Helio Ocean Phone Hits Shelves
5/11/07 – Los Angeles-based mobile service provider Helio today announced the long-anticipated availability of its Ocean phone. The Ocean is a dual-slider 3G phone combining a traditional numeric keypad and a separate full QWERTY keyboard in a single device.
The company also announced that Helio memberships are now available with unlimited voice minutes. Called the “All-In” membership, the plan offers unlimited voice minutes at $145 per month and includes unlimited text messages, picture messages, 3G network access and Helio services.
Helio says the Ocean allows the merging of multiple services like instant messaging, text messaging, picture messaging and email from the major portals and Internet service providers in one location. The company also says that because it runs over a nationwide high-speed 3G network, Ocean allows over-the-air music downloads, video-on-demand, a high-resolution camera, an HTML browser, GPS-enabled Google Maps for mobile, the Buddy Beacon location service, web search from the device home screen, integration of instant messenger presence into the address book, GPS tagging of photos and videos, and MySpace on Helio.
Helio has been the subject of much speculation about its financial viability moving forward, as quarterly reports from investors EarthLink and South Korea-based SK Telecom have continually showed the company losing money at a rapid clip. However, the Ocean, with its dual-slider design and data services delivery ability, has garnered a lot of attention, cited by some as a possible “savior” for the company, and compared favorably by others to Apple’s iPhone.
Helio says the Ocean is now available at Helio Stores and through the company’s web sites for $295, and will be available at select GameStop and EB Games locations beginning May 21.
Helio - www.helio.com
