Bye Bye, Helio

I just got official word as a Helio customer of something that has been rumored for a while - Helio was acquired by Virgin Mobile. Kind of sad, part of why I signed on with Helio was the geek cred, the other part was the awesome dual slider device with a low cost unlimited data plan. But, I've been planning to defect when my contract comes up next year, anyway.

Sure, the device is sexy and my GPS-enabled Google Maps were far more accurate and speedy than a friend's AT&T BlackJack. Sure, I snap and share pictures and video easily and can quickly get my GMail on the go. But I would have to pay extra to synch with my corporate exchange server, it's doc viewing support is so-so, and the built in browser was so very, very bad that they threw their hands up and embraced Opera Mini. And now the same dual slider form is available on lots of phones, along with some even better options for a thumb typer like myself. And the iPhone helped launch a lower cost data plan structure at AT&T.

So, goodbye sexy Ocean, hello conformity with my new iPhone or Windows Mobile SmartPhone.