Mobile phones have served us humans beyond their intended purpose. Today, these gadgets are not only for communicating, but also are fashion accessories for young mobile fanatics and old ones alike. Where else can you get both a smart phone and stylish device but with the new Helio Ocean?

Helio is a relatively young Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) not more than two years old, founded in Los Angeles, California. Helio basically buys minutes of use (MOU) from the Sprint Nextel Company, and sells it to their subscribers. One of Helio’s targets is their young fan base, since they are a great majority of the mobile users today. Helio promises to give their subscribers an even
better wireless experience than other service providers can do. Helio already came up with models like the Fin and the Drift. Their newest unit off the assembly lines is the hip and sexy Helio Ocean, which was released in May 2007.

The Helio Ocean is both a ladies’ phone and a man’s phone. Anybody with this in his or her hand will make other mobile users jealous. The smooth curves of the Ocean come with rubberized edges so it’s comfy to hold and more resistant to scrapes. The trendy thing about the Ocean is its one-of-a-kind dual-sliding design. Slide the phone vertically, and you can use the number keypad. Slide it horizontally, and you have access to a QWERTY keyboard with bubbled keys.

The Ocean has a huge 2.4 inch Quarter Video Graphics Array (QVGA) screen that has a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels. The screen can display 262,000 colors. When the numeric keypad is used, the screen shows images on portrait orientation. The widescreen format is viewed when the QWERTY keypad is active. Either way, videos and websites are a joy to look at on the Ocean. The LCD screen brightness can be adjusted, and font style and size can be selected.

Since the Ocean has an LCD with excellent display quality, why not pair it up with a great digital camera? Yes, the Ocean proudly sports a 2.0 mega pixel digital camera with 4x zoom and LED flash. Photos can be taken in eight resolutions, the largest being 1200 x 1600 pixels. Picture quality can be set up to suit your preference, as you can adjust brightness, color balance, and white balance. Fun frames are also available for photo editing. Photos can easily be uploaded online via the Helio Up service, where users can set up albums and add captions to their photos. The camera also takes great videos with audio. Video length can be for MMS formats or for Idle Screen Movies, which can be saved as screensavers.

Playing multimedia on the Ocean is a pleasure. The large LCD screen allows for better viewing of music videos, movie clips, and TV feeds via Helio’s over-the-air download service. Plus, songs in mp3, WMA, and AAC formats can be played in crystal clear quality over the speakers or on stereo headsets. The Helio Ocean also supports Java games and applications for extra fun on the go. With this phone in hand, what more could you ask for?

The Helio Ocean is considered by critics to be one of Helio’s smartest moves yet. Bravely enough, Helio thought up their first-ever dual-slider and made it into a reality. Packaged in a 4.3 x 2.4 x 0.8 inch unit, the Ocean weighs 5.6 ounces. The phone comes in black finish with rubberized edges on the casing. Its three-tiered body is attributed to the unique sliding feature of the phone.

The top tier of the Ocean contains the navigational soft keys which flank the 2.4 inch QVGA screen that has a display capability of 262,000 colors. When the top tier is slid vertically, the second tier is revealed, containing a numeric keypad with silver buttons. The fun part comes when the third tier is revealed, but to do that, one must lock in the first two tiers and slide them horizontally. An amply-spaced QWERTY keypad with bubble buttons is accessible, and the LCD screen appears in widescreen view.

When the Helio Ocean was released in May 2007, it has already been rumored to compete with T-Mobile’s Sidekick 3 and Apple’s iPhone, both of which came out in the market in June 2007. Critics have reviewed the Helio Ocean and found it to win against the Sidekick 3 hands down, but the dispute remains when the iPhone steps into view.

For one thing, the Helio Ocean is a fraction of the cost of the famous iPhone, at $295 suggested retail price as opposed to $499 to $599 for the latter. The iPhone is initially a challenge to navigate with, since every task is controlled by touch screen. With the Ocean, users loved the dual-slider feature, which means double to ease for text input and navigation.

The Ocean does a lot more in other departments. Both phones have a 2.0 mega pixel camera, but the iPhone has no digital zoom and no LED flash, unlike the Ocean. Furthermore, video capture option is a big no-no on the iPhone. Apple has yet to work on the over-the-air download capability of the iPhone, while the Ocean’s already got that covered. Only the Ocean can support GPS and has the Buddy Beacon service for locating friends within the same network and viewing them on a map. Plus, the iPhone doesn’t have 3D gaming and multiplayer modes, while the Ocean has those and more gaming options via Java.

Who says Helio can’t catch up with the big guys? The Ocean has already shown to be a strong contender. There’s more in store from Helio. In the meantime, let’s revel in the Ocean’s glory over the iPhone. I wonder what’s next?

So what is the Helio Ocean? It’s one of the latest models of mobile phones created by Helio, a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) based in California, USA. This mobile phone is one of many units developed by Helio, designed to give people all over the country the power of high speed wireless technology in the palm of their hand. The Helio Ocean was first sold in the US in May 2007, at a suggested retail price of $295, inclusive of Helio subscription.

How does the Ocean help you store memories? First of all, this phone has an internal memory of 200MB, plus a removable SD card with 2GB of memory. You can store a lot of data on this small machine. Aside from that, the Helio Ocean is equipped with a 2.0 mega pixel digital camera, with 4x digital zoom, LED flash, and self-timer. This camera can take still photos in eight resolutions, or record varied lengths of video with audio. Photos can be edited using color balance, brightness and contrast, color effects, and picture frames.

Now check out what the Ocean can do with your photos and videos. You can save them internally or externally, or you can upload them online to your MySpace account. With the Helio Up service, you can save these photos on Helio Album or Flickr, organize them into albums, and even personalize them with captions and keywords. Helio also allows their subscribers to upload video files straight to YouTube. Since the Ocean is GPS-capable, users can tag their photos with GPS coordinates before uploading them. Isn’t that a great idea? Trying to find a memorable vacation spot on a map has never been easier.

What else can you do with your photos and videos? You can use these photos as wallpapers or caller photo ID’s on your Helio Ocean. You can specifically clip a photo onto each entry in the Ocean’s 4,500-capacity phonebook. Captured videos can be used as screensavers for your phone. You can also send these files via Bluetooth to your friends, or upload them to you laptop or desktop PC with a USB cable. Your photos and videos can be sent as email attachments or as Multimedia Message Service (MMS) files.

Imagine the tons of stuff you could do with your memories just by using the Helio Ocean. Now you can store all your great photos and video moments in your pocket and take them anywhere. What’s more, you have the power to share these with family and friends, wherever they may be in the world.