Meet The Helio Ocean, You Pancake Eaters!
Published by William Fletcher March 26th, 2007 in Tech.
Sadly, the Helio in the “pancake eater” commercial is old news now; Ocean has been announced. And whatever you do…don’t call it a phone or that French dude will not be pleased. The announcement from Helio follows.
Introducing Ocean, the worlds first dual-slider combining a traditional numeric keypad and a separate full QWERTY keyboard in a single device. Designed to be the ultimate social networking tool, Ocean merges Instant Messages, text messages, picture messages and emails from all the major portals, ISPs and even corporate Exchange servers, in one location. A 3G media and content powerhouse, Ocean also delivers full over-the-air music downloads, video-on-demand, a high-resolution camera, an HTML browser, MySpace on Helio, GPS-enabled Google Maps for mobile, Buddy Beacon and much more.
Finally, you dont have to choose between a device thats good for talking but a nightmare for messaging, or one thats good at messaging but feels like youre holding a brick up to your face when you try to make a call, said Sky Dayton, CEO of Helio. With Ocean, Helio has changed the shape of 3G with a new kind of device the dual slide a design that doesnt compromise on voice, text, IM, email, surfing, and every other way you want to stay connected.
We started working on Ocean before Helio was officially a company, said Dr. Wonhee Sull, President & COO of Helio. We envisioned our ultimate device, what future members would want to carry, and with our companys unique technology and design assets, we created a form factor and an experience that is a worlds first. Ocean is the result of the passionate dedication and hard work of countless innovative Helio employees and technology partners.
Dual-Slide Design
Voice, messaging, search, entertainment and the speed of 3G Ocean has it covered, by design. Easy on the eyes with a flowing minimalist face and a soft-touch surface, the shape-shifting Ocean slides vertically to reveal a traditional alphanumeric keypad for comfortably making calls, sending quick texts or surfing the web, and horizontally to reveal a separate full QWERTY keyboard suitable for the heaviest of emails or texts, web searches and full screen landscape viewing of crisp images and video. Ocean answers the question of full keyboard for messaging speed or traditional keypad for voice without the compromise of a QWERTY keyboard on your cheek now you dont have to choose.
Multimedia Powerhouse
Ocean sports a huge, 2.4-inch, 260K color high-resolution QVGA display viewable in both portrait or landscape modes, external stereo speakers, a 2.0 megapixel camera with digital zoom and flash for photos and over two hours of continuous video recording, Bluetooth for wireless voice and stereo Bluetooth for untethered music and videos, 200MB internal memory expandable via microSD to over 2GB, and USB Mass Storage Mode for drag-and-drop sideloading of content. Ocean supports an array of audio and video formats including MP3, AAC and WMA audio, and MPEG4 and H.264 video, all delivered over a nationwide high speed 3G network.
Ocean also carries a special chip designed to optimize music playback for an estimated 15 hours of continuous audio, has blazing fast sync speeds and support for both subscription and individually purchased music. Ocean even allows users to browse the Web or their music library without interrupting music playback. Whether listening to tracks downloaded over-the-air from Helio Music, playing 3D or multiplayer games, taking pictures on the go and posting them to MySpace, or utilizing built-in GPS technology for Google Maps for mobile or Buddy Beacon, Ocean keeps Helio members in touch with their friends better than ever before.
Ultimate Inbox
Ocean combines email, text messages, picture messages and Instant Messages in a single messaging hub thats just one touch away. Oceans integrated messaging dashboard includes out-of-the-box access to Yahoo! Mail, AOL Mail, MSN Hotmail, Gmail, Helio Mail, and EarthLink email, as well as the ability to add additional IMAP/POP3 email accounts. Want instant gratification? Ocean incorporates Instant Message access through Yahoo! Messenger, AOLs AIM Service and Windows Live Messenger all in this single messaging paradise. Ocean will also support push mail from Yahoo! and other providers, as well as Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, combining business with pleasure as Ocean wirelessly synchronizes Microsoft Office Outlook email, calendar and contacts from a corporate Exchange Server.
Integrated messaging means users dont have to choose between text messages or picture messages. Ocean does all the work through one interface, automatically sending an SMS for text messages or an MMS when a picture or video is attached, so staying in touch and sharing life as it happens is quicker and easier than before.
Contact Lists with Presence Detection
Oceans breakthrough Contact list syncs with Yahoo!, AOL and Helio Mail address books and even incorporates live presence detection so users can instantly see which IM service their friends are logged into. Just start typing a name from Oceans idle screen and the Helio Smart Dialer searches the address book and pulls up full contact information, complete with icons to show if a person is logged in to Yahoo! Messenger, AIM or Windows Live Messenger. Getting in touch with friends has never been easier.
Click-Free Search
Searching the Web on a phone is a multi-step process. With Ocean, theres no need to open a search box. Just begin typing on the roomy QWERTY keyboard from the idle screen and the device automatically switches into search mode. Ocean has a built-in HTML browser, so users can visit WAP sites or surf any Web site on the Internet. Oceans Web browser also lets users view and save Web images to their device and offers features like mini map and page optimize so navigation is easier than before.
Helio UP Share and Post Photos Instantly
Oceans 2.0 megapixel camera will take advantage of Helio UP, which lets users take a picture with their device, tag it with metadata including a title, description, keywords and location information and upload it directly to Helio Album, Helios photo service. Helio UP is GPS-enabled, giving users the option of attaching their GPS coordinates to their photos.
Availability and Pricing
The Ocean is planned for launch in Spring of 07 at a suggested retail price of $295. Visit www.helio.com/media for additional details and images.
About Helio
We’re one of the most innovative mobile operators in the United States, with advanced devices, unique services and crisp calling on a nationwide 3G network. HELIO is built for consumers who have mobile at the center of their lives. HELIO is a joint venture between SK Telecom, one of the world’s most advanced wireless carriers, and EarthLink, the next generation Internet service provider. http://www.helio.com/
Source: Helio
now i can finally get a phone that doesn’t feel like yesterday’s tech…AND one that paris hilton doesn’t have!!! does anyone know if this supports landscape gaming? i noticed tat there were some buttons on the top of the screen that looked like gaming buttons it’d be a waste if it didn’t with a screen size that big!