Even in the world of mobile phones, competition is virtually unavoidable. Every season, every telecom giant on earth comes up with a smarter and trendier model that tries to make the rest look like sissies. With all the coolest mobile phone models being born, it’s very hard to make a pick. Finding a phone that fits one’s lifestyle and budget is a challenge. In spring 2007, Helio jumped in the bandwagon and came up with its very own knock-your-socks-off smart phone: The Helio Ocean.

The Helio Ocean has shown much promise, according to many users that rated the product compared to T-Mobile’s Sidekick 3 and Apple’s iPhone. Regarding the release date, the Helio Ocean had a head start by a couple of months, as the two contenders were released in late June 2007. In terms of price, the Helio Ocean and the Sidekick 3 aren’t much different, but the iPhone’s suggested retail price is a whopping $499 to $599.

The Helio Ocean boasts of being the only mobile phone that’s a dual-slider, meaning it can reveal a numeric keypad or a QWERTY keyboard depending on the angle you slide it to. The Sidekick 3 swivels open to reveal only the QWERTY keyboard, while the entirely touch-based iPhone has no keypad at all. Having two keypads is definitely better than one or none, since most users look for faster and easier ways of inputting text.

Talking about a digital camera, all three smart phones have it. The Sidekick 3 has a 1.3 mega pixel camera with flash and zoom. Both the Helio Ocean and iPhone have 2.0 mega pixel cameras, but only the Ocean has zoom function and LED flash. Images should come out better as compared with the other two devices. Plus, the iPhone does not record videos. Video quality and length is much better on the Ocean (up to almost two hours) than the Sidekick 3.

Let’s move on the messaging. When it comes to sending Multimedia Message Service (MMS) formats, the Helio Ocean brings home the bacon. The Ocean is the only smart phone among the three that allows picture messaging, while the Sidekick 3 and iPhone have yet to work on that department. Instant Messaging (IM) on Yahoo!, AOL, and MSN are supported by the Helio Ocean and the Sidekick 3, but the iPhone? Forget about it.

How about gaming abilities? Every phone user wants to have some fun and entertainment while on the go, right? The Helio Ocean and the Sidekick 3 both support and allow game play, where additional games can be downloaded over the air. On the other hand, the iPhone does not have games and will not download over the air.

Think the Helio Ocean’s done? Not yet. Who wouldn’t want to have Global Positioning System (GPS) on their phones? Thankfully, the Helio Ocean supports it, as users have access to Google Mobile Maps to give them driving directions and locate millions of points of interest. Sorry, the iPhone and Sidekick 3 can’t do any of those.

If this evaluation were a tournament, the Helio Ocean would take the trophy. Truly, the Helio Ocean has shown that it can compete with the best of the best in the market.

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.

The Helio Ocean has a suggested retail price of $295 with subscription. It has an oval body with smooth curves, and it measures 4.3 x 2.4 x 0.8 inches. The Ocean has a mass of 5.6 ounces. The phone makes up for the extra weight by packing in a unique dual-sliding feature. You can slide the Ocean vertically or horizontally to choose between tapping on a numeric keypad or on a QWERTY keyboard. Also, the 2.4 inch LCD screen has a 240 x 320 pixel resolution and displays over 260,000 colors. You can view the screen on portrait or landscape mode.

Like what I said, you can drown in this Ocean if you don’t familiarize yourself with the features. This baby has an amazing 4,500 capacity phone book. I’ve never heard of a phone with this contact-organizing capability. Each phone book entry can contain six phone numbers, four email addresses, three street addresses, three Instant Messenger (IM) ID’s, two web site URL’s, nickname, title, company and department, plus notes. Even a human couldn’t have that much data on him. Not only that, each of the 4,500 contacts can be tagged with a photo ID or polyphonic ring tone ID, so you can immediately know who it is when a call comes in.

With that amount of information, how are you supposed to find the number or contact data that you need? Never fear, the Ocean has a direct search feature. Whenever you start typing in the first letters of the name of your contact, the Ocean immediately flashes the names similar to it, narrowing down your search. This option is also super convenient when surfing the web. Simply tap on a search keyword on the QWERTY pad when the phone is idle, and a list of helpful websites will be shown. For example, type in the name of a music artist, and you instantly get lists of song downloads, photos, ring tone downloads, and others.

As mentioned earlier, you can add IM ID’s of your friends on the Helio Ocean. You can add contact names from Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Live Messenger, and AOL AIM. The cool thing about this is that your Ocean will alert you anytime any of your friends are online on any of these three IM clients. How about that?

You don’t need to get soaked if you want to take on the Ocean. You just need the right know-how and you can use this brilliant invention to your advantage. Have fun!