like a crack whore needs, well, crack. I wasn’t too thrilled when I found out about Helio’s Fin a few weeks back. A clamshell? Seriously WTF? Was someone freebasing over at the Helio House? You’ve got one of the coolest UIs on the market, you just released one of the freshest smartphones the world has seen and you follow that up with a clamshell? Do I sound disappointed? You bet, but not anymore. I’ve never owned a flip phone in my entire life. They’ve always been candy bar form factors. It’s a waste of energy to have to flip open your phone when you could just start typing away at it, right? This holds true for a number of reasons. Everyone has their beef with clamshells, so ponder that for a moment and then throw them out the window. The Fin will change your mind because of its simplistic design and Helio’s bitchin suite of apps. Updates after the jump. → Read More
We’ve been hearing rumors, and today we find they’re true: Helio‘s got a new phone, it’s called the Fin. Which rhymes with thin, as in what the phone is. → 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
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
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
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
A video for Helio’s upcoming Ocean smartphone. It’s definitely a far cry from those damn “It’s not a phone, momma!” commercials. Good on ya, Helio. → Read More
This could be my next phone unless the Blackberry 8320 comes out first or I’ll just get both. Anyways, the BGR has insider info on the Helio Ocean, which I think could be the company’s saving grace. All fingers point to a May 21st launch date with the lucky few getting their hands on one up to a week earlier. Start drooling, folks, this don’t call it a phone will rock your socks off. via BGR → Read More
and I am glad to say that the Ocean is all that and a bag of chips. The device is smaller than a Sidekick 3 and has a number of unique features including GPS photo tagging, consolidated messaging and IM support, and an amazingly easy to use browser and UI. This is a sea change in the MVNO space, friends. Helio has gotten messaging for the masses right and is gunning for Sidekick fans. The phone should be available in the next month or so and, if you use messaging this is definitely something to consider. → Read More
Hot on the tail of the Helio Heat comes the Helio Ocean. This messaging phone, aka the Pantech PN-810, folds out to a keyboard in messaging position and slides to reveal a keypad in phone position. It runs Helio’s own UI and plays MP3s and Windows Media files. So what’s that keyboard for? Well, it supports POP/IMAP mailboxes as well as IM along with GPS and Google Maps. Sidekick? Are you listening? → Read More
