Fall into the Helio craze did you? Better keep that Ocean/Ocean2 in tip top shape because it appears those will be the last Helio branded devices ever. As Engadget points out, it never made sense of Virgin Mobile to hobble along supporting two different brands. Whether the exec’s at Virgin Mobile finally stopped tapping that funny kool-aid or they just came to their senses is a moot point. The fact of the matter is Helio branded devices are being erased from Virgin’s memory save for two lonely survivors seen above. What’s sort of odd is that the Helio Ocean 2 which was hardware wise a newer (hello captain obvious…is that you?) and ultimately better than the original Ocean has been nixed. In it’s place is the older, original Ocean. Another blow to the face is that the few remaining Helio devices are being referenced by their manufacturer’s names. Ouch. No love.
In case you’re feeling a little directionless in life now that you can’t get that Helio 2 you’ve been eying for months, as long as your know some Korean (or know how to translate Google Translate’s sometimes not quite right translations), the Korean market of Virgin Mobile USA still has your fix. For how much longer though is anybody’s guess. If I were you and really wanting an Ocean 2, I’d get on it pretty fast as there’s no telling how much longer these devices are going to be available anywhere.
I don’t quite understand Virgin Mobile’s rationale on this one but hey, they pay important people to make important decisions. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.