Hunt for a White Ocean: Part I
Posted by Greg Kumparak on April 12th, 2008 at 12:49 PM
If you’ve ever spent a few minutes talking with me, you’ve probably learned at least three things:
- I’m allergic to mushrooms.
- I think yams are the whackest of all the vegetables
- I really want a white Helio Ocean.
Actually, you probably haven’t learned any of that. I don’t really talk about those things often - it just seemed like an interesting intro. Regardless, they’re all true. I can’t do much about the first item, and yams are too far gone at this point for anybody to save. But that last item, my desire for a white Ocean.. I think something can be done about that.
From what I hear, there was at least a color sample made of a white Ocean. For one reason or another it wasn’t what they were looking for, so it never saw the light of day. As I’m probably not going to convince Helio to run a white bodied series just because I think it would look mega rad, the task of making one will involve a little bit of leg work and a lot of tearing things apart.
So why not just rip the body off an ocean and spray it white? The main obstacle is the soft touch coat that covers the body already. Soft touch is a spray on plastic paint that gives your ocean’s body that smooth feeling that everyone notices when they first grab the device. It feels awesome, but it makes color modding the device tough - most paints just wont stick to it. If they do, they tend to look sort of diseased after drying.
The first challenge is getting an Ocean body sans soft touch. As I see it, there are two options here:
1) Strip the paint:
I could attempt to strip an Ocean body of it’s soft touch coat. However, I have no idea if this is even possible. As it’s really just a sort of spray on plastic, how could I remove the soft touch coat without eating at the body?
Advantages: Cheap
Disadvantages: Probably wont work, and might just ruin the body.
2) Get a body that hasn’t been sprayed with soft touch yet
This one’s a bit daunting, but it’s probably the best possible route. Somewhere in the magical land that is the Pantech factory, theres gotta be a point in the manufacturing process where the bodies are molded but not yet sprayed with soft touch.
These untouched shells, these perfect canvases - they’re out there, half way around the world. The question is whether or not I’d be able to get one. I’d gladly pay for one, if that were an option. Folks from Helio read this blog all the time - any of them reading this and happen to know the right person at Pantech? Gimme a shout.
Advantages: Takes a lot of the “This will probably end up really ugly” factor out of the process.
Disadvantages: Kind of crazy.
There are probably a number of other options (fabricating my own body, for example.) that I haven’t covered here. If you have any ideas, be sure to leave a comment.
The Process:
- Somehow, end up with an Ocean body without the soft touch paint.
- Determine the best way to color the body. Perhaps the guys from Colorware will be down for the project? If all else fails, spray paint.
- Tear apart the Ocean, removing its original body
- Install super awesome white body
- Triumphantly thrust Ocean above my head while victory theme plays
One way or another, my Ocean’s going white. I’ll post updates (and pictures) as they go down.
April 12th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
why not just get all white skins from mytego.com?
April 12th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
This should be good.
April 12th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Painting would require multiple coats of paint killing any smooth slide. I would try to get someone to make a molding of the pieces.
April 12th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
how about we just get a good thread in the forums going convincing helio to release 2-3 colors for the OZ2. perhaps black, dark blue, and white. maybe even start one of those online petitions (that no one ever seems to sign).
April 12th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
damn we think alike just yesterday i was thinking how sweet it would be if the new ocean would be white or at least come in multiple colors, a white ocean would be sicmk
April 12th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
[/quote] why not just get all white skins from mytego.com? [/quote] these dont cover the whole serface and you can still see the black on the sides..
Also Greg what are you going to do about the buttons? if you make the case white the black buttons are gunna stand out badly . the buttons need to be white too (or silver or something)
April 12th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
@Vimick: Actually, I really like the idea of black buttons. That’s why I did the image above - just to see how it’d look. I like the contrast.
April 12th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
I guess now that I think of it it would be an interesting contrast. white or lighter color buttons would be pretty cool too.
i figured out your solution. use white-out >.>
April 13th, 2008 at 12:07 am
Helio ….just sent me a letter telling me that their system got hacked and they lots my personal information to hackers including last four digits of my social security…… and apparently alot of people’s info got lost…anyone got a letter? I heard they just sent them out too…..im so mad
April 13th, 2008 at 9:39 am
that rubbery stuff cores off (pen knife nail polish remover lots and lots of time) plastic hobby paint or maybe liquid latex if u want to try for that wierd feel but the only way to get it to work rite is to take apart the divice and put it back togather without messing thing up
April 13th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Ummm does anyone know a site where u can download Helio apps or games?
April 13th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
how about u get on ebay and buy the dummy phones for the ocean..
they might not have the plastic coating and if they do u could experiment with it and take it from there ya meaaaaan?
hope i could help somewhat
p.s.
the covers run about 99 cents u might wanna check it out.
April 13th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Hey miguel. Try myhelioapps.com
April 13th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
props to whoever made this site!!!
April 13th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
@andrew: good call. i agree, there are the dummy phones that are pretty freakin’ cheap. you could easily breakdown one of those piece by piece and figure out exactly how to get the soft-touch stuff off. if you figure it out, lemme know cuz i’m SO down with a white ocean.
@miguel, Ivan and G: take your comments to another thread. there is plenty of information in other areas of the forums, this thread is clearly for another purpose.
my idea: i have a lot of experience with model paints and tiny brushes. i think that you could paint the main buttons on the front, but the qwerty board would be off-limits. too much to take into consideration there. you probably want to use something water-based but durable…and then seal it with something. you are, however, going to add a bit of thickness to the surfaces you paint. i’ve done something like this with an old comp keyboard with Krylon plastic spray paint and it worked out great without having to seal it too. if you get that soft stuff off using the nail polish remover technique, then the next step is spraying it. just make sure you remove the paint from the coloured spots on the main buttons cuz that’s all one piece. good luck!!! and PLEASE post your results! i am dying to know!
April 13th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Um Kobuu… I didnt have a comment.. I had a question. And the last I checked I live in the land of democracy. I can ask any question or in your words “comments” I choose too. U seem to have a personal problem, so take care of it.
Ivan, thank you for the help. I have looked it up and found tons of things to explore.
I cant wait for the Ocean helio 2!
April 13th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
You have NO Idea how much I wanted a white ocean. Im a sucker for white electronics and I really wanted it to match my Zen Vision:M and my Camera and my laptop. I was thinking MyTego but idk.
Please post resultssssss I really want to know!
April 13th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Hey I just ordered all four white skins for the ocean!!! ill post a topic under “Ocean” when i get it in the mail and set it up!!!!!!!
i wonder what its gonna look like!!!!???
anyone else excited???
April 13th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
PS. YOUR WELCOME MIGUEL! I JUST STARTED USING THAT WEBSITE 2 DAYS AGO AND I LIKE IT ALOT!
its not like the site will go down with a few extra posts right?
April 14th, 2008 at 5:24 am
@G: Helio sent out the letters as soon as they identified which members were affected. Call 888-435-4620 for more information - the number reaches a dedicated team at Helio who can answer your questions and address your concerns.
And look on the bright side: there’s no federal law that compels corporations to inform its customers of security breaches, and state laws are limited (less than 10 states require it, with varying requirements). It’s great that Helio was proactive in releasing the information and contacting its members.
April 14th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
So Greg,
Who won the Heliocity Haiku contest???
(I would’ve posted this on the contest thread, but the comment option has been disabled.)
April 14th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
@Ryan. should have searched the forums:
http://forum.heliocity.net/index.php?topic=7174.0
no winner decided yet. he’s still narrowing it down.
April 15th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
white ocean would be tight…If its in my budget range, i’d definitely buy one.
April 15th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
I have 2 goals in life. 1: White Ocean. 2: Black iPhone. 3: Enough money to pay colorware FOR a white Ocean or Black iPhone. I already have an Ocean, but love full speed NES emulation….so I would rather have the iPhone. But a WHITE OCEAN……hard to resist…….
April 17th, 2008 at 8:48 am
Hey folks. I work for helio and I am going to the white ocean. The original prototype of the ocean was all glossy hard plastic and i know for a fact that underneath this rubber junk is the hard plastic body because i have destroyed 3 and am on numero cuatro. Im gonna scrape that rubber junk off and then dry sand it smooth to get any left over rubber off and then wet sand it several times increasing the grit each time until i get that brushed/ polished look. then i will paint it white and put clear over it. Let me know what yall think about this
April 17th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
I’m still trying to find a guide to take apart my Ocean. I have dust between the screens and it really sucks when i try to look at the phone in the sunlight. I’ve tried to blow it out with Air and I can’t find a single place to blow air that effects the dust in any way.
P.S. - I think A white Ocean would be awesome, but I really think a ‘homebrew’ job would be sketchy, I’ll just wait and hope the next version comes out in multiple colors.
April 17th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
@ SuTheo here is the thread you are looking for : http://forum.heliocity.net/index.php?topic=6103.msg56847#msg56847 It is a screen cleaning guide ( how to disassemble your ocean to clean underneath the screen) made by Refused. Enjoy.
April 22nd, 2008 at 3:42 pm
[...] hunt continues. Last post, I was trying to track down an Ocean body that hadn’t yet been sprayed [...]
April 22nd, 2008 at 5:40 pm
I would love to have a white Helio Ocean. I have the Helio Heat now, and will probably get the Ocean in a few months after a year, but the Ocean being black has never appealed to me. What does the color black have ANYTHING to do with the ocean? I mean think about it, you hear the word “ocean” and you think of blue and maybe green, or water and things like, right? But not…black. Or is it just me? lol
I hope Helio comes out with different colors for the Ocean. The Fin is blue, and the Mysto is a darker tone of blue…but not the OCEAN? Wtf?
If you figure out a way to make it a different color, please let me know and then pass the word onto Helio :).