Any current or former customer of Helio that was with Helio at any time prior to October 4, 2010 are eligible to participate in the class. Helio has set aside $950,000 to fund the settlement with the class that was approved preliminarily on September 20, 2010.

The settlement entitles any one on the Helio service, whether they paid an ETF or not to receive money, as long as their contract had an ETF provision in it. The settlement provides $10 cash to each customer or a refund equal to the flat-rate ETF and the prorated amount they would have paid if the ETF had a pro-rated provision.

There are three “All In” plans on offer, each with inclusive text and video messaging, data access, GPS Buddy Beacon and MySpace/YouTube access, priced from $65 per month to $99 per month (varying with the number of included minutes).  Meanwhile the “A la carte” plans start from $40 per month but you’ll be paying extra for data and accessing services, both likely pastimes with the Ocean 2.  Both sets of plans include unlimited mobile to mobile calls and unlimited evening (after 7pm) and weekend calls.

You can see our first impressions and a video unboxing and hardware walkaround of the Virgin Mobile Helio Ocean 2 here.  We’ll be reviewing the handset over the next week or so, to see whether it’s the double-sliding Messiah for Virgin Mobile subscribers or too little, too late given the state of the mobile market.

[thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

In the box, there’s the USB sync cable, Helio-branded charm, wired headset, AC adapter and a CD along with printed documentation. The packaging itself still concentrates on Helio more than it does Virgin Mobile.

First impressions of the handset are good, with the build quality being high and the plastics feeling sturdy. As with the first-gen Ocean, the slide-out QWERTY keyboard (which has now switched levels with the numeric keypad) mechanism seems strong and is flex-free, snapping neatly into place. There’s minimal twist or shift when closed up, either, although this is of course a brand new device, and it’s altogether slicker and slimmer.

Other changes over the first-gen Ocean include an improved display, of which our initial impression is that it’s much brighter and has better color saturation, but seems a little small at 2.6-inches. Meanwhile the touch-sensitive control pad is going to take some getting used to.

The QWERTY keys are larger and easier to press, and while it’s unmistakably an Ocean handset they’ve done a good job bringing it up to date. Where Helio devices always shined was the software package, particularly the location-based services, and it’s those which we’ll be looking at closely for our review. Until then, enjoy the unboxing video and initial gallery!

The Ocean 2 takes the design of the original Ocean and adds a larger, 2.6-inch QVGA display, tabbed browsing, an optical navigation sensor and larger QWERTY keypad buttons.  The software suite has also had an overhaul, with a new Connect social networking dashboard, the addition of Google Talk to the IM suite, inclusive Exchange email access, on-device editing of Word, PowerPoint and Excel files, and background media playback.

Buyers of the Helio Ocean 2 will also get a 512MB microSD card.  The phone will be available from www.virginmobileusa.com on February 12th, as well as from select retail stores.

Press Release:

VIRGIN MOBILE USA DEBUTS SECOND GENERATION OCEAN

New Ocean 2 Incorporates Broad Range of Mobile Content, Social Media and GPS Features on 3G Network

Virgin Mobile USA Also Extends 7PM Nights & Weekends to Contract Customers

WARREN, N.J., February 2, 2009 – Virgin Mobile USA (NYSE: VM) has announced the first contract 3G handset in its 2009 line-up, the long-awaited Helio Ocean 2 by Virgin Mobile. A sleek, soft-edge dual slider, the new Ocean 2 boasts slimmer lines and a larger screen than its predecessor.

With easy access to popular messaging and social networks and sites, the Ocean 2 by Virgin Mobile will be on sale for $149 at www.virginmobileusa.com beginning February 12, 2009. The handset will also be available at select retailers. The Helio Ocean 2 is produced exclusively for Virgin Mobile USA by Personal Communications Devices, LLC (PCD).

Virgin Mobile USA is also taking this opportunity to introduce two new benefits to its contract voice plans that align with the carrier’s no annual contract offerings:

Beginning February 12, all contract customers will have Unlimited Nights & Weekend calling starting at 7 PM, which is two hours earlier than many other carriers. Virgin Mobile USA no annual contract customers already enjoy 7 PM Nights & Weekends.
In addition, Virgin Mobile is eliminating the $5 charge for unlimited mobile to mobile calling.

“The original Ocean was one of the first high-end, 3G mobile phones that consumers could afford. With the sequel, we are expanding Virgin Mobile USA’s offerings to include contract plans and delivering a fully connected device packed with everything you could ask for,” said Jonathan Marchbank, Chief Operations Officer, Virgin Mobile USA. “The Ocean 2 is a powerful combination of voice, features and data at a great price.”

Virgin Mobile USA’s contract voice and data plans offer some of the best value in the industry, and are customized for consumers who want a top-notch mobile experience without breaking the bank. Contract customers can chose from three different monthly voice plans that best suit their needs:

$65 per month includes 500 daytime minutes, unlimited nights and weekends, unlimited mobile to mobile calling, unlimited messaging and unlimited data usage
$85 monthly plan includes 1000 daytime minutes, unlimited nights and weekends, unlimited mobile to mobile calling, unlimited messaging and unlimited data
For $99, unlimited voice, messaging and data

The Best of What’s New: How the Ocean 2 Stacks Up Against the Ocean

The Helio Ocean 2 is a sleek dual-slider QWERTY handset with an impressive list of upgraded features:

A larger landscape mode 2.6” QVGA screen designed to deliver an enhanced mobile browsing experience at 3G speed.
One-click access to the new Connect social networking dashboard solution.
The Ultimate Inbox instant messaging suite has expanded to include Google TalkTM.
The Media Player now provides background mode playback allowing the user to multi-task while listening to music.
Mail for Microsoft Exchange® is included in data plans, eliminating the premium monthly fee.
The HTML browser now allows members to quickly text or email a URL, and has tabs to surf multiple web pages with ease.
The File Viewer now allows for the editing of Microsoft® Works, Excel and PowerPoint files right from the device.
A new optical sensor directional/navigational pad provides analog scroll input capability.
The new keyboard offers an improved typing experience with a new enlarged, rubberized keypad.
The 2MP camera with video recording includes “night shot” and location tagging.
Memory upgraded to include a 512MB external MicroSDTM card.

Product Details

Key highlights of the Helio Ocean 2 by Virgin Mobile include enhanced messaging and social media communication features, new location-based services and a superior media experience.

To Communicate:

The Ultimate Inbox combines email, text messages, picture messages and instant messages in a single messaging hub that’s just one touch away.
The Ocean 2 offers consumers convenient out-of-the-box access to Yahoo! TM, AOLTM, Microsoft’s Windows LiveTM and GoogleTM.
Connect, a newly launched feature, brings one-click access to updates and alerts across multiple social networks and media sharing sites such as FacebookTM, MySpaceTM, FlickrTM and YouTubeTM.
Effortless Email, Calendar, and Contact synchronizing integration with Mail for Microsoft Exchange®.

To Locate:

Ocean 2 offers a comprehensive GPS-enabled version of Google MapsTM mobile experience, with integration to the address book to quickly map contacts.
Buddy BeaconTM, a premier friend-finder application, is the first location-sharing app available across multiple carriers. A feature-rich Facebook® application helps share location and finds points of interest.
A premium GarminTM Mobile subscription application includes real-time turn-by-turn directions, real-time traffic information, ability to find things like the cheapest gas station in an area, and more.
One-click Search continues to have home screen input capabilities for fast and easy lookups on Yahoo!TM, GoogleTM, WikipediaTM, AmazonTM and YelpTM.
WHERETM is a suite of location-aware widgets that finds relevant local information, now integrated with the web browser.

To Create:

A complete mobile YouTubeTM experience including integrated video capture and upload, GPS tagging, and full “Log In” for personalization, rating and community features.
One-click upload of photos and videos to sites such as Facebook®, YouTubeTM, FlickrTM, Photobucket and the Helio Album.
File Viewer contains key office tools and the ability to view, save, share and now edit files on the device, including Microsoft Word, Excel and Power point documents.

Additional Features:

3.5mm standard media headset jack/headset
Stereo Bluetooth® Wireless
Upgraded Alert Manager
3D gaming
Video ringtones and wallpapers
Opera Mini preload
Full-featured Planner includes Calendar, To-Do List, Notepad, Stopwatch, Alarm, Calculator and World Time Clock

Virgin Mobile USA is initially releasing the Ocean 2 in a limited edition Red; black Ocean 2s will start to become available later this year.

The Ocean 2 certainly gets some things right.  Although far from svelte – not least because of the double-slide mechanism – it’s now thinner and a smoother, more tapered shape than the first Ocean.  There’s also a new touch-sensitive directional control pad, although that may prove to be a mixed blessing in usability, but the 2.6-inch QVGA display is a big improvement over the last-gen screen.

Software has been subject to minor tweaks, many of them making a significant difference to usability, though, like the media app’s new ability to play music in the background, no matter what program you switch to.  Still, it’s arguably not enough to differentiate the Ocean 2 from the feature-phones that have launched since the first-gen Ocean, making this a great device on Virgin Mobile, but not so convincing compared to offerings from all the rival networks.

Meanwhile, CNET have also been playing with the Ocean 2, and they’re a little more confident in its improvements.  They had fewer issues with the touch-sensitive controller, and were more accomodating of the closed OS and, therefore, a software set that’s less likely to see third-party developers creating apps for it.  Call quality – which is rated as “amazing” – is a strong saving grace if you like to use your phone as, well, a phone, and both audio and EV-DO quality were similarly impressive.

Aside from launch dates, what do we know?  Well, the same dual-keyboard arrangement is here, with the Ocean 2 sliding vertically to reveal a numeric keypad and horizontally for a QWERTY version, together with a GUI that looks little changed from the early prototypes we’ve seen.  Accessories in the box look to amount to a charger, USB sync cable, wired headset and some form of Helio-branded keychain.

Actual pricing and service plans are unknown at this point, but a lot of speculation is suggesting a February 12th release date.  Whether that’s soon enough for the chunky smartphone is uncertain; what looked great early last year might have lost some of its shine in the face of the Palm Pre, iPhone 3G and Sidekick LX 2009.

[via SlashPhone]

In cellphones, it looks like the Helio Ocean 2 is almost ready to ship, but it could be too little, too late now that the Palm Pre is catching all the headlines.  Latest Pre rumor is that Vodafone UK will be picking it up as an exclusive; for all the details on Palm’s new smartphone, check out this round-up post and then head over to Pre Community.

Meanwhile HTC aren’t going to go down without a fight, no matter what Palm bring to the table, and their leaked 2008 line-up looks pretty impressive.  There are also rumors that they’ve turned to NVIDIA’s 1080p-capable Tegra mobile chipset, which could help create some real powerhouse handsets.

In netbooks, we saw Sony’s VAIO P (and yes, okay, they’re not calling it a netbook, but it’s not getting its own entire paragraph for “Digital Lifestyle PCs”) unboxed, as well as heard rumors that HP are planning at least three new Mini models, one of which will have integrated 3G.  What might be even more exciting is if they used Intel’s upcoming Atom N280, the minor clock-speed bump of which comes second to its new, HD-capable GN40 chipset.

The “bad news of the week” award goes to Circuit City, though they’ll likely have to sell their mantelpiece in a liquidation sale.  Not far behind, however, go Google, Motorola, Seagate, Sanyo, NEC and Microsoft, all of whom have been hit by the economic crisis. 

Finally, we wrapped up our CES 2009 coverage, including a look at Wilson’s MobilePro Cellphone Amplifier (expect a full review very soon) and the sight of my ears being filled with pink gunk.  It’s all in the name of pro-audio, however.  Remember, you can check out our full show coverage by clicking on the CES 2009 tag; next month is Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

This device is said to have a 3-megapixel camera and the same dual-slider form that has recently been seen in a few Pantech devices. The Ocean 2 has only 1GB of internal memory that can be expanded via microSD card slot. One thing that has a lot of people excited is the rumor that this handset has integrated Flash support in the mobile browser. We cannot tell you how many times people complain that there is not Flash support in their smartphone.

Another curious aspect of the Ocean two is the optical navigational touchpad on the front, we are seeing more of this type of navigation in phones such as the Samsung Omnia. Lets hope this handset gets to see the light of day soon to help Helio pull out of a huge slump.

News of the Helio Ocean 2 leaked earlier on this year, together with photos of the device in action.  Keeping the dual-sliding form-factor of the original Ocean, it’s suspected to have a 3-megapixel camera with 30fps video recording, together with a touch-sensitive navigation pad.

While the Virgin execs we spoke with could not discuss any of the device details, they did confirm that the Ocean 2 is a work-in-progress and that it will be hitting the market sometime in 2009.  In fact, all of the devices and services Helio had on their drawing board – and the language used in the meeting suggested that it was more than just the Ocean 2 – are earmarked for release under the new brand umbrella.

Helio subscribers should not notice any significant change to their service; in fact the only two differences will be an increase in included minutes on the $80 talk plan (from 1,500 to unlimited) and the introduction of some of Virgin Mobile’s social networking apps and tools to the Helio download store.  On the flip-side, Virgin Mobile customers will begin to see Helio apps and services crossing over to their devices; this will include tools like Buddy Beacon.  The company is also considering making the Sugar Mama service – where users can earn extra minutes in return for watching adverts, filling in surveys or giving brand feedback – available to Helio users.

While you’d expect them to spin it as such, it all seems positive news for subscribers to both carriers.  Virgin Mobile USA users get more advanced functionality and 3G access, while Helio users have the backup not only of SK Telecom – who remain in the picture as a Virgin shareholder – but the promise of new service development.

Update: Virgin Mobile Helio Ocean 2 is in the SlashGear house!

Virgin has offered only prepaid and hybrid plans in the past and with this purchase of Helio will begin their entrance into the postpaid market. Virgin is claiming that buying Helio is saving them 12 months worth of effort that they would have had to expend in order to offer postpaid contracts to customers. Also, merging with Helio will allow Virgin to pay lower rates to host network Sprint.

Before the deal closes Helio is making significant cost reduction leading to a lot of lost jobs. But, its looking like Virgin is intent on keeping Helio’s services going and will use the merger as a step into the high-end handset market. For more information check out Phone Magazine.

Well Financial Times has just reported that they believe that Helio will be announcing the big news this week. There is also rumor that they won’t just be merging Helio with VM but that Helio will be completely absorbed into the Virgin Mobile brand name.

Which means that the pictures and video that were leaked out yesterday for the Ocean 2 might not end up being entirely how the phone will end up looking. If the Helio name is absorbed then likely instead of the Helio name on the phone it will end up being Virgin Mobile.

[via crunchgear]

Why is this good news for Opera? Well it’s the first mobile device to officially support the Opera browser, and it’s a hell of a device to test it out on. You get the usual bookmark synchronization, Speed Dial for frequented sites, and a Personal Bar, as well as support for Java.

Now, it is currently only available for the Ocean, however, word from our friends at Helio is that this is just the start of a long relationship so future devices, and likely more of their current devices, are more and more likely to be receiving Opera Mini updates soon. Our friends at Helio weren’t kind enough to hook us up with any details of a possible new handset any time soon or anything like that, but I’m patient, so I can wait for now.

[via PhoneMag]

Up until now, only Helio customers are able to use this nifty service, however it will soon be available to others. Helio sold Buddy Beacon to uLocate Communications last month.

uLocate Communications has opened up Buddy Beacon to other carriers and service provider. Sprint, Boost, Alltell and Metro PCS will soon be offering Buddy Beacon. Each carrier will set pricing for Buddy Beacon.

Due to a new card that SanDisk and SK Telecom have come up with you can now record mobile TV on this flash card and it is automatically DRM’ed with OMA DRM version 2.0 on SanDisk’s TrustedFlash capable cards. This will allow you to take the content with you regardless of whether you are using the device you recorded it with or not.

Along with this mobile content recording they also plan to apply the technology to other types of distributable content including videos, games, and e-books. Plus, with SK Telecom, the leading Mobile Network Operator in Korea and a major share holder in Helio partnering up with SanDisk the company that is the best at what they do, flash memory, how can you go wrong?

[via BusinessWire]

Sure, Helio did it first, and Helio’s deal is about $20 a month cheaper, but Sprint has a broader array of devices to add the plan to. For $120 a month the only thing you could possibly get charged more for are downloads (but not the data used for the download, just the actual content), premium services (those stupid ads you see on TV all the time), and other subscription type services.

That means you get unlimited voice, unlimited texting, unlimited data, and unlimited picture mail, now, for the average user, this might not be the best deal, but for a hardcore business user or someone in the media, this is a godsend. I personally don’t use voice or texting hardly at all, but I know Vincent spreads his phone calls and texting across multiple devices and still has a hefty cell phone bill at the end of the month, too bad Sprint doesn’t have an iPhone plan or he’d probably switch.

[via PhoneMag]

Well now they are hitting all the channels officially. In case you’ve forgotten, it’s the Samsung U600 Ultimate Edition slider phone. It has GPS and a 2MP camera as well as a few electro-static buttons that offer up some tactile feedback too.

The screen is nearly a mirror when its off, and for a slider, its extremely thin, as with all the other Ultimate Edition phones. But with the Mysto also comes a few new GPS features including WHERE and Tellme, there is even localize Twitter.

With Tellme you can perform a voice search and it will return localized results, local to where you actually are, and from the results you can select the closest or the one you intended and then either get the phone number, address, turn by turn directions, or send the directions to a friend. The WHERE service is a GPS widget platform for a whole bunch of location based services and is accessible through the location-aware browser that’s included in the Mysto.

I want one so bad, I am seriously ready to change up my Fin for one of these, and I love my Fin, a lot. However if you or I want one it will cost us $149 with the standard Helio contract, oh, and the Tellme service is $2.99 per month.

With these attachments you can connect a mobile phone, iPod, PSP, or whatever else that one of those attachments can reasonably hold allowing for easier viewing of movies. If you look at the picture, that’s my Helio Fin attached to the stand via suction cup to the GorillaPod.

I don’t know if they are selling these attachments separately, but I do know that they are coming free of charge with all the new GorillaPods, well, at least the smaller average sized ones. They had a larger GorillaPod there, still in the package, and it didn’t have the accessories in it, but they might be coming to the rest of the line later.

Basically this is an all in one app that lets you transfer media (pictures, videos and music) to and from your Helio device. For some devices the transfer goes both ways, for others it’s a one way transfer (to the device) and then you have to use other software to pull stuff off of the device (like my Fin, I can only transfer stuff to it using this software, and then I have to fire up PCLinkPro to pull stuff off of it).

However, by far the best part about this app is that all the music and such you’ve downloaded onto your Helio device; you can now download copies of it to your computer. Also, the entire music collection you have access to on your Helio device through the Helio music store, you also have access to it through this app, with the ability to download music to your PC (and subsequently your mobile device) using nothing but your Helio number and password, then you get charged for it on your next bill. It seems to me, with the addition of this software, the Helio library (at least through this app) has grown considerably. One more major feature of this software, you can consolidate all your music from your computer as well as other music subscription services using this app, and, when you transfer music over to your device, it will automatically reformat it for you.

That’s what this app is supposed to do, but I assure you, I still can’t get the damned thing to work, let’s go through a list of problems I had:

First, downloading and installing the app, not a problem, but midway through the installation, they do the drive installation for your device so that you can transfer stuff, well, I had the old drivers from PCLink Pro installed, so instead of offering to uninstall them and install the new ones, or better yet, just updating the old ones with the new ones, it just cancels the drive installation altogether. Then, they don’t just give you the drivers so that once you uninstall them you can point device manager to the right location and it will do all the magic, no, they are in an .exe that is slow and buggy as hell.

Second, so, I get the Helio Player app installed, sans drivers, so I can’t connect my device, and I find that they have direct links to just the new drive installation software for each of the devices, so I go through the uninstall process to remove all the old drivers, restart my computer since its required, and I run the driver install, it says it takes 300 seconds, or 5 minutes, it ran for closer to an hour and still didn’t work, I still apparently don’t have the proper drivers installed, or, if I do, the driver installation software still refuses to connect the damn thing so I can use it.

Third, those were just my problems with installation, once I started using the software, I couldn’t download anything (any new songs, or any of the songs that are also on my device, since you get free downloads of those for your PC) without getting a “License Acquisition” error, and, the first couple of times I booted up the app, there were no updates, and the software was hogging over 50% of my system resources (trust me when I say its not because I have a slow or old computer). However, somewhere along the way the app decided that there was an update available, downloaded and installed it, and at least now its not freezing my computer and hogging up large amounts of system resources, but all the other problems are still there.

So, in conclusion, I’d recommend giving it a try, but make sure you have all the old drivers for your Helio uninstalled. And, after doing some searching, the “license acquisition” error I was having is apparently a server issue, for which they recommend you try back later, but I have been trying for a few hours now and still have yet to get a single song to completely download. I just uninstalled the software, all the drivers, and everything else related to the software I could find and I am going to reboot and try starting from the beginning again, but if it doesn’t work this time, I am giving up until I have time to contact Helio and get an answer. Please, leave your tips, successes, problems, etc. below in the comments section, and if any part of my status changes I will do the same. Good Luck!

Helio announced the launch of its Helio Player PC software [via slashphone]

If you click through the via link there are more photos and a video of the Unboxing. Well, it’s a slider, it’s bluish, thin, and it has a camera (I think I saw 2MP in the video).

It also has GPS, and all the other goodness that Helio phones always come with. Oh, and for those of you doubting the power of the GPS in these phones, I was with my family last night, we hit a lot a fog and lost our GPS signal from our main GPS device, and visibility was about 4-5 feet in front of the vehicle, so I fired up my Fin and not only got a signal, but got us back on track.

Helio Mysto Unboxing Video and First Look [via phonemag]

Oh yeah, did I mention the 26th was the first day that you could pick one up? Well it is, also, we know from our own Vincent Nguyen that the device was being made in the Gumi plant, he knows this from his tour he did with Samsung not too long ago.

Also, all the pictures below are of flip phones, but that’s just because that’s all that Vincent took photos of, I am pretty sure the Mysto is a slider, another one from the Ultra Edition of top shelf cell phones that Samsung makes. I want one really bad, by the way, word is we might be getting one in for review very soon.

Helio Mysto [via PhoneMag]

video after the jump

Let’s start with the fact that you can log in now, that’s a major move that no other mobile YouTube app lets you do. From there, lets move on to being able to rate, comment, all the stuff that makes YouTube fun, once you are logged in, you can do it all. You can rate, comment, share, and subscribe as well as save certain videos to your playlist, literally all the features you’d have if you were logged in on your PC.

You even get access to the entire YouTube library, not some limited subset of the most visited, the most popular, or however it is they usually choose which videos you can see on your mobile and which ones you can’t. This way, the next time you go to show your friends that YouTube video you were watching last night, you’ll be able to find it instead of it not being available to you.

This update doesn’t stop with what you can do with YouTube, but your videos, taken from your Ocean, can be geo-tagged and uploaded with ease, while still allowing you to add a title, description, tags, all the same data you’d normally get to fill in when uploading a video. So, if you have an Ocean, go get the update and enjoy the next great product from Helio.

Compatible with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, Adobe PDFs, plain text and HTML documents, as well as a cluster of image formats (BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WMF, EMF), the new application lets you zoom, pan and scroll around a document in either portrait or landscape orientation. They’ve also bought-in Picsel’s viewer technology that apparently reduces rendering and loading times. Unfortunately it’s all a passive experience: you’re still unable to edit the documents, so if you spot a mistake in a proposal, for instance, you’ll have to send it back to the original author for correction rather than doing it on the Ocean itself.

Helio Mail for Exchange 1.2, meanwhile, integrates with the Ocean’s lovely email app and gives full access – and syncronisation – with messages, calendar entries and contacts. You’re of course able to schedule new appointments, but it’s not yet clear as to whether the contacts list is a separate one from that of the device (perhaps preferable to business users also using their Ocean as a personal phone) or harmonised with the existing on-board contacts.

Also unclear is price; while the File Viewer is a free download direct to the handset, Helio’s intention was to charge $9.99 a month for Exchange compatibility once out of beta. We’re waiting for confirmation as to how much this upgraded version will cost, if not free.

Helio

So, at this price, you can finally afford to get yourself one, con your friends into signing up, or gift one for the holiday season. Any way you go with it, this is an amazing deal.

Even if you choose not to go with the unlimited everything plan, a nice All-In plan will get you unlimited everything except anytime minutes, those plans start at $65, which is also a hell of a deal. So, go, get yourself a used Helio Ocean, they are, as I hear it, quite amazing devices.

CrunchDeals: Helio Ocean now $99, so is unlimited everything [via CrunchGear]

And now, if this rumor is true, they are getting a phone that looks like a slider version of and updated, and slightly better looking, version of the Fin, and I am sure it will have more/better features too. Helio is the company that knows how to do a slider correctly too, just look at the Ocean, one of the few phones out there without a touch screen that is still a decent competitor to the iPhone.

The U600 as you can tell from its name, is like the Fin, another model from Samsung’s Ultra Edition line, and would be refitted with EVDO and CDMA, which is good. Everything else, including the 3.2MP cam, QVGA screen, and touch sensitive controls would all remain. This thing has a severe case of anorexia too coming in at .42 inches thick, for a slider! There isn’t anything official confirming or denying this phone to be Helio’s next release, but it sure wouldn’t be a bad choice, even though seeing Helio drop something with a touchscreen would be kind of nice.

Helio Mysto really Samsung U600 [via electronista]

As Disney retires their cellphone service, so Helio has seemingly retired one of their most popular handsets: that’s right, the Drift – which our sister site SlashPhone liked so much they made it the star of several videos – has been put out to pasture to be replaced by a new model, the Mysto.

As is ever the case, the tight-lipped lovelies at Helio are letting no details escape them until closer to launch, although an FCC filing for the Samsung SPH-A523 went live back in August only to be fingered as the newby in Helio’s range.

The Drift managed to pack GPS into a relatively compact slider form-factor, kicking off Helio’s love-affair with location-based services such as Buddy Beacon and Google Maps. Assuming any replacement will maintain rather than defy the existing feature set, only in a more compact chassis (and some estimates put it at 1.9 × 3.9-inches W x H), this could be the cellphone to be seen with if smartphones aren’t your cup of tea.

We’ll obviously be bringing you more information as we get it, so keep reading SlashGear!

Heliocity [thanks Justin for the tip!]

I use the service, because it’s a decent way to keep in touch with friends, those that complain about the spam, MySpace whores, and the other ilk present on the site just need to be smarter about how they use the site. My personal favorite thing to do on MySpace, on the oft occasion I get some time off, is to search MySpace Music for a local band that’s performing and go see them, that’s just me though. So if you don’t have a Helio, firstly, I feel sorry for you that you are missing out, second, I would like to congratulate you on your addition to the mobile MySpace community.

MySpace releases new mobile version [via intomobile]

The guys over at Heliocity have hacked up a version of Opera Mini 4 that will work on your Ocean. This may not seem like big news, since you’ve been able to use Opera Mini on your Ocean for some time now. The big difference is that it now has full support for both landscape mode and the QWERTY keyboard.

I haven’t had the opportunity to try this out yet, but I’ll let you know how it goes when I do. If you’ve got an Ocean and some free time, it might be worth checking out. They’ve also added an IRC client for the Ocean if you’re into that.

Opera Mini 4 Beta Hacked for Helio’s Ocean! Again! With Full QWERTY Support! [via crunchgear]

So, if you are a big fan of Windows Mobile 6, but also liked the dual slider action of the Ocean, feel free to go ahead and buy the Ocean and tell all the c810 users how much faster it is. No really though, the c810 is a pretty decent option for all the business users who need a phone based on the Windows Mobile platform.

God only knows if it supports push email of any kind, this day and age every device should support Push email from someone. Anyways, the phone, yeah I can call it that since its not a Helio, will be released some time in Q4 for about $249.99 with a 2 year contract from Sprint.

Pantech c810 dual-sliding Windows Mobile 6.0 smartphone to hit AT&T [via intomobile]

They cut those jobs because July was a record month for the company and August has already beat that record by at least 25%, which caused them to take notice of where they weren’t making money. So, they are still in business, and it looks like they will be for a while.

What they have done is consolidate their field offices from 5 to two, one on each coast. Their stores, kiosks, all that stuff will still be open, and their online store will obviously remain open. Basically what they saw was that most of the initiative being pursued by their field offices weren’t making enough money except in their top 20 primary markets, of which there weren’t very many between the two coasts, in fact if I had to guess there were only a couple “primary markets” between the coastal states, so all is good, nay, all is great. So please Helio, continue providing your great mobile service and the amazing exclusive devices.

Helio cuts 100 jobs, memo from CEO Sky Dayton [via BoyGeniusReport]

Even if you didn’t want to buy a Helio Fin before, you might want to now.

HelioUP comes pre-installed, and Helio H.O.T. and the Garmin Mobile app both have to be downloaded, the Media Player is also already on the Helio Fin. Using HelioUp is so simple, all you have to do is take the picture or make the video and then a button pops up for the right soft button that is the HelioUP button. Hit that button and a Java app launches that gets some basic info, like whether you want it set to private or public, a file name, and tags and then you just hit go and it starts uploading which takes no time at all on the speedy 3G connection.

Helio H.O.T. is easy to download, just go to Apps and there is already a link in there to download it. Hit the link, follow the prompts to download it and then it boots up and you are on your way. After you install H.O.T. there is a scrolling bar of RSS news on the main page of your Helio Fin. Click on any of those stories and the RSS reader is automatically brought up. Helio H.O.T. comes preloaded with several great RSS feeds already including all of the RSS feeds from Yahoo!. Adding more is always and option, and can be done through your account on Helio.com.

The media player just kicks in whenever you select some sort of media to play, its really that simple. Its not really a new feature, just felt like grabbing a clip of it for those that had never seen it before. The video is also a pretty good example of the speaker sound quality from the Helio Fin.

The package came via UPS and contained the single sleeved box as usual along with the latest copy of Helio Magazine. The contents were the Helio Fin, the USB cable, the power cable, and the headset. Other than that there was the health and safety manual, the disc which contains the full manual and the quick start guides in PDF format, and then there is the quick start guides and a business card to give your friends.

Thanks, hope you enjoyed.

The new features this Helio has going for it, though, are what you are likely most interested in and thus what I will cover most. First, there is the 3MP camera that is built in, then there is the thin and sexy clamshell form factor; I have borrowed a pink RAZR for comparison. Other than that there’s Helio’s Ultimate Messaging Suite and Ultimate Inbox. The new features on the software side aren’t small in comparison either. First there is Helio On Top or H.O.T., then there is HelioUP making it ever easier to geo-tag and instantly upload photos and videos taken with the Helio Fin. Last but not least there is Garmin Mobile, their new turn-by-turn GPS navigation software.

I plan on showing all of the above in the review, but Garmin Mobile will probably have to come later as I know how eager you all are to get the news; well, I’m just as eager to get it to you. So let’s begin!

Upon first inspection I was very impressed with how small and lightweight the Fin is, it’s taking some getting used to: I am used to having a flip phone where either the screen portion or the keypad portion is significantly heavier than the other, which isn’t the case with this phone, it seems nearly perfectly balanced.

As usual with Helio handsets the user interface is simple enough for a 2 year old to figure out, and that’s a good thing. There are pictures below, and video here.

The Helio Fin

As I stated above, the phone is extremely thin, and very good looking. The dark blue magnesium body looks black from a distance, and looks great from any perspective. It really is a much longer phone than the RAZR, but not in a bad way: it feels great in the hand and the screen looks amazing.

Pics of Fin and comparison to the RAZR

3MP Camera

The Camera is quite easy to use, and uploading with HelioUP is even easie: just shoot the video or snap the picture and then a little HelioUP button comes up for the right soft button, hit that and then it asks for some basic info and you are uploading.

Ultimate Messaging Suite

The Ultimate Messaging Suite is a breeze to set up and use and is quite speedy with the 3G connection.

Ultimate Inbox

I only use Gmail and my Slashgear account, setting up my Gmail account has been a breeze. I’ll work on setting up my Slashgear account later.

Helio H.O.T.

Helio H.O.T. is the new RSS reader and it works great, it comes with all of the Yahoo feeds pre-loaded as well as a few others including The Onion; you can add more through your Helio account online.

Buddy Beacon

Not much new here, I don’t know very many people with a Helio handset, in fact the list is currently one person long, which says a lot about technology and Indiana as well as about how many friends I have! But it came up, did the update and then started working immediately with MapQuest Maps.

GPS with Google Maps

This app came up easily and started working instantly, it knew right where I was and worked almost exactly like it does on my PC.  Once again, this isn’t a really new feature, but it’s still impressive.

MySpace on Helio

This is accessible via the browser window, and just like everything else on the Helio, it looks great. It is easy to navigate and write on too.

Final Thoughts

I love it. There are some downsides, well really just two: the first is the microSD card slot, which is underneath the battery cover, right below the battery, meaning you have to remove the battery to insert or remove a card. The only other thing is that I don’t like how the small external display collects fingerprints like it’s CSI, but that is easily fixed by just wiping it off. Like I said, overall I love it and I don’t foresee myself having need of another phone for quite some time.

I personally have tried accessing MySpace and YouTube both on a couple of basic phones, and it just don’t work, like someone starting a daycare and don’t like kids. So I would assume that if they did their study and eliminated the phones that were incapable of accessing such sites, and then further eliminated phones that were on networks that were unable to access the sites, the percentages at least would probably come out different.

What they found though was that 12.3 million people in the combined geographic areas of the US and Western Europe accessed some sort of social networking site at least once. The highest percentage was surprisingly found domestically in the US at 3.5 percent (GO HELIO!!). The three most accessed sites in the US, in order, were MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube.

Something else they found that probably won’t come as too much of a shock, companies such as Helio trying to add social networking features to their own services, well those services aren’t as popular as already well-established social networking sites such as MySpace or Facebook. So basically if you are a mobile phone provider looking to make it in the mobile social networking market, stick to what already works, and just integrate that into your phone.

Researchers: Mobile social networking a nascent market [via Crave]

The Fin is actually Helio’s first clamshell phone, and it’s definitely a good choice. It is currently the thinnest flip-phone available in the US measuring in at 11mm. The phone comes with a 2.3-inch QVGA display with a resolution of 240 x 320. The camera shoots at 3Megapixels with a 4x zoom, and shoots video in MPEG-4. Stereo Bluetooth is also supported.

You get all the goodies that you’d expect from Helio like the strong 3G network, GPS capabilities, their awesome messaging and email suite. When you shoot video on this tiny phone, you can just upload it straight to YouTube without any hassles. If you’re going to store it on the phone you’ll have plenty of space from an external memory card. It accepts up to a 4GB microSD card.

Is it enough to make me put down my Ocean? Not a chance. I love my full QWERTY keyboard and the way it slides is so awesome. If I were a flip-phone guy I’d probably jump on this one though.

The new Fin from Helio goes on sale today for $175 both online and in-stores. If you’re new to Helio they’ll even throw in an extra $50 savings. Look for a review here on SlashGear in the coming days.

The Helio phone has been known about for a while, no full feature list and no photos up until now, but when accessories vendors and Samsung’s site itself listed the phone as a Helio phone, the gig was kind of up. The only specs that we kind of new about the phone (I know, don’t call us a phone company; don’t call it a phone) was that it had a 3.0MP camera, it was to be a clamshell, and so far its name is the “Fin”.

The name is aptly applied considering it is to be the thinnest clamshell packing a 3.0MP camera. Apparently it’s also blue, which was kind of hinted to in some forums. So other than everything that we already know, there is the fact that the FCC filing was filed not too long ago and it had a 180-day embargo on all information other than the FCC sticker location and the FCC test reports, which means that at or before the end of that 180 days we should have an announcement at the very least if not a release.

The Fin is also part of the Ultra series of Samsung phones, which bodes well for an extensive list of the latest and greatest features being included in cell phones these days. Another thing to note is that for this to be Helio’s first foray into the clamshell market says a lot about how they shop for only the best in cell phones. They have actually had nothing but sliders with the exception of the Kickflip, which was some sort of cross between a slider and a clamshell.

The Gleam isn’t much to talk about; really the only important details are the network, cam, and external controls/display. Other than that its plated in gold, likely just the color, not the actual precious metal.

So, in summary there is the Gleam going on the VZW network, and the Fin going on Helio which is a great MVNO running on top of the nearly equally-great Sprint network. In case you hadn’t caught on, the Helio is the one I am most excited about.

Slim Samsung Clamshells Hit Verizon, Helio [via CrunchGear]

While the hack isn’t the easiest to perform, and it has its fair share of bugs (for instance the QWERTY keyboard doesn’t work), it’s a huge deal that they’ve accomplished this much.

For now, I think I’ll hold off on attempting this on my own Ocean. Once they get the whole QWERTY keyboard support down I’ll probably try my hand at it. I’ve really got no issues with the current browser (I don’t do that much surfing on my Ocean) but I do like to have choices.

We Love the Idea of Opera Mini on Helio’s Ocean [via crunchgear]

The new Mail for Microsoft Exchange will allow users to sync Contacts, Calendar and Email OTA with Exchange Server 2003 SP2 or higher. Once it has launched, you should be able to go into the Message app in your Ocean and find the new mailbox. Just click on it and it will launch your browser and allow you to download the software. Piece of cake.

Once the beta period has ended, you will be able to purchase the Mail for Microsoft Exchange service for $9.99/mo for All-In members. Also, in about a month we should see the Helio File Viewer which will allow you to view .doc, .ppt, .xls and .pdf files on your Ocean. This will be free for all subscribers. This is what I love about Helio, they don’t just put out a product and stop there, they keep adding in new features all the time.

If you’re an All-In member, you’re good to go, YouTube Mobile is free for you. If you’re an A La Carte Member you’re still going to have to pay for data. You can now shoot videos on your Ocean and send them to your Helio Album by using Helio Up. Helio Up can be configured so that it pushes content to both your YouTube and Flickr accounts with just two clicks.

These are just a few of the many features to come from this partnership. Look for other goodies like different photo and video-sharing sites for Helio Up.

If you hadn’t heard, MySpace Mobile 2 is available for the Ocean. One of the cool new features lets you snap a pic and post it inside of a new bulletin without even messing with photo hosting. I haven’t had a chance to test out the new features yet, but when I get a spare moment I’ll have to go play with them on my Ocean. (That’s right, I held out on the iPhone and I’m doing just fine with my Ocean.)

With the Ocean we can view full HTML websites, but not MySpace? I feel restricted! Well, if you felt this way, there is some good news. Helio has developed a new application to go along with their Buddy Beacon and Google Mapping; it’s called MySpace on Helio. Ok, so the name isn’t all that different, but the way you view MySpace is. The only thing is you still can?t view Myspace in HTML, but this application is a lot better than the Myspace you can view on Helio’s 3G network. It?s faster, has a lot of new conveniences and, quite frankly, it looks far nicer.

At the home page you still have your default picture and your 5 bulletins you can view, but otherwise it’s a whole new menu. Now there are top-level shortcuts to give much easier access to all major functions.  On the bottom right hand corner you can hit the “Action” soft key; there you can post a bulletin, view comments, view your profile, view all bulletins, or edit your profile. Now you still can’t edit your profile like you can from your computer, but it’s certainly a whole lot closer than it has been.

On the top you have the choices to go Home, Mail, Pics, Friends, and Blog. The mail is set up nicely and it is a lot clearer than the old MySpace on Helio. Once you’re in your mailbox the soft key options let you jump to saved mail, sent, trash, bulletins, friend requests, event invites and navigation. Navigation is nicely done, because it allows you to select which page number you want to go to in your mailbox rather than scrolling through all of them.  Highlight any message and a press to the right lets you view the Message, view the sender’s profile, reply instantly, save, delete or just send them a brand new message. The friends section is quicker and clearerm showing the list of your top friends first. You can view all friends, search for them by name, email, or even the display name. You can highlight the name and view their profile and, if you don’t want to have to go to their page, just send them a message with ‘Action’ soft key.

Some new things that I really like are the pictures and the blog section. The former shows all pictures clearly in one page, depending on the amount you have, and you can click through to maximise the one you want. Again, the bottom right soft key gives you the option to jump to viewing comments, setting it as default, deleting the photo, adding a photo, updating the caption or emailing the picture to your friends. The blog is pretty cool if you guys like to post about your day or anything else you want to share with others. It has a ‘Status Count Table’ which shows your Posts, Comments, Views, and Kudos rating for the day, the week, and total overall. You can view your blog list, your subscriptions, your readers, and your preferred list.  

Overall, this is definitely a must-have for Ocean users who use MySpace. It’s much clearer, it’s quicker, and it’s far more convenient than surfing on a small-screen. I have a feeling this is the first of many updates and applications coming out for the Ocean and things are looking good so far. To get this access the internet on your phone and select ‘shop’ at the surf menu, then go to applications; it’s not on the Helio website just yet.

Previous coverage: Helio Ocean Review