Helio: A New Generation in Cell Phones

Geared toward the “young consumer”, Helio, LLC is one of the newest and most innovative cellular phone brands on the market today. Earthlink and SK Telecom have joined to provide a whole new line of revolutionary cell phones designed to push the envelope on technology as we know it.

Helio “devices” are not merely cell phones, but are actually networking and social gadgets that allow users to manage all different types of media directly from their phones. Helio users can manage their MySpace accounts, including e-mailing and chatting, and can even photo blog directly from their phones. There are a multitude of games and communication features that haven’t been available on any other cell phone to date.

SK Telecom is a Korea-based wireless provider with some of the most advanced products in application devices, handset models and cutting edge technolgy. Earthlink is a US-based ISP (Internet Service Provider) that has grown in popularity all over the world. Helio is a joint venture between these two companies, and promises to deliver products unavailable anywhere else.

Currently, Helio has only two cell phones available: the Helio and the Kickflip.

The Helio costs $275 and comes packed with 3D games, 3G network and QVGA video capabilities. It has a 2 megapixel with flash and a 4x zoom that allows for clear, accurate pictures that can be posted to the Internet or in the phone’s extensive memory. It also has a full video screen with hundreds of available downloads, full-color games with 3D graphics, a 3G network that connects directly to Yahoo! Search and allows the user to browse the Internet at will, and full duplex sound speakers.

The Helio comes with a stereo headset, a battery and charger, a USB cable and multi-colored screen cleaners. It has 70MC of memory, which is amazing in and of itself, and supports MP3, MPEG 4/H.264 player, QVGA video, VOD, MMS, and Mobile Flash. It weighs only 4.73 ounces. It has the same capabilities as the Helio model, and isn’t much different other than the way it looks.

The Helio craze is sure to be large with such innovative designs and revolutionary capabilities. However, the phones are rather expensive and they have a limited market. Currently, Helio seems to be marketing cell phones to young people – teens and early twenties. Helio is also more expensive than other companies like T-Mobile and Cingular. You can talk for up to 1,000 for $85.00 per month; up to 1500 minutes for $100.00/month, and for 1500 minutes for $135.00 per month. They also offer an “A la carte” (or pay-as-you-go) plan that gives users 500 minutes for $40.00. All plans come with unlimited nights and weekends and no roaming or long distance charges.

Personally, the Helio cell phones are not something I need, but for the technology conscious individual, this is several steps up from your ordinary cell phone.

The kickflip is a flip phone while the Helio is a slider, and costs $250 at helio.com. The Kickflip has an original “swivel-flip” capability that makes it both sleek and easy to use.