Since 2007, when the first Pantech-designed Helio Ocean was launched, Virgin Mobile has bought the little mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), Pantech went on to develop the relatively popular Pantech Duo duel-slider, Virgin launched its first-ever 3G handheld, and Britney Spears seems to have risen from the ruins of her public meltdown.
No, that wasn’t a random rip on Brit; the reference has some actual relevance since Virgin Mobile is sponsoring her Circus tour and the original intention was to coincide the release of the Helio Ocean 2 with the launch of her tour (March 3). Fortunately, the Helio Ocean 2 was launched a month early and smartphone hipsters weren’t subjected to waiting in line with Brit fangirls or Chris Crocker.
Undressing the Helio Ocean 2
Neither Virgin nor Pantech dropped the ball with the Ocean 2, as it offers up all the same great features as the original (such as an HTML browser, EV-DO, GPS, and great social capabilities) plus some. The new Helio Ocean 2 offers a vast number of improvements, such as a bigger display, a better keyboard, an optical sensor for a touchpad, 2GB of onboard memory, microSD support, a tabbed browser, and a 2-megapixel camera and video recording.
While the Helio Ocean 2 might be thick enough to make the average guy feel self-conscious, it was done with some amount of purpose. As stated, it’s a triple-decker dual-slider with a 2.6-inch QVGA screen level, a number pad level, and a full QWERTY level. Speaking of the screen, it’s capable of supporting 260,000 colors and a 240 x 320 pixel resolution, which isn’t groundbreaking, but acceptable. While there’s no accelerometer, at least Helio went the extra mile to make the Ocean 2 intuitive enough to automatically change the display orientation based on which keypad you slide out to use.
The Helio Ocean 2 may be gluttonous in its size and weight (2.3” x 0.8” x 4.7” and 6.3 ounces), but so is it with its more advanced features. When using the HTML browser, you’ll definitely appreciate the page zoom and the text-only option that’ll allow you to load internet pages faster. Helio Ocean 2 is also super social, so as you scroll through your list of 4,500 contacts you can see if they’re online, and if they are you can use Helio Connect, which gives you instant access to any number of social networks like Facebook or Twitter, to connect with them. Ocean 2 also offers some decent music options, allowing you to sync up to a PC’s WMA, MP3, or AAC files, or you can download expensive $1.99 songs from Helio Music—ouch. Sports and Heroes fans will be happy to find that there are free download or streaming options available from NBC and ESPN.
There’s a lot more going on in this smartphone than we have room to include, so we’ll get to the bottom line: If you can handle looking like you’re really happy to see someone every time you put the Helio Ocean 2 in your pocket, the $149 price point is worth the 323 minutes of talk time.
