If you were around last week, you saw that we got ourselves a fever for the Helio Ocean and we covered the silly out of that thing. If you want to go back and see what all the fuss was about, this is the place to find it. We've got everything you could want to know about the phonedevice that Gizmodo readers prefer to the iPhone. Walk with me.
First of all, those of you who hate words and love pictures should head straight to our galleries of the hardware, software, unboxing, and manual. For those of you who are actually literate, please read on.
- Our feature-by-feature review is the first stop you should make, especially if you're considering picking an Ocean up for yourself.
- Here's a rundown of the key features of the Ocean and our first impressions of playing around with it.
- Want to see how the interface works on the dual-slider? We've got three videos, which should be plenty to satiate your desire for seeing the Ocean in action. Check out part 1 here and parts 2 and 3 here.
But wait, there's much, much more!
- The first thing we did when we got the Ocean was unbox it. Not by ripping the packaging apart to get to the goods as quickly as possible, no. We used patience, and you get pretty photos of every detail as a result. You're welcome.
- A lot of work and thought went into designing the Ocean. We go into detail as to all three (yes, three) ways to hold the phone and just what the design process was like.
- We did an uber-Sizemodo, comparing the Ocean's size to everything we could get our hands on.
- Helio makes it super-easy to switch between devices, making it possible for you to have your Ocean for daytime/work use and a Heat for going out on the town. Here's a step-by-step tutorial on how you switch between phones instantaneously.
- Helio also makes it easy to sync your contacts with your email program or another Helio device. Here's a tutorial on how to do just that.
- At your request, we put the entire 150-page manual up for your perusal. Fascinating!
And hey, we're not the only people who have things to say about the Ocean. What about other folks, such as Daddy Mossberg?
Walt Mossberg, surprisingly enough, really seemed to dig the Ocean. Like us, he has his slight reservations, but overall he said that " the Ocean is an innovative, thoughtfully designed smart phone that advances the state of the art." That sounds like a thumbs up to us.
Sascha Segan over at PC Mag also seemed to like the Ocean, saying that "the Ocean is everything I wish the LG enV VX9900 was - a great messaging phone with very good multimedia capabilities," although while it "faces down the iPhone and the Sidekick with dignity, it still won't kill them off."
CNET also gave the Ocean a generally, but not overwhelmingly, positive review, giving props for the overall design and messanging software but griping about the thickness and wonky numerical keyboard.
For a more comprehensive review roundup, check out the one over at Sci Fi Tech. For future coverage of the Ocean here at Gizmodo, point your browser to this link right here, which will gather up every post we do on the Ocean.
And hey, now that it's available to the general public I suppose it's time to ask: what do you guys think? Anyone pick one up yet?
Helio Ocean [Gizmodo]