Helio Ocean

Pros: Excellent Messaging, Bright Screen, Innovative Design

Cons: Cramped top row of keyboard, GPS navigation sucks, Helio Support is useless, Contact sync options limited

Summary: I really wanted to like this phone. I ordered it the day it was released. When it arrived, I charged it overnight and went to set it up the next day. Unfortunately I kept receiving a roaming message every time I tried to make a call, and the data features were unavailable despite being in an area with strong Helio (Sprint) coverage. I called Helio Support and they were useless. I decided I would try to take the phone to a different area to test it, however the next day when I got up, it was working. I still don't understand the reason for the delay.

The e-mail and IM messaging features of this phone are excellent. It is extremely easy to set up and log into Yahoo, AOL/AIM, Windows Live (Hotmail/MSN), GMail, and Earthlink Mail. I specified I wanted to receive alerts of new e-mails, but for some reason I didn't. Not sure what is going on with that.

At this time you cannot sync contacts directly with your computer. The best you can do is sync with Yahoo or AOL, or upload your contacts to Helio Mail and sync that.

One of the features I was most looking forward to on this phone was the GPS abilities. You can download Google Maps for navigation, but the font is way too small to be usable. Also, it does not automatically update your location when you are following directions. You must press "next" every time which is extremely inconvenient if you are driving. To be honest, the only practical purpose for the GPS is the Buddy Beacon. Unfortunately I do not know anyone else using Helio, so I was able to play with it.

While the Helio sports a really innovative design, I did have some complaints. The most frustrating was that the top row of the QWERTY keyboard is extremely cramped by the sliding part of the phone. I am a 6'1" guy, so I have large fingers which made it very difficult to use the keyboard. I constantly was hitting the wrong key. Secondly, the build quality of the slider seemed a bit loose. I was worried that this would get worse with time.

Currently there is no way to open Office documents on the device, so its use is really just for play. The camera is nice and takes reasonably good pictures. There's lots of video and music options, but those didn't really appeal to me, so I did not use them.

Another minor quibble: while the phone comes with lots of high-quality ring tones, they are all musical in nature. There was no option to select a "normal" ring even through the available downloads. This might be kind of embarrassing if you use this phone in an office or are over 30 like me.

The Helio is obviously target at the younger MySpace crowd and not me. Keep that in mind if you are not part of that demographic.

I had to call Helio support several times while trying to "activate" my Helio e-mail (which is required in order to sync contacts). The Helio support staff was completely ignorant of their own product and services. It was my experience with them that made me decide to return this phone more than anything else.

I am sending this phone back to Helio. They do have a generous 30-day money back policy which I am taking advantage of.