Boy Genius received a tip concerning Helio’s flagship device release date. Apparently, the Helio Ocean will be available starting from May 21st. Prior to that (5-8 day), the MVNO carrier will release the device to its partners.

The Helio Ocean is probably one of the most powerful feature phones today. It boasts both a numeric keypad and a QWERTY keyboard, a GPS, 3G radio, integrated MySpace, and support for an array of IM clients.

After talking about it for some time, Helio finally decided to pull the plug of its WLAN-3G Hybrid offering, for which the MVNO carrier partnered with Boingo. Official termination date is set for May 8, 2007, and Helio said that subscribers can keep their laptop cards and will be billed through May 7, 2007. Helio also released instructions for uninstalling the service, that can be downloaded from here (PDF file).

Pantech’s recent financial woes are being reported as the reason for CEO Sung-Kyu Lee’s resignation as head honcho of the company – after a mere 14 month stint as Chief. Pantech busted onto the US scene under Lee’s reign, but releasing phones through Cingular and Helio might just have taken too much out of this executive. Chairman of Pantech’s board, Byeong-Yeop Park, will take sole control of the company as President and Chairman. Park, along with the rest of the board, was apparently opposed to Lee’s resignation. But it did nab him both top spots in the company’s executive lineup – so take that as you will.

Via: Telecoms Korea

One of the devices that caught most of the attention during the CTIA, was certainly the dual-slider Helio Ocean. This phone packs both numerical and QWERTY keypad, and also comes with integrated popular social networks (i.e. MySpace). Plus, the popular IM clients are also preinstalled on the device. And now, thanks to the TechEblog we have the Helio Ocean video preview. Enjoy!

Helio just released the new device at CTIA in Orlando, called Ocean. Previously thought to be called Oz Smartphone, the Ocean is a feature-packed device with an innovative dual-slide design, that boasts both regular handset keypad and a full QWERTY keyboard.

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Helio keeps pushing cool devices to its members. According to the Gizmodo’s tipster, Helio members could expect to see Pantech-manufactured PN-810 (already cleared by the FCC) available in the coming months (weeks!?).

The dual-sliding messenger device, already called “Oz Smartphone”, should sport an EV-DO radio, a 2.1 MP camera with flash, Bluetooth connectivity, , and a 260k TFT LCD. “Smartphone” suffix suggest some kind of a mobile OS run on Oz, and our guess is that it will most likely be the Windows Mobile.

Few days ago, Helio annouced the newest addition to its portfolio of mobile devices – the Heat. A slim, gleaming slider with an electrostatic touchpad integrated into a chic form factor, Heat combines Helio’s line-up of 3G content and services into a fashionable package.

The new handset is manufactured by Samsung exclusively for Helio members in the U.S. and comes in two colors: high-gloss Onyx and shimmering Gold. Among the Heat’s specs, we highlight 1.99″ QVGA display, Bluetooth support (with A2DP), 136 MB of internal memory, and an integrated GPS receiver. Heat is already available for $150 from Helio’s website.