When Helio was established in 2005, they aimed to reach out to the hip and young market, at the same time providing high speed 3G technology and the most innovative mobile phone models on the planet. Within the past two years, Helio has successfully launched their line of sophisticated cellular phone units, like the Drift, Heat, Fin, and one of the latest additions, the Helio Ocean.

No other mobile phone manufacturer has come up with a design like the dual-sliding Ocean. Sliding the phone vertically reveals the regular numeric keypad most mobiles have, but slide it horizontally, and a QWERTY keypad comes as a pleasant surprise. The huge 2.4 inch LCD screen can be viewed at portrait or landscape orientation. It has 320 x 240 pixels resolution, and can display 262,000 colors.

What else has the Ocean got? For starters, proudly announced as Helio’s hippest smart phone, the Ocean is equipped with Evolution Data Optimized (EVDO) technology. Ocean users can enjoy high speed internet access for downloads, communications, browsing, and streaming video right on their mobiles. Plus, the Ocean is enabled with a Global Positioning System (GPS) browser that runs well with Google Mobile Maps. The Helio Ocean also lets owners use the Buddy Beacon, which lets them digitally locate where their friends are, and displays their location onscreen in real time.

Can the Ocean take photos? Of course it can, and with smooth and crystal clear videos to boot. The rear of the unit houses a 2.0 mega pixel digital camera with LED flash. Still photos can be taken in eight resolutions to as large as 1600 x 1200 pixels. The Ocean also has color balance settings, different shooting modes, photo frames, and a selection of preview modes. Videos can be recorded with audio up to two hours long, and can be saved internally or on an external SD card. Photos and videos can be shared via Bluetooth, USB, SD card, or within a message or email.

How well does it send messages? The Ocean is capable of sending and receiving Short Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Message Service (MMS) formats. The user does not need to select SMS or MMS from the menu before creating a message, as the Ocean already can determine it before sending. If a message contains text only, it will be sent as SMS. If there is an attachment such as photo, sound, or video, it immediately assigns it as MMS. The QWERTY keypad makes it easier for text input.

Some of the other features of the Ocean include voice memo, calendar, alarm clock, voice dialing, calculator, world clock, photo ID, and caller groups. The Ocean can alert in vibrate mode, or with any of 16 included polyphonic ring tones. There still hundreds of things to be told about the Helio Ocean. Who would have thought that a relatively young mobile company can come up with something as ingenious as the Ocean? Helio does show a lot of promise, and they will definitely keep their fan base coming back for more.