Opinionated comments on mobile phone industry news

Update 3 20070329: MobileBurn has tested it, and really liked its capabilities: 'Overall, the Helio Ocean just appears to be a fantastic device and is easily the highlight of this year's CTIA show for me.'
Update 2 20070327: Engadget has seen the Ocean and liked it (except possibly the size of it).
Update 1 20070327: Helio Seeks Perfection with Its New Dual-Slider Phone, Ocean says it is actually GPS-enabled. My mistake. This makes it an even more compelling phone.


The title hints that this is not your everyday featurephone, and Helio Ocean continues the tradition of blurring the distinction between feature- and smartphones even further.

'Engadget - Helio Ocean' goes through the main features of the phone/device/gadget, and I list those that are interesting from a future outlook perspective:

• dual-slide design with QWERTY in one direction and numeric in the other
• list with integrated "presence detection" showing contacts' statuses on a variety of instant messaging services
• Exchange Server integration (!) for the suits out there
• a click-free web search mechanism (search by typing on the main screen)

All good things, and indicating a well-thought out top-down design if it also follows through on ease-of-use. I can safely say I'd want this device, if it only had GPS as well. Of course we don't have the Helio service over here, but the mentioned features are generally useful.

Helio - Helio Ocean product info

Mobiledia - Helio Ocean QWERTY Slider Unveiled