Back in our day, the kiddies all ran around with Helios, VK Mobile looked like it could be the next Pantech, and "Kickflip" was a phone, not a skateboarding move. Okay, fine -- we knew like one or two people that used Helio, VK Mobile never even made a dent in the US market, and skateboarding had a lock on kickflips long before the wireless industry did -- and actually, that perfect storm of bad news may have ultimately led the once-promising MVNO to the sad situation we have here today under Virgin Mobile's stewardship. Virgin has now all but erased the memory of Helio from its website, leaving just the Ocean and Mysto to soldier on -- and the phones now go by their ODM's names (Pantech and Samsung, respectively) rather than Helio proper. The strangest part is that the Ocean seems to have outlasted its replacement, the Ocean 2, which is now gone -- unless you hit up Virgin Mobile's Korean language site, a sub-brand in itself that it inherited from Helio and has a track record of giving members of the community better, faster access to hot devices. Any way you slice it, though, it never made sense for Virgin to run two brands -- Helio's fate was sealed the moment the sale was finalized, but considering the company's spot-on mantra of "bring awesome Asian phone tech to North America," we'll always have a soft spot in our hearts for these guys.

[Via MobileCrunch]

Check it, Mobile readers -- Engadget Classic's How Would You Change could use your participation this week, as we've got Helio's Ocean 2 up on stage. You bought one? You got something to say? Head on over and spill it, why don'tcha?

While the Americanized version of Helio's Ocean 2 has gobs of red accents (thanks, Virgin Mobile!), many have wondered if an all black version would hit the scenes as well. Clearly, that answer is... well, maybe. A South Korean Helio page shows two variants of the newest Ocean, with one devoid of all those fiery accents. Obviously, we've no way to tell if this thing is ever coming to US soil, but this just might be the excuse you needed to hit up Seoul for an extended weekend.

[Via MobileCrunch]

We were told that today would be the day, and sure enough, today is the day. Today is also the day in which Helio's Ocean 2 becomes available, as evidenced by the image above and the completely active "Buy" button tucked away in the read link. It'll run users a buck forty-nine on contract if you're a new subscriber or $400 without, and it just might make all of your dreams come true. If you're curious, you can see if it satisfied our every fantasy right here.

[Via HelioCity]

The original Helio Ocean burst onto the scene nearly two years ago, impressing with its dual slide design, Bluetooth, 3G, GPS and well-integrated messaging app challenging phones on both sides of the feature / smart phone line. 2009 finds the Ocean 2 once again topping the Helio line, but now facing even stronger competition. Luckily, it's offering a lot more than an exclusive MySpace app to lure in users this time, with 2GB of internal storage, touch controls and a slew of software tweaks. Now that we've spent a few days comparing it to its predecessor, check after the break for some of the the highs and lows of this new handset.

It looks like the world had better (finally) get ready for Virgin Mobile's Helio Ocean 2 -- not only have unboxing shots of the long-awaited set surfaced today, a Virgin press release hyping the company's sponsorship of Britney Spears' Circus tour casually mentions that it'll be launched alongside Brit's big comeback. "Select fans" will be given Ocean 2s to capture and share images and videos from each show using the phone's blogging, email, and social networking features, so we're guessing that means we'll be seeing a launch before the tour kicks off in March -- and with units out in the wild already, it could be as soon as a couple weeks on February 12. Check all the unboxing shots at the read link -- it looks pretty slick, even if it is way late to the game.

[Via unwired view and Heliocity]

Read - Unboxing photos
Read - Virgin Circus press release

Our friend Mr. Blurrycam has come through once again, this time with a handful of Helio Ocean 2 snapshots. Aside from a blurry close-up of the on-screen calendar, there isn't much here that we haven't already seen in finer detail from the FCC. It's apparently got a 3 megapixel camera, which is what we reported initially but not what was listed in the FCC-submitted user manual. Our tipster says it's expected to launch early or mid-February for release, which jives with other rumors we've heard. Hit up the gallery for more pics.

Right in line with reports we heard earlier, it looks like Helio's second iteration of the Ocean could be going on sale as early as next month. Silicon Alley Insider has it that the Ocean 2 could be loosed in America "sometime this quarter," though sooner rather than later is looking mighty promising. It's still unclear how much Helio plans on charging for this long, long, long awaited handset, but we'd say it'll have to lowball pretty hard if it plans to distract anyone already focused intently on a G1, iPhone or Palm Pre.

[Via UnwiredView]

Looks like we're inching ever closer to getting our paws on the mythical Helio Ocean 2 -- the fun-loving regulators at the FCC just added a Pantech OZII dual-slider handset with Helio branding to their all-knowing database. Nothing you couldn't have guessed here -- QVGA display, EV-DO, 2 megapixel cam with video, full HTML browser, A2DP support -- but hey, this is The Phone That Could Have But Didn't Save Helio, you know? It's alright to be excited.

[Via Phone Scoop]

This is one of those classic tales of joy and sorrow -- a tale of a phone that could've been Helio's undisputed flagship model of the year, a phone that could've saved the scrappy little MVNO from Virgin Mobile's gaping maw (alright, it couldn't have even come close to doing that, but we're running with it for the drama factor). On the high side, we've now heard confirmation straight from the source that the Ocean 2 is, in fact, a real device, but the problem is that it won't be coming out until next year because they "want to put it out when it's the best it can be." It's sure looking just about the "best it can be" from the videos we've seen recently -- and frankly, we think they should just throw this out there while kicking off development on an Ocean 3 ASAP -- but it looks like the decision's already been made, and we all know there's no such thing as moving a release date forward.

[Thanks, Blade G]

So there's really no telling what's up with Helio as an MVNO, but there's plenty going on with the Ocean 2 handset. Just yesterday we noticed a spy shot of the elusive mobile, but unfortunately, the video in which it was captured from had been conveniently removed. Today, however, a whole host of new vids have surfaced over at HelioCity, one of which actually shows the unit while gaming. Check 'em out while you still can in the read link below.

[Via phonemag]

Sure, Helio is going through a bit of a rough patch right now, what with those retail outlet closings and nasty Virgin merger takeover, but as far as we can tell, the company is moving forward with the Ocean 2. As you can see by the above shot -- nabbed from a YouTube video -- the slider looks eerily similar to its predecessor, though we know it's getting spec bumps all around. Apparently the source material has been wiped out of existence, and if things keep moving in the same direction for the MVNO, this might as close as you get to one of these babies. Enjoy!

Worried that it's been a while since Helio's released anything? Relax, it's all good! We've been privy to some key details on the MVNO's next-gen Ocean -- the device known simply as OZ2 thus far by its FCC identification -- and things are definitely looking up for this monster to set the bar among QWERTY dumbphones whenever Helio gets around to releasing it. Besides the little box of visual stimulation there that we managed to pick up (sorry, that'll have to do for the time being), we've learned that the following features are being thrown around in Helio's testing; none are guaranteed for the final product, apparently, but most of them sound totally reasonable:

• 3 megapixel camera
• Dual slider, just like the original
• microSDHC support
• 1GB internal storage
• In-browser Flash support
• 30fps video recording
• Touch-sensitive directional pad
• PC sync capability

We don't have any info on pricing or release here, but you know we'll be hustling 'em hard to spill the beans. In the meantime, try not to drop that Ocean -- it's got to last just a little bit longer.

In light of the fact that the original Ocean's model number was OZ, it seems pretty obvious that an "OZ2" passing through the FCC by way of Pantech would be -- you guessed it -- the Ocean 2. It helps that the label diagram's depiction of the phone is clearly Ocean-esque in nature, too. So let's use this opportunity as a springboard for discussion: what does everyone hope to get out of the dual-sliding Helio Ocean's successor?