A few reviews have commented on how great the iPhone's YouTube application is, despite mediocre EDGE speeds; now Helio have not only introduced their own YouTube Mobile service but added extra functionality such as being able to upload your own footage direct from the handset. Relying on the same H.264 encoding as the iPhone - which means the full YouTube back-catalogue of videos won't be available until the Fall - Helio's client doesn't need to perform the on-the-fly quality downcoding as the iPhone does (when using EDGE) since it supports the far higher speeds of 3G; not only that, but all contract customers get totally free access to YouTube.
Integration with the Helio Album - an online library of your photos and video - and new synchronisation functionality means that it takes two clicks to transfer footage from your handset to YouTube. The Helio Album can also be set to automatically push new media to YouTube and Flickr. Helio tell us that this is just the beginning in terms of their media partnerships; new YouTube Mobile features are coming soon, and they'll be rolling out compatibility with other photo sharing sites.
As well as the YouTube/Helio partnership, news comes in about the MVNO's MySpace Mobile 2 client being available for the flagship Ocean handset. Working as it does on existing Helio phones, the application has been upgraded to instantly upload photos you've taken to your MySpace profile. No individual or batch uploading, just take the photo and it's transferred in the background.
Helio are apparently determined to be THE network for sharing rich media files, and looking at some of these new features it'll be interesting to see how Apple reacts with their first iPhone update.
Why would apple need to respond to this? Despite what we geeks may think is cool, it hasn’t been shown that people will pay much for features such as being able to upload to utube, or myspace. Remember 500,000+ people bought an iphone in the first 3 days… how many Ocean’s has Helio sold so far?
jbella…dont underestimate the progress Helio has made since the Ocean has come out, my teacher actually would rather play with my helio over his iPhone….but his iPhone is good for his business. lol
The advantage of iPhone is not any one feature, but it’s unique bundle of features … as I’ve been saying since 1979 … http://paullevinson.blogspot.com/2007/06/iphone-arrives.html
This device looks ugly, and the screen doesn’t look that great. The first generation is lacking in some features, and the edge network sucks but I’m usually in range of a wifi when I want to view You Tube videos on the iPhone… even when away from my house. The edge network is fast enough for all of the other features, but admittedly would greatly benefit from 3g.
I am sure the 2nd generation iPhone will blow away not only the competition but even the 1st generation iPhone.
I have an ocean phone with Helio. I love the phone. Most of all because I didn’t go out and pay $600.00 like some of you suckers did. I only paid $150.00 for my Ocean. Old Stevie from Apple really pulled one on you guys, but guys, once a sucker always a sucker and you guys will be back for more. Now why do I love my Helio Ocean phone? Most of all how much it coste me per month to use it. $99.00 plus TAX and that is an unlimited plan talk time and data is included. Oh my Ocean works as an I Pod also that is really all the I Phone is, isn’t it
just got my Helio Ocean phone , this thing does everything , video,photo,music,chat,records phone conversations, and the gps features are amazing !! there is so many features i cant believe it , of course i probably never figure out or nees to use all of them but its a great phone . also Helio customer service is great , ive never had a company treat me this good and so easy to do bussiness with . there $99 unlimited plan is a big money saver if you travel like i do and has coverage everywhere that sprint and verizon does . i talk about 6000 plus minutes a month so the unlimited plan has saved me big money .
http://www.helio.com/#homepage Does A T T do all of this? Unlimited plan for ONLY $99.00 a month talking and data.
I just ordered the Helio Ocean and never even considered the iPhone. They touted the iPhone like it was new technology and yet my Windows Mobile PDA (Qtek 9100) does much more than the iPhone.
I still prefer my Windows Mobile PDA because of Microsoft Office and all the other things I have downloaded; but the Helio Ocean and unlimited plan trumps everything else out there.
It seems like iPhone users are very upset with the attention Helio is getting. Had I been sucked into the iPhone I would be upset to.