http://mobile.engadget.com/2006/05/24/helio-review-roundup/ Engadget Mobile Comments for Helio review roundup http://mobile.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://mobile.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://mobile.engadget.com/2006/05/24/helio-review-roundup/http://mobile.engadget.com/2006/05/24/helio-review-roundup/May 24th 2006 6:18PMhttp://mobile.engadget.com/2006/05/24/helio-review-roundup/http://mobile.engadget.com/2006/05/24/helio-review-roundup/May 24th 2006 6:37PMhttp://mobile.engadget.com/2006/05/24/helio-review-roundup/http://mobile.engadget.com/2006/05/24/helio-review-roundup/May 24th 2006 8:47PMhttp://mobile.engadget.com/2006/05/24/helio-review-roundup/http://mobile.engadget.com/2006/05/24/helio-review-roundup/May 25th 2006 11:30PMhttp://mobile.engadget.com/2006/05/24/helio-review-roundup/http://mobile.engadget.com/2006/05/24/helio-review-roundup/
But despite Helio's interest in appealing to my generation, and their obsession with sleakness (as far as I can see from their website) there are some MAJOR drawbacks to using this service.

First and foremost, they only offer two phones, and neither supports bluetooth. This is absolutely inexcusable. Whoever designed these phones must be an idiot for failing to incorporate a popular industry standard in any of their devices.

One of the great things about 3G is the capability of high-speed data transfer, but in my opinion, 3G speeds are useless if a carrier doesn't allow customers to use a phone as a wireless modem. What's more, failure to offer a full web browser is very limiting -- at this point, it seems that helio customers can only visit web sites that were designed to be viewed from a mobile phone.

If you travel internationally, avoid these phones. GSM is the world standard, and many countries (especially Western Europe) have no CDMA networks, making this device useless in many overseas markets.

Helio also offers very little technical information on their website, making no references to CDMA or other wireless technologies, as far as I can tell. Slickness and simplicity are important, but detailed technical information should be easily available online.

As frustrating as it is, I'd avoid this service and wait for Cingular to roll out it's 3G/UMTS network. Or, if you're not an international traveler you could go with Verizon or Sprint, which offer many more phone options and do (as far as I know) support bluetooth and phone-as-modem.

I wish Helio would get with the program. They've gotten very close to providing a great service, but they've overlooked some very important issues. Hopefully they will soon be resolved. If not, I guess I'll just have to wait until my carrier (Cingular) rolls out broadband connect in my area.]]>Aug 6th 2006 10:41PM