defcon4.net :: Ocean drowns by itself. Game over Helio, thanks for playing. Continue??

Ocean drowns by itself. Game over Helio, thanks for playing. Continue??
Thursday, May 24, 2007

I was one of the early adopters of the Helio Ocean, and got the phone pretty quick. As you can read my previous post of how I was going to switch to the Helio Ocean and retire my Sidekick II, oh how I was ever so wrong.
Granted, I have been using the Danger Sidekick II for several years and have my love/hate relationship wtih Danger's device. The Sidekick II met my needs of a device that had a fantastic keyboard (including another row for numbers), uncompromised user interface, proxy server backends, great AIM/e-mail/SMS, I have no complaints with the phone. Even making calls was pleasant. I was sick of my sidekick, its been so long since I have used this soapbar revision and I wanted to get a new device.

Long and behold, Helio introduces the Ocean to the market. To summarize the Ocean in two words, "plain dissapointing." Helio states that they had the Ocean in development, even before they were a company. The developers were doing R&D based on old ways of thinking, and basically took too long, and leaving its customers wanting more. The Ocean is not a smartdevice, its a phone with extra capabilities (camera, video, 3G browsing). Along side with a poor user interface design, where it takes three more clicks compared to the Sidekick to get anywhere, the features of the phone were very modular and they didn't flow between one another. What I mean is, if you where in the Helio browser, you literally had to go back to the main screen (with several clicks) in order to get to other functions of the phone. Even those extra capabilities were somewhat well thought of, it doesn't make me want the phone because of how it doesn't tie in with other applications. Compared to the sidekick, the sidekick can multi-task very well, cut and paste features throughout the whole device (nice Danger). My only positive feedback about the Ocean is that the hardware has been built very well. I know I promised a thorough review of the Helio Ocean, but honestly it isn't worth my time.

I've returned the Ocean after two days of use, just because of sheer insanity. There is no point of a cell phone if it isn't reliable these days. I'm not talking about reception either, I'm talking about the operating system of the phone going into a vegetable state. This has happened 4 times in one day with the Ocean. Granted I might have had a sour Ocean, but I'm steering clear away. After using the sidekick ii (I have been a Sidekick black and white user) for several years, I can't go back to a regular phone. I think I will be waiting for UMA (wifi to GSM to wifi to GSM, lol), Apple's iphone (you bet your keister that the user interface on the iPHONE will be well thought of, I mean, that is what Apple excels at), or the Sidekick NG (Danger, I have faith in you with this device, if the rumors are true). Back to my experience with the Helio Ocean. The Ocean's biggest downfalls will probably make this device tank like the Titanic. Those downfalls are core problems with the phone itself, no OTA OS/Radio updates, poor user interface design, and features being very modular. Helio definitely introduced this phone in it's alpha stages into a market where Danger literally pioneered, exceeded, and put the bar very high in the cellphone industries.

Will the iPHONE follow Danger's footsteps?

I've relinquished the crown back to Danger, can they hold their spot on the throne?

One word of advice Danger, if you guys are going to bed with Motorola in manufacturing the device (Sidekick NG), don't let them SCREW you on the battery. Motorola's have always been known to have the worst user interface (this doesn't matter, because you guys are doing it) and their battery life is not worth mentioning. This will ultimately be a deal breaker, if any type of phone can tout all the features, but only last for 6 hours max. I know the user interface will be great, I use my Sidekick II all the time, AIM is always connected, e-mails are constantly being delivered, and would like to have bluetooth mode (i don't have this feature) on the whole time too all running on a lithium polymer battery that has the capacity of 3000mAH (or enough to last more than Motorola batteries).

If you are considering a cell phone in today's market, just wait a little bit longer. UMA will change the entire playing field and if you do not have a UMA capable phone, well, you are just assed out. So, it seems like it's between the Apple's iPHONE (Cingular, well, by the time you read this it will be AT&T) versus the Danger's Sidekick NG (T-mobile). With UMA in mind, T-mobile slept with Starbucks to be the official hotspots. Was this sheer genius that T-mobile envisioned UMA way before anyone and started to put hotspots in all the Starbucks?? Apple, should have gone with T-mobile in my opinion, for the sheer UMA coverage. Danger don't disappoint me with your new device like the Helio Ocean.

Oh yeah, totally forgot that this post was about the Helio Ocean. Game over Helio, nice try, thanks for playing. Continue??