Mobile phones today have as much internet ability as our conventional desktops and laptops do, and the best thing about them is that they are ultra compact. One of the nation’s up and rising telecoms companies, Helio, who shares a bandwidth with Sprint Nextel, appropriately named their new handset as the Ocean. It may be because you can surf the internet on it, or because there is an ocean of possibilities that the mobile phone can open up for you.

The Helio Ocean was released in spring 2007, at a suggested retail price of $295. It has been viewed by many critics and journalists alike to be a fierce competitor of Apple’s iPhone. The Helio Ocean has a smooth oval body in black finish, much smoother and narrower than the iPhone. It also comes in silver and gray. The favorite feature of the Ocean is its dual-slider design, which reveals both a numeric keypad and a QWERTY keypad. Plus, the gigantic 2.4 inch QVGA LCD screen is not something to laugh about. It displays over 260,000 colors, and is viewable in portrait or landscape mode.

Surfing on the Ocean is said to be such a pleasure, aside from not getting soaked or fearing a wipe out. It’s equipped with Evolution Data Optimized (EVDO) technology so web surfers can download and browse pages all they want at high speed, any time and anywhere they may be.

Thanks to the EVDO capability of the Ocean, Helio subscribers can enjoy access to the Helio Music Store. It’s Helio’s audio and video download portal, with millions of songs and clips to choose from. Audio files supported by the Ocean are mp2, WMA, and AAC. According to critics, downloading a song takes only about 40 seconds to a minute on the Ocean. Downloaded videos can be streamed on the LCD screen in smooth quality, with minimal buffering. The Ocean also supports video formats in MPEG.

Searching for the webpage you need has been made super simple by the Helio Ocean. Simply tap on your search keyword on the QWERTY keypad, and you’ll instantly get links to Wikipedia, Yahoo!, and others. Type in the name of a music artist, and the Ocean will immediately flash links to ring tone downloads, song titles from the Helio Music Store, photos, and more.

This Ocean is even smart enough to work with GPS, so users can log on to Google Mobile Maps and get driving directions to millions of points of interest. With the quick search option on the Ocean, typing in the name of a store or a type of restaurant will reveal the nearest ones to your location. How’s that for hassle-free searching?

Surfing without water has never been more exhilarating than with the Helio Ocean. You not only get music, video, and search options, you even get access to GPS. The World Wide Web is just a few seconds away, and just a few clicks away, thanks to the cool and smart features of the Ocean.