The Helio Ocean was a stylish phone featuring a unique two-way sliding mechanism, offering both a phone keypad and a full QWERTY keyboard. This design provided users with versatile input options for various tasks.
Beyond its distinctive design, the Helio Ocean boasted fast EV-DO data access on a 3G network, stereo Bluetooth, built-in GPS, and a comprehensive messaging center integrating text, IM, and email. Its 2-megapixel camera with auto-flash captured clear pictures and recorded up to two hours of video.
The sliding mechanism, while satisfying for the user, produced a noticeable ‘clack’ sound that could potentially annoy those nearby.
Software features included support for popular instant messaging platforms like AIM, Yahoo, and MSN, as well as email services such as Yahoo Mail, AOL Mail, Hotmail, Gmail, Helio Mail, and EarthLink. Users could easily check the online status of their contacts directly from the contact entry screen. Helio also included Microsoft Office Exchange and a file viewer for business users. These features made the Helio Ocean convenient and user-friendly.
The Helio Ocean’s instant messaging client offered a desktop-like experience, surpassing the capabilities of Windows Mobile phones at the time. The browser was upgraded compared to other Helio phones. The inclusion of a native phone IM client was notable.
Helio GPS/Google Maps and Buddy Beacon enabled users to locate themselves and their friends. The bright screen, while generally advantageous, might require brightness adjustments when viewing videos.
The phone provided easy access to music, video players, a database, and its messaging center via a web browser. The camera’s zoom functions were intuitive, and web pages loaded quickly over the 3G EV-DO connection.
Users could interact with websites like Myspace, eBay, Wikipedia, Craigslist, CNN, Google News, YouTube, Helio Traffic, AccuWeather, and Yahoo Business through Helio’s customized interfaces. Integration with Helio Music allowed users to download songs, ringtones, and videos. The phone also supported 3D gaming. The 2.4-inch QVGA display, stereo speakers, and stereo Bluetooth enhanced the multimedia experience. With 200MB of internal memory and expandable memory via microSD, the Helio Ocean offered ample storage space.