QWERTY fans need not apply --
your phone hasn't quite hit yet -- but folks in search of a slick-lookin' little slider on Helio have another solid choice. Just like its big sib, the
Drift, the Heat comes to Helio
courtesy of Samsung, but gains touch-sensitive controls and a lower price point. The new model serves up Bluetooth, 136MB of internal memory (though no external -- advantage Drift), 1.3 megapixel cam,
Helio Music compatibility, and the full suite of GPS goodies including Google Maps and Helio's "Buddy Beacon" service atop a 2-inch QVGA display. Look for the Heat to go on sale today for $150 in your choice of Gold and the always-fashionable "Onyx" (alias "black"). Follow the break for a shot of the Heat doing its slide thing in both shades!
posted Mar 1st 2007 3:00AM
I have a helio heat phone and had it flashed to cricket. I love the phone but when someone sends me a picture message the phones keeps powering up and down for days. I know the disadvantages of having phones flashed and i don't care about the picture mesages any how, but how do i make the phone stop powering up and down. And no taking the battery out does not work. Please help!
Thats a pretty slick looking phone. Not to mention a decent spec list too.
I've had this phone for quite a while now, albeit without the gps and other helio goodies but with microsd and 2 mp camera. Good phone overall but the battery cover scratches more easily than anything i've ever owned.
Anyone use this carrier?
Likes exactly like my E900... Google maps makes up for some of the geography goodness...
I've thought about switching to Helio for a while now. Seems like a great service in theory. Anyone actually have any experience dealing with them?
I'm impressed at the phone specs. However, I wouldn't switch because:
1. They're plans are too expensive.
2. They don't offer family plans.
3. They are CDMA, Which puts them w/ Verizon in terms of network coverage and openness to non-carrier supplied equip. (otoh, they don't seem to cripple their phones which is plus.)
I've had my Drift for a few months... the plans are about the same when you realize that you get unlimited data and messaging services. They are 3G - but where I live we don't have that capability so there's a lag of about 1-2 sec when loading up the web browser. Sound quality is just as good as anything else, but for me the real attraction was the customer service. I'd been with SunCom, At&T, and Cingular, but Helio has by far the most helpful after-sale service. I had a few problems loading movies into the media player, but I just got 2nd-party software for the mp4 conversion and now (with my 1gig Micro SD- only $10) I can carry almost 4hours worth of video. Battery time usually runs about two days, I don't let it get too low, but I'm on the browser constantly using the GPS and checking my eBay site. Having access to eBay alone was a pleasant plus because I tend to dig through pawn shops and thrift stores looking for electronic gear!
They're missing 1 key feature: tethering. It's not even a fee-based option. Not being able to get online through the phone using bluetooth is a deal breaker for me.
Besides, Sprint/SERO is purty nice! :-)
I'm a Helio member.
Overall I'm very happy with the Drift. The only negative things about it are slow menus such as the Apps section, although the applications themselves launch quickly. I have had problems with the Google Maps direct call feature; it will call the number but sometimes disconnects. The web browser is barely functional. I can't go to most web sites nor can I check my Gmail. The buddy beacon feature requires a txt msg to be sent to your friend before you can see their location (not too big of a deal).
Those are the only downsides to having a Helio. Service and coverage has been great. The camera and photo studio app are both very good. Video streaming is quick and of good quality. The Drift's screen is the best I've seen. I have also used the GPS with Google Maps way more than what I thought I would. Find my location and then get directions to an address/business and the find business feature is where it's at! At a friend’s house and need to order some pizza? Find business>Pizza and you will get markers and info for any pizza place around you! As stated above I also have a 1GB MicroSD card filled with music which is very cool for long plane rides etc...
Another thing to note is the referral bonus which I believe most companies do not offer. If your friend signs up and uses it for 3 months you will get a free month of service! Up to 12 friends/year means free phone service for a year!
Has anyone here ever used a Helio phone? They have some pretty good looking phones, but I'm wondering what the software is like. I have a Verizon Kyocera slider, and the software is maddeningly slow.
@LRBIII I posted that before seeing your comment. How do you like the phone software?
I agree with others opinions, the apps menu is a little slow, but I use the GPS a lot, and it maps to the "last" key, and loads quicker there. You are limited to the internet sites they provide (I was hoping to link to my Orb.com account to stream media), but they cover all the bases: CNN, Google, Yahoo, Mail, Accuweather and more. There are deals for referals, and if you have a MySpace account you don't even have to sign a contract - that's what sealed the deal for me. I found the Media Mover software didn't like handling my vids, but as I said I got some shareware to do the mp4 conversion... all in all, a great phone. I barely use my old PocketPc anymore...(sigh)
Sounds pretty good. Thanks, Eric.
helio itself in my opinion is an awesome company.
i have had helio service since september 06 started with the kickflip now i own the hero. and im waiting for the "Mighty". there were a few drawbacks to the service at first. customer service being slow.... so on and so forth. but as any company would have those problems 4 months after U.S. Launch. Now helio is amazing. if i have a problem. they solve it. simple as that. the problem gets fixed. or credited. lol after a friend and i decided to switch to helio, 8 of our friends have also switched within 4 months. and they love it. of course we are the odd men out now because we have the hero and they all have drifts. but they go on and on about how awesome the service is.
also a big thing is we are all 19-23 young the fact that internet, text, pic, and video messaging are included are amazing as well. i told one of my non helio friends what i pay everymonth (all in 1000) and my bill hovers right around $100/month however she, with sprint, to get everything i have with helio pays $123/month.
i have had at&t, sprint, verizon, and us cellular. and they all suck hard in comparison to helio if you can switch... or if you cant... still switch. you wont regret it.
That is a pretty swabby phone yet its nothing comapared to the double flip phone they are coming out with that has a keyboard.
Looks like they made a typo on their website:
"3G speed (EVDO up to 2.4 mbps, 1X network up to 144 Mbps)"
Who knew CDMA 1X was so fast?
When you have helio and your phone breaks are you get it replaced with the insurance do you have to enter all your numbers back into your phone?
yes and no.
samsung has a special phone book program that you can download on you computer. so if you save all your addresses in your computer, then you don't have to worry about it even you lose your phone. however, if you didn't save your addresses in your computer, then those addresses will be all erased.
how do you download the program?
Has anyone had any luck gettin video from a Drift phone to a PC?
I switched from TMobile today (didn't have a problem w/ them, just liked the options w/ Helio). I have a black Heat. The phone rocks my world. Its fast, its sleek - the options and changeability are perfect, the gps updates every 60 seconds - super clear, very easy to use, the software on the computer with sync and stuff works great. I'm having a problem recieving texts, since i ported my number - but thats in the resolution phase, tech support and cs - were great. No complaints yet.
i just got helio about two months ago.
i think for all phones, it depends on where you live. if you're in big cities like L.A. and New York, of course you'll get the best coverage. and then it depends if you travel a lot, too. i'll be going to Mexico, so let's see how my black Heat works down there.
For helio, i have no problem since i live in L.A. The web browser and all web apps load fast, and i can go on myspace (i love myspace), take pics during concerts and upload my pics instantly on the web. Well, technically anyway. Helio and Myspace still seems to be working on uploading pictures, so it will be a while until they get it right and users might have problems with picture uploading onto myspace. So far, you can only upload onto myspace directly from your Heat.
I have a 80G iPod, so i don't have any need of the music and video usage for my Heat. Nothing beats the iPod in music and video quality, unfortunately.
GPS is great, since i haven't lived in L.A. that long and get lost constantly. Google also helps me with traffic, since L.A. traffic is the worst in the world. of course, don't be typing in the address while you're driving or you'll crash! Pull over!
Helio is expensive, but when you think about it, if you're the kind of person who lives in the city with great 3G coverage, will be using all these extra apps like email, GPS and surfing the web all the time, and you're signing up for a cell phone by yourself and without a family, Helio is great. Otherwise, there might be other better options.
I bought me a Heat off the Helio site about 50 hours ago, so i have no idea what to expect aside from what i find online, and some phone reveiwers give pretty bad ratings, but this site makes me feel better about buying it :) Plus it was only 50$, So im really excited about getting it, im so excited, it feels like im having a heart attack... ahhhh it hurts :)
I just got my Heat Helio yesterday and I got it for $50. It's such a great deal for a great phone. I love that it's slim and light weight. There are so many things you can do with this phone...I love it.
im thinking of signing up for helio service and just wanted to know how "customer friendly" billing is. im currently with sprint and they nickel and dime me for every thing...one more question, how much should i expect to pay upon purchase of service?
the Helio heat is a piece of crap! If you are going to get elio get the ocean. I have called helio twice today and tech support could not answer my questions and get my bluetooth to work and i can not send pictures for some reason even though it shows i have a 3G connection with 3+bars of reception.
I have had this phone for about 3 months and it rocks, no drawbacks at all. If you like mobile internet then you have to go with Helio. Ive had/tried a bunch of companies (Cricket, AT&T, Verizon) and nothing compares to the speed, service, and support that Helio has, the 3g is awesome. And their webmail feature it great. Also the uploading of pics to your helio provided box is awesome, myspace is way easier now and way more practical.
I AM IRATE. I HATE MY HELIO HEAT. IT HOLDS NO MEMORY CARD SO WHEN IT DECIDED IT WANTS TO KEEP RESETTING ITSELF OVER AND OVER AGAIN WHEN I TRY TO TEXT OR DARE I EVER LET THE BATTERY DIE AGAIN I LOOSE EVERYTHING. ALL 150 PHONE NUMBERS. THEN WHEN I CALL HELIO AND THEY JSUT SEND ME OUT ANOTHER ONE I LOOSE 7 DAYS OF PHONE USAGE TIME OF WHICH I AM PAYING FOR! I ASK TO BE CREDITED BUT AFTER HAVING SO MUCH CREDIT GIVIN TO ME AND BEING ON MY SOON TO BE 4TH HEAT THEY SAY IVE BEEN MORE THEN COMPANSATED. I DONT GET HOW IVE BEEN MORE THEN COMPENSATED IF EVERY NEW PHONE I GET HAS THE SAME MALFUNCTION. IF U DONT WANT TO KEEP CREDITING ME STOP SENDING ME A PIECE OF SHIT. SIMPLE AS THAT. IF I BROKE THE PHONE I WOULD TAKE RESPONCIBILITY BUT WHEN I NMOW HAVE TO REPLACE 150 NUMBERS FOR THE FOURTH TIME AND GO WITH OUT A PHONE I DESERVE TO BE COMPENSATED. LONG AS IT BREAKS I SHOULD KEEP GETTING CREDIT. I HATE THIS PHONE ANY EASY SUGGESTIONS TO STOP IT FROM RELOADING OVER AND OVER AND OVER OR STOP IT FROM RELOADING THE SHUTTING OFF. I HATE MY HEAT PHONE.
OMG!!! I'm due to get my Heat phone today. Did you get your problem solved?
No the problem is never solved. Anytime this happens (going on time 4 now and i just got this thing in may) all i do is wait for a new one and have to get EVERYTHING all over again. then the people at helio dont want to compensate me anymore because they see all the credits i have and im like "well if it keeps breaking i should keep being compensated. I mean if it was my fault it broke id take full responsibility." The most recent ti I was more calm because the guy said they would put it on 2 day rush shipping just for me for free and that calmed me down... but here i am almost on day 5 with no phone.....when my contract ends with these people it will be better then Christmas. And if you are like me and have 150 numbers plus.. the heat has NO SIM CARD so when power serging happens.. you loose EVERY NUMBER. the only way to save them s to call the helio company every time u add a new one and tell them to add it to you e mail or e sim or some crap. wow how annoying is that huh? every time u get a number u gotta call and do it again and again. Heat is horrible. I finally know why they called it the HEAT though.. because it will really keep you HEATED! as cheesy as that sounds its true.
why don't you put your contacts on your helio email account so you can just sync your contacts without having to re-enter it? typing it all online once seems a hell of a lot easier than re-entering contacts every time...
WOW im not the only person thats had problems with helio! Mind you I had them when they first started out. They are a SH*T of a company. I went through FIFTEEN thats right 15 devices before i decided to say screw it. After all the crap i went through with them, i was told that my account would be deactivated at no charge, then when i finally called to port my number to ATT and get everything done I had one of their snob @ss reps tell me he couldnt do anything their systems were down and hung up on me. HELIO Is a JOKE PEOPLE. I dont recommend it to anyone! trust and believe if you dont have problems now you will have lots of them soon!! As i said 15 phones in less than a year. thats a joke! The devices were doing the same thing. locking up. deleting contacts, calling people i didnt call, not connecting to the computer right, not playing music, or not able to transfer music to them because they woulnt connect to the computer and the helio reps said it was my computer not their software. Which i proved wrong when i hacked their software and re wrote a few codes and bang guess what it works now, however im no longer with helio. Helio also says you can check email, and all of that on your phone. You can. but people i suggest checking out the IPHONE before you buy a helio! Seriously. it actually works the way they promise it. It sufs the net, does java, music and everything!! it REALLY is a wonder phone! it really works!
check it out..
http://www.apple.com/iphone
I got this phone and thought that it was pretty cool too. but what I didn't like was that they gave me a phone number that was previously owned by someone that evidently owed a bunch of money to alot of people and they wouldn't credit me for all the bullshit I had to put up with until they gave me a new number..Needless to say ...I don't plan on paying them a cent..I will probably get sent to a credit bureau but that's Ok since they, I found out, have a bunch of people that had the same problems before me and did very little to remedy the situation for a better service for others that followed..they are crap..
I am a Helio Dealer, I own 2 stores, and We offer the BEST deal in the industry.
$99 for UNLIMITED All-In plan, nationwide calling, never pay roaming, unlimited texting, unlimited data, unlimited video mail, unlimited pic mail. If anyone can beat that deal I will give them a FREE OCEAN phone and free service for a year!
call me for
J. 602.614.0589
I honestly have had no technical problems with Helio myself. You can't beat the fact that you get alot of everything for a lower price than other competitors, the customer service is great, and the phones themselves are better (in my opinion) than other phone company's. I've had the Hero, and now am expecting the Heat. I was just on here just trying to get some reviews on it.
Just one tip, don't drop your phone in a toilet that has already been used!!!!!!!! Lol!!!!!!
i have a black heat....its the best phone ive owned so far...buuuuuut..........the memory sucks!!! i added my own music with the media mover i downloaded from the helio website and it only lets me hold about 30 songs at a time (the average length of each song is about 4 minutes or less) and thats without any videos. i only have room for about 6 or 7 pics and only 1 ringtone. helio should make a downloadable memory upgrade available for this phone that has NO memory card slot for some stupid reason, which makes all the extra media features kind of worthless...besides that, no complaints =]]] lol
Hello Everyone,
I am a newbie to both this site and to HELIO...I purchased an OCEAN a few days after Christmas. 450 min with free nights and weekends which includes Unlimited Web surfing, E-mail, texting, etc. All for $65 a month. I have 30 days to try it out and see if I like it. If I don't like it I can return it and cancel the service. Otherwise, if I keep it I have a 2 year contract.
One of the earlier posts mentioned something about a "no contract" deal if you have MySpace - well of course I have MySpace (who doesn't) but nobody told me anything about no contract with a MySpace account - maybe that ended?
So far I have had no problems with Helio but I am nervous that maybe I would be better off with AT&T's Roll-Over Minutes. I would hate to get stuck with a Helio if they go out of business or something. I heard AMP'D went out of business 7 months ago and the customers were screwed. Maybe it's better to stick with the big guys - ATT, Verizon, etc.
Helio works off of Sprints towers and supposedly has Verizon as a back-up but I'm not sure if I believe the Verizon part. Anyone know if I should keep my Helio OCEAN or return it before the 30 days expire?
Hey Charles,
I haven't had Helio that long either. I have had them for about a month now. I have an Ocean and I have the Unlimited Minutes plan for $99. The plan I have just recently went up in price to $119, so I'm assuming that they are getting a lot of people signing up for that plan. I left ATT/Cingular to sign up for Helio and I haven't looked back. It's not that there was anything wrong with AT&T. I never had any of the customer service problems that some other people had with them. AT&T was just expensive and I had a military discount!!! I was paying almost $80 for 1000 minutes with nights and weekends starting at 7 pm. And that was without any data access at all. Texting cost me 10 cents each. So my bill would swell up to over $100 easily.
Now I can text and surf 'til I'm blue in the face and my bill won't change. Who the heck needs rollover when you got unlimited?? Your first bill will be a little high with that activation fee added to it, but the second bill will be reasonable.
I think Helio is going to undercut the big dogs and take a major piece of the cell phone industry. We just gotta get the word out. Now, they give you a free month's service for every person you get to sign up for Helio. That person just has to pay their bill on time for 2 months. I got my little sister to sign up and she got a Helio Heat. I can tell she loves it because she won't shutup about it. :)
Hey CORY,
First, I should correct my original post by saying that my plan is for 500 minutes (not 450) "ALL-IN" (unlimited texting and surfing). I should add that my activation fee was waved as part of a after-christmas promotion (it would have been another $35).
That said, I haven't had as much time to experiment with my OCEAN during the past three weeks. I have another week to decide if I want to keep it.
I dropped the phone yesterday and it still works (my heart stopped for a minute). I am loving the QWERTY. I tied that T9 and it was too time-consuming so I am glad I have a keyboard. The phone is a bit bigger than I would like - I almost got the FIN (3.0MP camera and H.O.T feature) but I prefer slider phones over the clamshell design.
So I've only had one dropped call so far. No big deal. My reception is as good as anyone elses - and I live about an hour outside Boston.
The thing that bothers me is that there are not any HELIO centers in my area. F.Y.E Electronics sells them - but the staff is not that knowledgeable about Helio. I got mine in NJ. I was thinking of visiting the HELIO center on Broadway in NYC to find out some tricks from the staff.
I am not that computer saavy and need some tips on synching my e-mail.
I am looking for some cool ring-tones. I don't care for the HipHop ones already downloaded. I'd like some "normal" rings.
Keep me posted if you have any issues you think I should know about. (I still think ATT&T's Roll-Over is a good idea - but I hate big, faceless corporations)
Later,
CHARLES