Helio Ocean: Hello, Nurse!

and I am glad to say that the Ocean is all that and a bag of chips. The device is smaller than a Sidekick 3 and has a number of unique features including GPS photo tagging, consolidated messaging and IM support, and an amazingly easy to use browser and UI.

This is a sea change in the MVNO space, friends. Helio has gotten messaging for the masses right and is gunning for Sidekick fans. The phone should be available in the next month or so and, if you use messaging this is definitely something to consider.

The Ocean is clad in dark plastic and the keys are quite easy to manage, except for the truncated space key. There is 200MB of storage on board and the phone will support Janus DRM and may be PlaysForSure compatible down the line.

On this whole, this is a strong product and will redefine messaging, even in the face of the iPhone, whatever the heck THAT thing will do. Very, very interesting.

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