Earlier this year,
Helio CEO Sky Dayton said that the Ocean is the phone he "dreamt of making" when he first took over as the MVNO's chief executive. The Helio-designed, Pantech-built Ocean has also been near the top of my - and every other phone reviewer's - "can't wait for it" list since it was announced. Featuring a unique dual-slider design affording dedicated QWERTY and dialing pads, a 2mp camera, media player, and messaging-centric features running over
Sprint's 3G data network, Ocean looked ready to take the mobile phone world by storm.
Now that it's been available for a few weeks, “Ocean's” been put through the ringer by reviewers and users alike. Helio's motto is "don't call it a phone," and Ocean really brings that slogan to life more than any other Helio device. While it of course works just fine as a phone, Ocean would be overkill for the user interested primarily in voice calling - this device, coupled with the provider's "All In" unlimited data plans, is clearly meant for the always-connected IM and MySpace set. In fact, it reminds me of a T-Moble Sidekick, what with its chunky body and robust support for IM, Email, and Web services.
But is Ocean all it's been hyped up to be? After a few weeks with the device I can definitely say, "yes and no." In a nutshell, Ocean is feature rich and very fast, but also both clunkier and cheaper-feeling than I expected. While smaller than an Sidekick 3, Ocean's QWERTY pad is cramped, and in general I wish Helio had done away with some of the buttons in favor of a slimmer profile and/or larger screen. And the software is a little buggy and sort of does "everything pretty well" instead of "anything great." But Ocean is also feature-rich, user-friendly and - in a few places - quite innovative and smart.
So ... Is the Ocean for you? To answer that we must delve into the details ...
Helio's slogan for Ocean is "Shape Shifter," a reference to its signature dual-slider design. The handset is a candybar with three distinct layers: Display, Dialing, and QWERTY. Helio tapped Pantech to build the phone, but also retained separate engineers to custom design a triangular spring for the dual-sliding mechanism. Ocean is finished in black soft-touch plastic with silver trim. While the rubber-like finish is easy to grip, the device itself frankly isn't all that comfortable to hold. To be fair, since the Ocean fits into one hand (it's smaller than a Sidekick 3) I'm judging it against other candybar/slider phones instead of larger devices like the Sidekick 3 or Pocket PC phones, which I wouldn't really expect to be comfortably held and used one-handed.
Still, at 114mm x 56mm x 23mm and weighing 165g, Ocean looks and feels like a big, heavy candybar phone. It's weird - it's not long and wide enough to look like a smartphone, but doesn't have the "pleasant heft" I've come to associate with certain high-end phones like the Nokia N-Series or SE K790/800 models. Instead, Ocean has more of a cheap plastic feel to it. Some of that assessment is my personal sense of style rearing its head - I'm sure lots of people love the way Ocean looks and feels (and the matte finish is more smudge resistant than shiny plastic). One objective note, however, is that while the sliders are generally smooth and snap open and shut with assurance, they also have a bit of wobble to them if you press on the wrong edge while a layer is extended.
The topmost layer of the phone, which is always exposed, features a 2.4" display that works in both landscape and portrait orientations, depending on which keypad is in use. Held vertically, the screen is bordered by the earpiece and two softkeys on top and the microphone and navigational array - D-pad surrounded by two more softkeys, and dedicated Call, Hang Up, and Back buttons - below.
Sliding the top layer up vertically reveals the middle dialing layer. This layer is finished in silver and comprised of a standard 12-button numeric keypad. While I've heard a few folks complain about the slightly rounded shape of the dialing buttons, I found them quite roomy and comfortable to use.
Sliding the top layer to the right - or "up horizontally" - actually moves both the display and dialing layers to reveal the QWERTY layer. 34 of the 35 buttons in the QWERTY layout are finished in dark grey; the ALT key is bright orange, which makes it easy to spot and also kind of cool looking. The QWERTY keys are small ovals, save the space bar which is a double-width oval. During use, I found the QWERTY keys to be a bit cramped - specifically, the space bar is too small and the top row is too tightly bordered by the two upper layers of the device. My thumbs constantly pressed against the edge of the upper layers of the Ocean, which got to be uncomfortable when tapping out emails or navigating extended Web and IM sessions. It's not at all impossible to use, and the raised key design helps, but the keyboard is definitely smaller than what you'll find on a Sidekick or full-fledged smartphone like the Cingular 8525 or T-Mobile Wing.
Ocean's back panel has a centered battery cover flanked by cutouts for the rear-firing stereo speakers. Above the battery cover is the camera housing, which includes a flash assist light and self portrait mirror in addition to the sensor for the 2 megapixel shooter. Along the right side of the phone (when held vertically) are the microSD memory card slot and dedicated speakerphone and camera buttons. A headphone jack, volume up/down buttons and play, skip forward, and skip back media buttons are located along the left side. A rear-mounted port takes the included AC adapter and USB data cable.
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