Helio Ocean
It’s been so long since I’ve owned a “smart-phone” that was smart enough to not be running Windows Mobile that I’d forgotten how cool they can be. The BlackJack was nice enough, but it kept crapping out on me with a full reset needed once every other month, and for some odd reason the push email stopped working when I was on the West coast AND the connection was crappy out there AND my Cingular bills kept creeping up for data usage oddness even though I supposedly had the unlimited plan. So bye-bye Cingular. Hello, Helio!
So far, the Helio Ocean is the bomb. It doesn’t freeze. It doesn’t crash. It can access AOL, Yahoo!, GMail, and Helio’s own mail option by default (as well as Windows Live and Earthlink if you happen to use those). Even better: it syncs your data with Yahoo!, AOL, and Helio. Who needs Apple syncing when I can sync my calendar and contacts with my Yahoo account and then sync that with my Helio Ocean?
Also, the Yahoo! mail notifies you when new mail arrives, so I simply set up all my Gmail to forward to my Yahoo account and I am notified when I get new mail. I can then reply from ANY of my accounts on the fly (not limited to just the Yahoo account that received the email).
I can also log into chat on all these services too. All this on 3G connection. Streaming video and Google Maps GPS to boot.
The keyboard is nice. The keypad is nice. The way that it goes into keylock mode when it is closed is amazingly natural and just works nicely. So far, the battery is lightyears better than the BlackJack’s was, but I still think I need to buy a backup for heavy data-usage days. It’s a nicely-sized bullet of a phone, but it’s lighter than it looks like it’d be.
The built in camera isn’t that shabby either. Here’s a pic of Thatcher in low light in my apartment using the built-in flash function:
Here’s the PDF instruction manual if you want to check out all the nitty-gritty of what it does. So far, I’m loving it.
Next step: figure out a way to tether this sucker to my MacBook as a 3G anywhere modem. It can connect to it over Bluetooth or via USB cable, so there has to be a way to route the data through those ports…
May 14th, 2007 at 10:06 pm
Those are pretty hott. Let me know when/if you figure out a way to tether it to the MacBook…
May 15th, 2007 at 8:43 am
I’ve managed to crash mine twice (and battery is a pain in the ass to remove)
The first one scared me as it as I was worried it was bricked black screen no response had to remove the battery.
The second time, I got a message and it just vibrated until I powered it down.
I plan on posting a full review later this week.
And if you get the Mac tethering work that would be great, though their terms of service say anything over 160MB a month is considered abusive, so be careful.
May 15th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
I got my HTC/Cingular 8125 shortly after you got yours, and it’s served me well but for some reason I’ve actually started hankering for a Sidekick. I really enjoyed the crap out of that phone but it was way too big and made like a toy. This seems like the kind of thing that might be a great in-betweener. I’m always worried I’m going to need 911 or something when Windows Mobile decides to lock up. Syncing to iCal is a pretty big deal for me though, but I suppose I could move to Yahoo if it was decent enough.
May 15th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
Of course this will change once the iphone comes out, i’ve said it before here, and I’ll say it again…get a blackberry!
October 27th, 2007 at 11:47 am
Odds of Matt Heerema seeing this post this late in the game are slim, but I’ll post anyway.
I have fat fingers, so removing the battery is hard to do. The way I have learned to do it is by taking the phone in one hand… holding it upside down, I place my index finger on the latch and pull while smacking the other end of the phone into the palm of my other hand. This pops the battery right out.
The other way I have learned uses my thumbnail. I place it between the latch and battery… twist slightly… then pry the battery out with the thumbnail. It works well, but you had better have healthy nails.
Hope this helps!
January 3rd, 2008 at 8:12 pm
love to know if U get the Hwilo Ocean working as a 3G Modem.
thanks
Al