Hands-on review: Helio Ocean 2 smartphone

Helio may have been gobbled up by Virgin Mobile last summer, but the brand name lives on, as evinced by the new—if only modestly revamped—Ocean 2 QWERTY slider. Is the latest Ocean worth the $70 premium over the already robust original?

Set to go on sale next Thursday (Feb. 12) for $149 with a two-year contract (post-paid, not pre-paid as with Virgin Mobile's other handsets), the Ocean 2 has been whispered about for months—indeed, the first fuzzy photos appeared on the Web last May, while a series of leaked images have had the blogosphere buzzing in recent days.

At first glance, the new Ocean looks almost identical to its predecessor. Both are relatively large and hefty, with the 4.7-by-2.3-by-0.8 inch, 5.9-ounce Ocean 2 slightly longer and thinner than the original, plus about 0.3 ounces heavier. The Ocean 2's 2.6-inch, non-touch display looks about the same as on the first Ocean, and both phones have the same dual-slider design: you slide the display up for a standard 12-button numeric keypad, or slide it to the side for a full-QWERTY keyboard (the display automatically switches to landscape mode when you're using the QWERTY keypad).

Still, there are a few key physical differences between the two phones. For starters, there's the new, red trim around the Ocean 2's face and back (no word on other flavors just yet). Also, both the numeric and QWERTY keypads are make of a single sheet of plastic rather than individual buttons; sounds strange, yet my fingertips had little trouble clicking the comfy, domed keys.

Another interesting change: As rumored momths ago, the Ocean 2's navigational pad is touch-sensitive, which means you can scroll pages or move the cursor by swiping the pad with your thumb, similar to the optical pads on the Zune and the Samsung Epix. It's a notable but somewhat jittery feature; I often reverted to clicking the four-way pad rather than swiping, but that's me.

Unfortunately, other long-percolating Ocean 2 rumors have failed to pan out; for example, the new Ocean still has the original's two-megapixel camera—sans autofocus, or even a flash—instead of the predicted three-megapixel model. Internal memory is limited to a mere 133MB, not 1GB as some had hoped. (The Ocean 2 does have a slot for microSD memory expansion, but you can't get to it without removing the battery—pretty annoying.) And Flash support for the HTML browser—always a long shot, mind you—has similarly failed to materialize.

As far as the basics go: Call quality was good, with only a slight delay during my tests (Helio uses Sprint's CDMA/EV-DO network for voice and data), while the battery is rated for about five hours of talk time.

Of course, the Ocean 2 comes with the same sleek Helio UI and features we've come to know and love, including the location-based Buddy Beacon (a GPS-enabled friend finder), YouTube, turn-by-turn directions courtesy of Garmin, Google Maps, a MySpace app, and TellMe voice search. There's also Helio Connect, which integrates updates from social networking favorites like MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter, as well as POP/IMAP/Exchange e-mail support, and full-on SMS and MMS messaging.

But all those UI and application features are available on the first Ocean (on sale for just $79)—indeed, both Oceans come with stereo Bluetooth, 3.5mm headset jacks, video and music downloads, the "Ultimate Inbox" (a universal contact list, complete with presence indicators that show if your buddies are available on IM), and solid Web browsing.

So here's the bottom line: For $70 over the original's $79 sticker price, the Ocean 2 delivers only a few middling improvements—namely, the new red trim, the touch-sensitive navigational pad, and a few other cosmetic changes. If that sounds worth it to you, then hey—go for it. Otherwise, save yourself some cash and stick with the first-gen Ocean.

Correction: In my original post, I wrote that the Ocean 2 would go on sale on the 2nd; in fact, it will be available starting the 12th. Sorry for the goof.