When does Spring end…

Because I really want this phone: The Helio ‘Ocean‘ (review roundup).

As soon as the Ocean comes out (‘Spring 2007′ is the listed date ‘May 21st’, according to interweb news sources now!) I’m going to be switching off of T-mobiles network, and embracing some unfiltered EVDO love. Helio looks like a pretty cool company, and despite being a bit more expensive than Sprint or Verizon straight up, their service and phones are much less hideous, and aimed more at a non-business user. The unified messaging system (single interface for IM/SMS/voice) and the GPS access on the phone itself looks pretty awesome, in the same design line as the visual voicemail on the iPhone. It also has the benefits of syncing calendar/etc from Exchange/Outlook or push-email through services like Hotmail. The dual-slide system also eleminates my major gripe about qwerty keyboard phones - it’s a pain in the ass to dial a phone number, which is still my primary use of a cell phone as low tech as that may sound. Opening the phone up for 3rd party apps would be awesome, and it might be already (I cant’ find evidence either way), but what they claim to be shipping will be enough for me!