Helio’s New Phone, the Ocean

So Helio, has got a new phone coming out early this summer, well I guess according to them, it’s not a phone, and they’re not a phone company, whatever. The phone is actually pretty cool looking. Engadget reports, the Ocean, as it’s called, is a slider that slides two ways. If you slide it up like you would most slider phones, it reveals the usual number keypad. If you turn it sideways and slide it again, you’ll find a full QWERTY keyboard; pretty nifty I’d say.

The main problem I see here, isn’t the phone (I mean non-phone), it’s the phone company (I mean non-phone company). Honestly, how good can the coverage be? I checked quickly on their website for New Jersey and the tri-state area, they claim there’s at least voice coverage everywhere, but the full service (data transfer and all the cool stuff they try to sell you on) is really spotty. Plus, just how accurate are those maps anyways? I’d assume almost everyone has taken a look at one sometime, and I’m also sure everyone has gone without service at one time or another. I’m sure it’s the same for the other trendy fad phone companies as well, i.e. Boost and Amp’d that’s what they’re called right?

Honestly, who cares? I’ve had Verizon for a while and they’ve treated me pretty well. The service is pretty thorough, I almost always have enough to send a text message or talk on the phone. And from what I hear Cingular and Sprint are pretty reliable too. Plus, they’ve got their fair share of hip phones too. I just don’t see these pop-up over night fad companies sticking around. How many people do you know who’ve ditched their (probably) reliable phone company to look cool? I don’t know of anyone. Also, from what I hear, they (at least Helio) aren’t making any money; in fact I’ve heard they’re losing wheelbarrows full of it. I just can’t recommend ditching your current service for one of these trendy companies.