No final verdict yet, but it's pretty sweet so far. I'm waiting on a replacement, though they were nice enough to ship me the replacement first so I don't have to go a day without it, unlike T-mobile ever did for me. The first one arrived with a broken mic (funny, my very first t-mobile did the same). And it has some quarks, but even with the broken mic I'm lovin' it. If that goes without a hitch I'll be sticking around, even though there are some bugs. Hopefully they'll get fixed before too long, but most of the features I really wanted it for are working well enough.
A quick rundown of my experience so far (quick, heh...did this turn into a semi-review):
The Ocean: the phone itself is beautiful, and opens smoothly. The screen is georgeous, and the key layout works superbly. Hardware wise I have only a couple beafs. 1) The dangle or whatever you call it has a metal piece on it. This is a big NO-NO, as it's long enough to wind up scratching the poop out of your screen --removing mine right now before I forget and it does just that. That was a major screw-up on their part, but all we have to do is not put it on so the fix is easy (if given proper thought). 2) The speakers are on the back. I can see why, and it does work this way, but whoever is sitting across from you in a speaker phone conversation will probably hear the conversation better than you. But it still works, and frankly I don't know where else they could have put them without making the device too large.
This phone has a TON of features and services with the All-In package, so let me break down a few. All scores are on a 10 point basis.
GPS (9.5): It's totally awesome. Updates well, and is very accurate. Being integrated with Google Maps you can switch between map and satellite view, a very nice addition. I did wind up driving through a cornfield (according to the map), but they can't update all farmers roads all the time. The loss of the .5 is only because I want them to integrate the GPS into the web browser so I can select an address and go straight to the map with it.
Unlimited messaging (10): Also totally awesome. Video madness here I come. And I can finally text and pic freely...ahhhhhhhhhh, that's a major relief. Granted I would really love to see a 2MB limit of video messages, this may not happen for quite some time with this, or any other carrier. It would also appear that the text-to-landline is free, but I have yet to play with that.
Multimedia player (5): It didn't work the first time for my MP3's, but did magically on my second run at putting files on the device (odd). It's pretty dang sweet for MP3's, but for video you're going to have to convert them down to 320 res 3G2 with something like Super C. Using my monstrous HD280's to listen to my MP3's makes for an unbeatable mobile performance. But those headphones are a bit big to lug around...I'll have to find something smaller. I can't rate the online purchasing services as their file quality is not up to my standards (neither is iTunes, or most the others).
Internet browsing (3): This needs some work. A lot of sites and functions don't work so well. You can switch between the mobile conversion version of the site or the full HTML which is very nice, but I've had issue with some pages being cut way short in HTML view, and no way to see the rest.
Internet file downloads (NR): don't know, haven't done this yet, but I am disappointed in what I see to be the future of what was supposed to be my mass storage device replacment (next one below). I'll still have to see how usefull this can be in getting a device driver on the whim and providing it to the target PC in the near future.
Mass Storage (5): I'll give it a 5 because it requires a driver disc. If my USB thumb drives don't need a disc, why does my phone when it's in mass storage mode? That really makes it useless as a portable data device if I have to carry around a driver CD everywhere I go.
Myspace (1): It doesn't quite work, but appears there is work being done on it. I hardly ever use my MySpace, but if this were to work I may actually start using it. Right now I can't see my comments, but messaging is working today.
Call Clearity (10): Fantastic (broken mic not included)
Data Speeds (9): Superb when in 3G areas. I've run out of data range only once so far on a stretch of highway in BFE, otherwise it's been there everytime I wanted it.
I downloaded Might & Magic since their site claimed a 9.1 rating, but I find that hard to believe given the difficulty in controlling your characters. Optimally the d-pad type button works best, but it's right next to the RED button which immediately exits the program. This should have been altered for using such a game on the device. Or the ability to reprogram the controls on the keypad (rather than just pick from two equally pathetic alternative configurations) would have helped greatly. I can't use 90 degree button arangements to control movements in a 45 degree world, it just sucks. But that's just with one application, and has no bearing on the overall experience (except for the loss of $6).
There are also a lot of other apps on it that I haven't used yet. I do have a couple complaints for the ones that I have. The Global Time app is just wrong. I'm in CDT (Central Daylight savings Time), yet this app tells me that New York is on the same time zone as I am. And the alarm clock doesn't let you program dayless alarms so I can just enable a 6:30 or a 7:30 whenever I want. I have to either make one alarm that expires, or ones that occur on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
Most of my complaints should be easy to address or correct. Perhaps they rushed it a bit, but I'm still quite happy so long as most of these issues are addressed before too long (though I do worry slightly since this has been under development for so long already). Or maybe the defect that is causing my mic to not work is causing some of the other issues I'm experiencing. I will give an update down the road.
If I didn't scare you away from Helio and you're going to get an Ocean, then USE MY NUMBER AS A REFERENCE (send me a PM)! That's a whole stinking month for free for me if you do! I'll make you a custom mp3 ringtone or two if you want something in return. Or wait until you hear back from me after my 30 day happiness guarantee has expired if you're leary of the switch.
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