Helio Ocean impresses for mobile IM, email

Helio Wireless may be an unknown quantity to many but their latest smartphone, the Ocean, is making waves (pardon my pun) in the blogosphere. The dual-slider offers a lot of the same features as the iPhone--web browsing, mobile IM, Google Maps and mobile email--but has the advantage of being released earlier and for about half the price of a high-end iPhone. The folks at Gizmodo seem quite taken with the device and have documented their initial experience with the phone in a series of photos and video clips. From the looks of it, the Ocean manages to handle email and mobile IM quite well, though the web browser leaves a bit to be desired.

For more on the Ocean:
- see this video walkthrough from Gizmodo
- these hands-on impressions
- and these size comparison photos