Chris German, Chief Scientist for Deep Submergence at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution here in Massachusetts, has been busy finding undersea volcanoes with the help of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs).
With more than half the planet’s water exceeding depths of two miles, mapping the sea floor is no easy task. What’s more, technology being developed and used at Woods Hole may eventually make its way to one of Jupiter’s moons, Europa, in order to collect data from the ocean that’s thought to be buried beneath two kilometers of ice.
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Since the day the original Helio Ocean hit the shelves, rumors were abound that a followup was in the works. 2 years have since passed, countless rumors and leaks have come and gone, and the company that birthed the original has since been acquired – but it’s finally here. Has the wait been worth it?
Available starting today is the Pantech Matrix for AT&T. It features the same dual sliding keyboard from their Helio Ocean design in a much better looking form factor. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the pill design, but this new QWERTY keyboard looks a lot easier to use. It features a 1.3-megapixel camera, XM radio, Bluetooth and an MP3 player. Get it now in blue, green and red for $80.
Virgin Mobile, which recently announced plans to acquire Helio, continues to mature while mostly avoiding growing pains. With 5.1 million customers and well over a billion dollars in revenue last year, the MVNO seems well situated to expand. VM has consistently stood apart from the pack by continuing to offer no-contract plans and in the process attracted a lot of younger, no credit or bad credit customers. With Helio, VM plans to grow along with their customer base by being able to offer more advanced services.
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Those of us here at CrunchGear who use Helio’s excellent Ocean (which is most of us) are thrilled up at the prospect of the rumored Ocean 2, or OZ2, which is purportedly set to drop on or around June 20. We know the phone has significant upgrades to the OS making it much faster and more responsive that the first-gen version, and we also hear there’s a better camera and in-browser support for Flash, as well as an Opera-based browser included. Other likely additions are integrated YouTube, weather apps, messaging, and true GPS functionality, but until we have one in our hands we won’t know what’s included for sure.
One thing we’ve been hearing a lot about is the new navigation pad. We hear alternately that it’s touch sensitive and non-touch, meaning you gesture above the pad and it reads your movements, which would one-up multitouch as a new technology.
This is apparently what the OZ2 looks like, very much like the current Ocean, which we’d heard, but we’re not totally convinced that’s the final form the phone handset will take. If all of these features are included, the OZ2 just might give the iPhone a run for its money.
If you’ve been waiting to get your hands on a Helio Ocean — we know you’re out there — have we got a CrunchDeal for you.
Helio’s got a special offer right now. A $199 Ocean with a $100 mail-in rebate with any qualifying plan. That’s the best deal we’ev ever seen on the Ocean, one of the CrunchGear staff’s favorite phones. We’ve blogged the shit out of it, and we keep finding new reasons to do so.
If your current plan is up and you’re looking for a serious upgrade, snatch it up now.
Helio today updated the YouTube client for its popular flagship phone, the Ocean. The update uses the same general interface, which is pretty good, and is rumored to be based on the new overall interface.
The new client is faster, noticeably so, and it’s not just the interface; loading and buffering times are zippy indeed.
It’s a free download for all Ocean users, and it the bandwidth is included in monthly all-in packages.
Actually, let’s be fair — there could be some dudettes involved too. At any rate, two of the recently-severed undersea cables have been accounted for, as authorities in Dubai have impounded two ships that were caught by satellite photos taken directly over the cables at the time they were cut.
According to PC Pro,
“The MV Hounslow and MT Ann have both been detained by the Dubai Port Trust, although reports from authorities suggest that one of the ships has now been released after paying ‘huge’ damages.
The ships were caught after the owner of the affected cables, Reliance Globalcom, tracked down satellite images from the time of the damage to check for suspects. These were then passed on to authorities.
Conspiracy theories abounded on the internet in the weeks following the incidents, with bloggers blaming the cuts on everything from various governments, terrorist groups and sea-monsters.”
Oh sure, throw bloggers under the bus. It’s not like we here at CrunchGear said there were five cables that may or may not have been part of some conspiracy involving either abandoned anchors or sharks, but definitely not ships. Puh-lease.
Helio today updated the YouTube client for its popular flagship phone, the Ocean. The update uses the same general interface, which is pretty good, and is rumored to be based on the new overall interface.
The new client is faster, noticeably so, and it’s not just the interface; loading and buffering times are zippy indeed.
It’s a free download for all Ocean users, and it the bandwidth is included in monthly all-in packages.
Regular readers know that we at CrunchGear love the Helio Ocean. At least three of us carry one with us at all times. The integrated GPS is the best I’ve ever used in a handset and the third-party software’s just fantastic.
We’ve been eagerly awaiting the Ocean 2 and its rumored navigation technique that some say will rival the iPhone without copying it. And now we know (sort of) what it looks like, thanks to a filing that Heliocity found on the FCC database.
It looks something like the Ocean.
I love the Helio Ocean, and I love Opera Mini. When some shadow devs used their fancy footwork to make the two work together, I was a very happy boy. Helio was impressed too, and today announced that the alternative browser would be officially supported on the Helio flagship handset.
This is notable for a few reasons. This is a user-driven initiative; the vibrant Ocean community more or less said “we’re going to use Opera Mini on the Ocean, like it or not”. Helio then said, “Well, OK. We’ll help.” This is not the response most carriers would give, and it rather shows how into its users Helio is. It trusts their judgment.
The free upgrade is also the first time any carrier has ever said, “Here, use Opera Mini.” It’s always been a third-party download.
We’ve also heard that this could be the first of many deals between Helio and Opera. While the new browser doesn’t replace the built-in browser at this time, it might in the future. Those of you with the un-official version might want to upgrade to the official one, as it was made custom or the Ocean and runs a little smoother, or so we hear.
Kudos the Helio and Opera for innovating for the users where most carriers and developers would be stingy.
Helio has once again dropped the price of their unlimited plan down to $99 from $145. You know the drill. Now drop on by your nearest store and take advantage while you can. The Ocean and Mysto are great choices in case you needed some advice on a handset.
Helio
What would a week of “Smartphones Now” be without a review of a smartphone? A terrible one, I’m sure. So what are we going to look at today? The Duo from Pantech for AT&T. Not exactly the hottest smartphone on the market, but it does have a few qualities that are quite endearing. I’m also jaded and hate all phones to begin with. Heh. That’s not entirely true. I just hate the iPhone. That one’s for you, dwalk.
The most significant feature of the Duo is its dual slider design, which it borrows from its bigger brother over at Helio, the Ocean. The main difference and unfortunately the biggest pitfall for the Duo is the lack of spring assist for the QWERTY. You see, the Ocean has spring assist in both directions. You may not think it’s necessary but it is. Sliding the Duo to get to the QWERTY is painful and gritty. Of course, if you’ve never touched the Ocean then you wouldn’t know any different. It’s something you can get used to, though.
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That’s Mavericks, a world class big wave spot in Half Moon Bay.
Oil prices are getting out of hand. Wind and solar power are somewhat unpredictable and apparently they ‘cost too much’. A few weeks back I saw Southland Tales and the movie was about the end of the world and all this other crazy stuff. What was intriguing about the film other than Sarah Michelle Geller being a porn star was the fact that alternative energy was being pumped from the ocean. It’s not rocket science (or maybe something close to it), but I’d imagine building a huge turbine of some sort would produce massive amounts of free energy, right?
Well, Finavera Renewables has this thing called the Aquabuoy that’s a buoy connected to an underwater piston. Can you figure out how it works? No? Ok, fine. As swells roll through, the buoy goes with the flow and goes up and down. This in turn gets the piston running, which pressurizes a chamber that’s inhabited by seawater. Said pressure gets the turbine running, which if you haven’t figured it out by now produces electricity. That’s cool but so what?
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I love YouTube. I mean I love it. I like unhinged videos of Mexican UFOs, crazy Japanese gameshows, and Lohan falling down. It’s unlimited entertainment, because there are more hours of content uploaded per day that there are hours in the day, meaning you could never possibly watch it all. And it’s all free.
Sadly, the world of online video is restricted to, for the most part, unwieldy computers. Helio made waves with its Ocean (ha!) by including a YouTube client, and later Apple did the same thing with the iPhone. Truth be told, iPhone’s YouTube viewer was better than the Ocean’s, but not anymore. Read More
After a dreadful day of sitting on the couch, sleeping on the couch and playing Assassin’s Creed from the couch since I was under the weather yesterday, I return to the CrunchGear/TechCrunch office to find a UPS box waiting for me. What could it be?! Yeah, I know you already know since it’s blatantly obvious in the headlines but bear with me.
So what I have here is the Duo, which is Pantech’s take on the Helio Ocean. They did a pretty decent job, too. The QWERTY and 12-key are reversed on the Duo and it’s considerably smaller than the Ocean. My initial impressions are of the Duo are good so far. Each QWERTY keyboard is unique so I won’t be commenting on that just yet. I’m transitioning from the Sidekick Slide back to the BlackBerry keyboard so I’m all sorts of confused. Add to that my Ocean addiction and you may know what my mind and fingers are going through. It’s WinMo 6 so I already want to throw it against the wall, but we’ll see what I say next week with my full review. In the mean time, enjoy the pics.
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As if I need another reason to not leave the couch this winter other than it being cold. Helio has gone and added a TV Guide app and I feel myself getting squishier. A 30-day rental is $2.99 and you can even forward TV listings to a friend in case you think they’re interested in watching ___________ (Some dumb show only you like. Heh.). A few more screen shots after the jump. Thanks, Helio. Will you pay for my Weight Watchers in the Spring?
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I told you about File Viewer a few months ago. I’ve been patiently waiting and it was worth it. It’s now here and it’s free, but only for the Ocean. File Viewer works in conjunction with MME and allows you to view all Microsoft Office documents as well as HTML, PDF, TXT and an array of images. You can even check files from your microSD card. I haven’t tested it all out, but so far so good.
Image ganked from Heliocity because I’m too lazy to get screen caps from my Ocean.
As if the refreshed Oceans and $99 all-in-one plan weren’t enough, the MVNO of choice has slashed $50 off all handsets for new members. That means a brand new Ocean is $199, the thinnest flip on the market, Fin, is $79 and the Heat is FREE. Need I say more?
Helio
I love my Ocean. Matt lives and dies by the Ocean. It’s a great phone and does everything one needs. Well, not everything. It doesn’t get Matt laid or anything, but I think you know where I’m going. Maybe you’re already with Helio and you want some friends to migrate over because you’re a greedy bastard and want the free months of service. I wouldn’t blame you. Their plans are cheap and Sprint has great coverage (from my experience) so what more could you ask for? The newly refreshed Ocean’s are a mere $99 and unlimited minutes and data is currently $99. That’s cheap. Way cheap and you know it. It makes for a perfect gift for the holidays, parental units. Your kids will love you for it and they’ll certainly use it more than they will that ugly sweater you have hidden in the closet, which they’ve already found.
Helio Refreshed [via Heliocity]
