Helio Ocean launches today

Get ready to spend the weekend mindlessly sliding the Ocean's dual keypads open and closed until you drive friends and family to the brink of insanity (trust us, it's pretty addictive). Yep, that would be this weekend we're talking about -- Helio's new flagship device finally makes its debut on its website and store shelves today for $295, followed by a second wave of availability in a variety of third-party retailers toward the end of this month. Of course, unless you're within driving distance of one of Helio's handful of flagship locations, actually finding one today might be challenging; might we recommend our hands-on to hold you over while you patiently wait for the parcel to make its way to your doorstep?

[reply-to andrew @ May 11th 2007 4:54AM]

Could someone tell me how can i get one of these in Europe?

Thank you.

[Chrisphillers @ May 11th 2007 5:06AM]

Why is everyone going on about this ugly phone? Its not like there are other phones that have the same functions.

[diego5000 @ May 11th 2007 6:15AM]

because its not a phone...

[Admiral @ May 11th 2007 7:55AM]

Sorry guys, Helio is a CDMA provider - so this phone won't be available in Europe. It won't be available anywhere except the US sadly.

This phone would have been great as a GSM/HSDPA phone ;-)

[Thor @ May 11th 2007 7:57AM]

Andrew.. as far as I know its a CDMA phone.. so using it in europe wouldnt work :( i want one and im in europe.. :(

[Esset @ May 11th 2007 8:25AM]

Does anyone know where I can buy this nasty thing in Sweden? I really love this thing :P

[JD @ May 11th 2007 8:53AM]

I'm interested in the phone because of it's features and because the offerings that Helio provides - unlimited web surfing, unlimited picture/text/video messaging, unlimited GPS and mapping (nobody else in my area provides unlimited use of all of these features for as low as 65 dollars per month)

[Pete @ May 11th 2007 9:11AM]

Why does it need to slide down to show the numeric keypad...couldn't they have put those numbers on the QWERTY keyboard and reduced both size and moving parts?

[Pete @ May 11th 2007 9:13AM]

To answer my own question, I guess for phone numbers that you need to dial by name like 1-800-4MY-XBOX you would need the ABC-style letters a numeric keypad. That would get cluttered on the QWERTY keyboard.

[Doyle @ May 11th 2007 9:25AM]

Someone please forgive my ignorance and tell me who provides the service for this phone? Can you use it with any CDMA provider?

[Glen Akins @ May 11th 2007 9:36AM]

Can I change the boy/girl holding hands icon for the contact list to two boys? Otherwise, looks to be a great phone for CDMA networks.

[Admiral @ May 11th 2007 9:45AM]

You can use this device with Helio service (Helio.com) - you cannot use it with other CDMA providers

[Goodman @ May 11th 2007 11:03AM]

I think it's really attractive. I like that it doesn't have a glossy finish, which tends to be a fingerprint and scratch magnet. Of course, I'm buying it for the massive feature set and affordable unlimited data, but it's nice that the phone (and UI) looks great too.

[Geoff Gibson @ May 11th 2007 12:27PM]

Looks nice, but I'll stick to my Drift. The OCean doesn't offer anything incredibly new apart from what my Drift does. Perhaps if I ever need to get a replacement phone I'll get the Ocean. My only worry is that it looks a little big.

[Blasko @ May 11th 2007 5:34PM]

Does anyone have helio's service? Is it worth gettikng if you are using it as your main cell phone also? like signal and reception dropped calls.. all that stuff

[Bard @ May 11th 2007 1:19PM]

The BIG bonus for me is the fact that this has a real HTML browser and the keyboard. This means it will FINALLY be the broadband phone they've been touting.

As far as "what's the big deal", it's finally a USEFULL version of a smartphone. Blackberries are nice, but it's like sporting a Thinkpad when you really need a media PC. Besides, this has a more durable screen and concealed keys wich is great for those of us who keep phones in our pockets and refuse to sport the geek-chic belt holsters.

[Brian @ May 11th 2007 2:47PM]

If my friends weren't all verizon-a-fied, I'd switch to Helio. Ah well, at least I can look forward to the i760.

[James @ May 11th 2007 3:31PM]

Would like to consider, but what kills it is that they don't seem to offer any family plans. My wife an I are currently into AT&T/Cingular/AT&T [again] for about 60 bucks a month for a pretty minimal plan that meets our needs but doesn't offer any bells and whistles. If I could get a family plan for 10-20 a month more with, say, unlimited text and data, I might make that move, but I'm not about to shell out full price for both lines. Unless I missed something?

[ThePete @ May 11th 2007 3:42PM]

Am I strange for thinking my prepaid Sidekick 3 is a better deal? I dropped $400 to buy the thing, but I never spend more than $25 a month on it ($1 a day). Voice calls are 15 cents a minute, so I have another prepaid phone that I spend 10 cents a minute on, but on my SK3 I can surf the 'net, do email SMS, no full motion video, but for $25/month down from $65 at Helio? I kinda think that's a better deal. Fewer features, but to pay that much more for the bells and whistles I'm only kinda missing now? I'm just not sure...

[Amy @ May 22nd 2007 7:06PM]

I actually switched carriers so I could take advantage of the data plan.
The company I was with offered the same services but broke each service (video, Internet and messaging) into different categories so that you would pay indiviual fees for whatever you access. I got tired of owning an awesome phone I couldn't actually use because my monthly phone bill would be $140.00 a month if I signed up for an unlimited data plan (same minutes)with my other service provider.

I still get unlimited mobile to mobile and nights and weekends... so it is very similar. The only difference is that I can use broadband internet as much as I like when I like free of charge. Not to mention the superior interface of the phone- the drift is a smart phone and fun to use. (though I am picking up the ocean soon)

As many people have already said- this isn't going to Europe. I wish it would.

And no family plans. Reps have said that is coming but there's no offical word on when or how.

Helio has had great service. No dropped calls and the clarity is excellent. Look for competitive deals from other major carriers... they'll be coming. I just didn't want to wait another 2 years for companies like Cingular/AT&T, Verizon and T-mobile to catch up. Who knows who will have the best plan for me in the future. I'll keep an open mind. As you can tell, I am a fan so far.

I am really glad I switched.

[FyreStarrter @ May 12th 2007 1:35AM]

ThePete wrote:

Am I strange for thinking my prepaid Sidekick 3 is a better deal? I dropped $400 to buy the thing, but I never spend more than $25 a month on it ($1 a day). Voice calls are 15 cents a minute, so I have another prepaid phone that I spend 10 cents a minute on, but on my SK3 I can surf the 'net, do email SMS, no full motion video, but for $25/month down from $65 at Helio? I kinda think that's a better deal. Fewer features, but to pay that much more for the bells and whistles I'm only kinda missing now? I'm just not sure...

As a former SK3 user I can attest to the fact that yes you are missing it Pete & here's why: Take a VERY DETAILED look at the spec sheet for the Ocean & tell me where on your SK3 does ANYTHING match up.

Form Factor – Dual Slider – alphanumeric keypad
+ full QWERTY keyboard

Color – Black

Dimensions – 4.33" x 2.20" x .86"

Weight – 5.61 oz

Display – 2.4 inch QVGA display, 240 x 320, 260K colors

3G Speed – EV-DO network support for fast multimedia downloads

Talk Time – Up to 5.1 hours

Memory – 200MB internal memory expandable via microSDTM
with USB Mass Storage Mode

Camera – 2.0 Megapixel, digital zoom, built-in flash

Video Camera – MPEG-4 video recording

Audio – Stereo Bluetooth® wireless technology

Personal Entertainment Center – Supports:
MP3, AAC, WMA, MPEG-4, H.264, VOD, MOD

Additional Features –

* POP/IMAP Email Support
* Supports Helio Music
* GPS-enabled services and applications
* Photo caller ID

Ocean Comes With –

* Battery + Charger
* Stereo Headset
* USB Cable
* 2.5 to 3.5mm Headset Adapter


I had an SK3 & as much as I loved the form factor I simply did NOT handle what I felt the next generation SK should have. The Ocean in my opinion is what the SK3 should have been. The Speed, the MASSIVE amount of internal memory, the form factor, the video recording capabilities & the GPS ALONE are well worth the additional monthly price because when you have access to more features even though you are paying more monthly you can DO MORE. Maybe this will help to clear it up for you.

[Randy Stevens @ May 14th 2007 4:32PM]

I picked up one of these beauties on Sat. afternoon. Got it at the Santa Monica promenade store. Very nice and helpful staff, and very knowledgeable as well. They had received 40 or so units on Friday, and I got the next to last one on Saturday. They seem to be selling them only to new subscribers at the moment.

Helio uses the Sprint network in the USA, but it roams on Verizon when there is no Sprint signal. The coverage is fantastic, in other words. I have played around with it a little bit over the last couple of days, so I will give some early impressions.

First, this is the LOUDEST phone I have ever used. I almost have to hold it away from my ear! Second, the web browser is very nice and very fast, as long as the 3G symbol is on. It will truly load any web page, and the screen is very sharp. I read a news article from the Boston Globe, and it was very easy on the eyes. I downloaded a video of a MadTV skit, and it loaded very quickly (maybe 10 seconds or so), and was very watchable, with just one or two stutters. Sound quality from the onboard speaker is fine.

Re: The SK3 fan above. The 3G network blows away anything T-Mobile has to offer in terms of speed, and the ocean is much smaller as well.

By the way, I paid for this with an Amex card, and they gave it to me for $195 and threw in a free bluetooth headset and two free tee shirts. I loved the whole buying experience. See Eddy in the Santa Monica store, he will take care of you.

[Mike Stark @ May 14th 2007 11:28PM]

The new Ocean's launched on Friday, and I came across a promotional code to save some serious green when you go to buy it.

==> $75 off the $295 pricetag
==> $30 Activation Fee waived
==> $25 off first four months of service ($100 total)

Go to the Helio website and use the promo code B2BDGOD

I ordered my Ocean on Friday and got it this morning... and it’s awesome!

[mambocat @ May 17th 2007 12:43AM]

i received my ocean this morning. there are a bunch of blogs that pore through the details of the ocean's feature set, so i'll spare you that.

generally speaking, it seems like a well-built device. i would say it's more attractive in person, with a nice matte black finish. more subtle than a bright, close-up photo might lead you to believe.

the UI and a few features are the main problem i have with the ocean. clearly product development should have waited on this before releasing it, but i would venture to guess it was artificially accelerated to beat the iphone to market. i'll outline my concerns here... if anyone has solutions to these, i would appreciate hearing about them.

+ entering / saving new numbers. helio seems to have invested a lot of time / energy into making online syncs as easy as possible, from a number of sources (webmail, csv files, etc.) but they seem to have overlooked the very basic act of entering a number into the ocean itself and saving it as a contact. for instance, you can only enter numbers when the vertical slide is open. you cannot enter numbers when the horizontal slide is open (the keypad will not recognize the shift / alt keys unless you are already entering text). this means that in order to enter and save a number, you must:

slide open vertical > enter number > slide close vertical > slide open horizontal > enter text

otherwise, you'll have to enter text in vertical mode, just like any other phone (defeating the convenience of having a qwerty keypad in the first place). suffice it to say this is needlessly time-consuming and a real pain.


+ korean support. i do write messages in korean occasionally. of course the ocean has no korean fonts printed on the actual keys, so korean text must be typed in purely from memory - which is difficult even for users who primarily type in korean. another bizarre thing is that once you type anything in korean (even once), the default language for the contact editor becomes korean. this means every time after this point, you will have to switch the language mode to english before entering text.


+ no media move or pc sync software. currently, the ocean has no software that allows you to transfer data from PC device. the only software that exists are drivers that allow you to treat the ocean as a USB disk. once again, helio has invested its efforts into transfering and syncing online, and totally missed the boat on providing basic features with a cable between a PC and the device. a call to helio customer service gave me the enlightened response that software would "hopefully be coming out pretty soon."


+ no photo transfer. as a result of having no software, the ocean cannot accept or store any photos you might have on your PC... unless of course you have uploaded them to the web and download them again onto your ocean. and even then, it saves the web photos as low-res "screens," not actual photos in your photo album. this is seriously bizarre. basically i have a $300 device that doesn't even have the most basic photo support. and this is a multimedia phone?


the ocean is an ambitious device, but it doesn't seem ready for widespread distribution. online features are great, but they've dropped the ball on some of the most basic features for a phone.

[John @ May 29th 2007 7:02PM]

can it be pre-paid becuae i alrdy have a fone and i cant wait to get ma hands on this one but i have tmobile and my plan doesnt end until next year so i need to get it pre-paid

[John @ May 29th 2007 7:13PM]

sry about the miss spelling

[Keyshia J aka JKeyz @ May 30th 2007 7:58AM]

hey im new ta tha whole "Helio" Phone device and i just want to kno if the phone will be avaliable as a pre-paid phone anytime soon. Even though the prices that are out now for tha phone with plans are good...pre-paid just would be alot better....plus think of all the money that they would be taking in selling plan and prepaid helio phones!

[Jamie @ Jun 3rd 2007 6:47AM]

I just emailed Helio asking if the Ocean would work in the UK and they replied "You
would be able to have service in the UK, but you would be responsible for
international roaming charges." Surely we don't have CDMA facilities in the UK?

[Sean @ Jun 5th 2007 3:50AM]

Hi everyone,

My name is Sean McDonald and I am a Helio Representative for the Brooklyn and Manhattan location. I have 3 different types of Helio in stock I have the Drift, the Heat and of course the Ocean. My store is currently located at 1210 Kings Highway, if you are interested in buying any of these devices please reply to [e-mail] and ill set something up where u can drop by the store and enter into The Helio Family.

Sincrely Yours,



Sean McDonald
Helio Representative

[ATL @ Jun 9th 2007 5:21PM]

I've been pouring over the plans from various carriers, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, even Nextel. Then I always go back to Helio $65/month+unlimited date plan. I want to hear from people who have a Helio device, any Helio device, because I want to know with taxes (which differ across the US, but it would give me an idea) how much the actual $65 dollar bill ends up being (excluding videos and stuff you buy).

I really like what I've been reading about Helio, I would just love to hear from an actual Helio user in regards to the monthly bill.

[Ryan @ Jul 3rd 2007 11:26PM]

i'm getting a helio ocean in 1 week and my friend bought one last night... i'll tell you guys how the service goes once i get mine

[Ryan @ Jul 3rd 2007 11:26PM]

I'm Getting My helio ocean in a week and my friend bought they'res last night

[Ryan @ Jul 3rd 2007 11:26PM]

i'll let you guys know how it goes when i get it

[Justin @ Aug 11th 2008 11:53PM]

You can find new, used and replacement Helio phones at http://www.HelioCellular.com/Helio-Ocean-Replacement-Upgrade.html This is a great place to find used Helio phones. Helio Cellular's tips and tricks section is off the hook!