Helio Ocean Review - Other Features
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Richard Baguley Published on May 16, 2007 Comment on this |
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Tethered Modem (0.0)
The Ocean does not work as a tethered modem.
GPS (8.5)
A GPS receiver is built into the Ocean, and this is supported in a number of applications. For one, this is the first phone we’ve seen that includes the mobile version of Google Maps, which can read you location from the GPS receiver and plot your location on the map. This can also provide driving directions, but not turn-by-turn directions; you have to step through the directions manually. It does offer traffic tracking, though; congested freeways show up as red on the map, and this data is updated when the map is reloaded.
Google Maps also provides some very useful searching functions. Need to find a good restaurant nearby? Use the business search feature, and it’ll show you where the restaurants or other results are on a map. You can also call them with just a couple of clicks, and get driving directions the same way. But there are some limitations here; the mobile version of Google Maps won’t keep a track of where you’ve been, so you can’t plot out a hike or bike ride after you’ve completed it.
Another interesting use of the GPS is the Buddy Beacon feature. This can be used to find your friends if they have Helio phones; if you allow it, the Buddy Beacon reports your position to your friends and shows you theirs on a map. Again, you can get directions with a couple of clicks; a
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