We ’ve had circumstances of time to apply , re - exercise , and digest every feature film useable on the Helio Ocean . We ’ve doneUIvideos , ironware galleries , handset sharing tutorialsandsync tutorials , but what you really want to hump is what we think of it . Here ’s our inspection , broken down feature by lineament so you may easy see the ones that matter the most to you .
https://gizmodo.com/helio-ocean-ui-walkthrough-part-1-259134
Idle Search : By far , the coolest and most useful matter on the Helio Ocean is its ability to search decent off the wild homescreen . Like Spotlight on a Mac , it can search through multiple things , namely , your contact list , or any of the internet site the Ocean keep going : Yahoo , Google , Google Maps ( using the speech sound ’s Java version ) , Wikipedia , Yelp and Amazon . If Helio is smart , they ’ll lease the phone do the idle hunting from a customizable leaning of websites .
crying electronic messaging : The add-on of the slide - out keyboard and new IM apps is wondrous , but we ’re loaf by not being able to have more than one AIM business relationship online simultaneously . you may do MSN , Yahoo and AIM at the same time , but there ’s no Google Talk even though there ’s a GMail app . Oh , and you ca n’t turn off the AIM alert sound unless you quieten the integral phone . And you’re able to post exposure over IM , which I believe is a first for a aboriginal phone IM node . TXT and SMS screens are great , too . And you may get to the textbook messaging quickly by pressing down on the vitamin D - pad of paper , while a retentive press down will open a new school text / pic message .
Email : Email is n’t push ( yet — exchange may be coming soon ) and you ca n’t correct up check intervals , but we have heard talk about Yahoo offering thrust e-mail like they will for the iPhone . UPDATE : It ’s pushing for Yahoo ! AOL and Windows Live . But the fact that you’re able to look into Hotmail , AOL Mail , GMail , Helio mail , Yahoo Mail , and Earthlink chain mail all from your phone is fantastic . ( Plus standard POP3 and IMAP . ) Plus , there ’s deep integrating into other apps like the television camera so you could post pictorial matter from any of your accounts from the Photo Album screen .
Camera : The2mp camera capturesimages at 1600×1200 , and downward . The shots are gritty , and dense , equate with those from theNokia N seriesphones and the Cybershot Sony Ericsson phones . But they ’re a lot better than most . A heap better , honestly . The good matter is theHelio Upmode , which upload your chase after photos to anonline album , tagged with descriptions and even GPS geotagged metadata . Thecontrols are great : blank equipoise , multi - iridescent modes , flash , impression and frames , although the build did n’t workplace ( UPDATE : They work at the low res 240×180 picture setting ) and the controller should have been accessible without digging into a menu . Video is recorded at 320 x 240 and 176 x 144 for MMSing .
Keyboard : I did n’t imagine it was as groovy as I did back at CTIA when I only used it for a few minutes . Instead of being luxuriously spaced like HTC headphone are , it ’s more like walk in an attic crawl space — cramped and uncomfortable . The sidekick 3 is better in some way , like the rubbery keys and bigger spacebar , but the prominent @ symbolic representation on the Ocean is courteous . But you wo n’t be able-bodied to type as fast as you could on some other earphone like the Sidekick or HTC ’s . Still , it fetch the job done very well and should be more than enough once you get used to it .
slew Keypad : The computer keyboard is one of the most gamy - profile difference in the Ocean . I read about its special triangle spring that pull both the backlit QWERTY and the keypad open and closed with the quality “ thunk ” of a BMW gondola door . I do n’t bed if I need the dialpad if I have the QWERTY . Dialing is annoying on a keypad ( see the Hiptop , and the cramp top row of the Ocean ’s keyboard ) but 95 % of the time , I ’m using a speed telephone dial . If they could make the phone slimmer , and mislay the middle layer , I ’d go for it . But Chen disagrees . All in all , the QWERTY is somewhat bloody overnice .
Battery life-time : With all the additions present in the Ocean , one item we wish had been better was the battery liveliness . It ’s an issue with the older Helio gadget as well , with all the UI brashness , the 3 G , and various other apps running , you ’ll be favourable to have the phone last a day on weighed down manipulation . Not to mention if you do a muckle of calling and mass medium playback .
Speakers : Scientifically try out with “ My Humps , ” I would declarethe speakersto be of sightly volume and pellucidity .
GPS / Buddy Beacon / Google Maps : These are fantastical features carry over from the Drift , which is also GPS enabled . However , Buddy Beacon does n’t work in landscape painting mood , and we like they ’d decide on having either Google Maps or Mapquest ( buddy beacon ) or else of two separate mapping suites . But being able to situate exactly where you or your buddies are is priceless .
The Idle Screen / Home Page : Thehome pageshows the meter , battery life , web status , and a few controls , but mostly , it ’s wasted veridical estate . A right telephone number of the Ocean ’s rival , like most of the N - series speech sound , Windows Mobile phones , Palm devices , Hiptop , and shortly the iPhone put thick role on page one , I expect Helio ’s custom designed headphone to meet this point of UI . in good order now , you may pull off it out witha earthly concern clockor falling icons , like kitties ( very cool , seriously ) or lightning bolts , video recording wallpaper , or unlike alfileria . I ’d like it if Sky and the Helions put surf / snowboard / weather condition reports on the opening varlet , if not a direct line of reasoning to the chief menu ’s functions . It ’s nitpicking , but I think Helio need to study this stuff if they require to beat out the tedious erstwhile business phones .
Media : The Ocean is a adequate medium headphone with extraneous controls ( which do n’t actually trip the music)(UPDATE : long presses do the magic , and they are designed this style to ward off the phone playing “ My Humps ” in your sack , which is unfortunate if you ’re into that kind of matter ) , and you may load 2 GB of music onto it with the microSD posting , but it wo n’t be nearly as full-bodied as the iPhone . Plus , the $ 1.99 tracks are kind of pricey , especially seeing what Sprint is doing with the Upstage and their $ 1 pricing . The streaming video character is n’t great either , but it ’s tolerable enough to make you still desire to watch out . As for multi - tasking , you ca n’t heed when you ’re doing anything other than browse .
Data Sync Support : The cool thing about Helio — you canswitch between French telephone on the website . Some suggestions . Data Syncing and phone switching from the devices themselves , not a web site access by a microcomputer . The Sync affair is a problem . Right now , you’re able to upload , by CSV to the Helio site , youraddress book . And you may do an over the melody merge of your online computer address Scripture with your phone . But what you ca n’t do is sync your contacts between phone easily , nor can you synchronise with your PC except through manual importation . There is also the question of Mac support . mackintosh users and Helio user seem to be of the same demographic , so this seems critical , the way it ’s decisive for Sling and TiVo . And yes , synchronise is another problem with the diligence , but if Helio wants to destroy the competition , that ’s just something they should keep in psyche . Oh , there ’s no path tocalsync either . UPDATE : Hit the sync release in the contact menu and it does a two - style sync between phone and Helio ’s on-line data . Sweet ! Let ’s get that in material meter !
web browser app : Helio ’s new web browser app form HTML surfing easy in two ways : Zoom out to 50 % , or by providing a window map of the entire page for easy scrolling . ( Nokia has this . ) I like the web browser , but bid the zoom out give out to about 30 % , and was easier to access . The window’d mathematical function modality is great . It ’s active when you load a page , and turns off once you pick out a region to read on . Perfect . The internet itself is slow to pop out but quick after . I distrust that the connection handshake every clock time you sink in a link , because Sprint ’s mesh is blaze out tight , as you ’ve heard me say before . As I ’ve said pile of times , the first people to get YouTube on a mobile web browser ( newsbreak livelihood is key ) , on 3 G , will be braggy winners in my Holy Scripture . Oh , clicking toRSS feeds bring in you to Google ’s word lecturer . Cool .
Apps : Even though you get Buddy Beacon and Google Maps for costless , Helio still charge you for various other thing . For example , you have to rent the Accuweather weather app for $ 3.99 a month . Also , there ’s no blogging software that have you blog to WordPress or Movable character .
Games : The games that are available are decorous for cellular telephone games , but most of them do n’t mould in landscape mode so you ’ll be dally just like any other cellphone . The dpad orientates itself on the left hand when you flip it 180 degrees from the QWERTY linear perspective . Most games are n’t landscape painting now , yes , but there ’s Lumines and others , and more will come .
Multi Phone Support : One bang-up matter about Helio is that you’re able to throw your turn between various devices . Wedocumented the number - sharing process , but in essence , you could have your Ocean when you feel like doing more messaging and emailing , but switch to the old and slimmer Heat or Drift if you just require a earphone for direct calls . Just tick off a radio box online and you ’re all go under . Much easier than trade out SIMs .
accessory : The Helio ’s headphone are of mediocre quality , plugging into the small mini jack , and equip with the mike . I care that its wrapped in cloth , and gray . The best accoutrement is theMetal and Suede Helio cellphone charmthat do as a screenwipe . Stylish . If you ask me , the first troupe to include several charms with their phones will do pretty well . People are trivial like that .
Calendar and Organization : The bad news is that you ca n’t sync your calendar to your Mac or PC , even though exchange synchronize may be coming presently . Nobody wants to assert two unlike calendars with their schedules on it . There ’s also no job tilt , so if you wanted to use this phone as an organizer , it ’d be kind of a stretch . You ’ve also got apps likestopwatch , unit conversion , universe timeandwake up call , which acts like an alarm that veritable people can use .
Our final recommendation would be : buy it , but only after you debate our caveats . If there ’s one or two features you really need , but are n’t fit but the Ocean , then you ’re good off somewhere else . Otherwise , this is a fantastic multimedia messaging sound with feature that are hard to top .
Helio Ocean[Gizmodo ]
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