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New OZ2 Pics unearthed

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

In light of all the negativity that has been fueled from the uncredited/inaccurate Engadget and Gizmodo articles, some Youtube videos have been uncovered by our forum members of a Helio employee videoing quick glimpses of the Ocean 2, along with other oddities, and then deleting them.

The employee in question seems to just be wandering around recording random things and uploading them from his device, most likely an Ocean 2 as well. While most of the videos were just walls, floors, people (and the inside of a bathroom stall?), there was definitely some nice shots of the Ocean 2 in there. We’ve taken some screenshots of the good ones to make it easier, since these videos are no longer up.

Click on the images to enlarge them
OZ2 on YoutubeOZ2 on YoutubeOZ2 on YoutubeOZ2 on Youtube

Rumor Control: Things that are probably not OZ2.

Friday, April 18th, 2008

At least twice a day over in the forums, someone shows up and posts something that they’re totally sure is Oz2. It’s been the same set of images on a constant loop for months now. We still don’t know how Oz2 will look, but having seeing these images about a bajillion times, we’re pretty sure how it won’t.

1) Pantech’s Tri Slider Concept:

Pantech Trislider

Why it’s probably not Oz2:

  • We’ve been seeing this since November of 2006 - a full 6 months before Oz1 was released.
  • The market for “People that want to be able to block their keyboards with the numberpad” is pretty small.

2) Fujitsu’s Slider Mockup:

Fujitsu Prototype

Why it’s probably not Oz2:

  • This concept device was made - but not for Helio. This was a concept device made by Fujitsu for their own use. The Helio logo on the screen was photoshopped in as a joke by one our of forum members, and it spread like wildfire.

3) Helio Ocean Cake:

Ocean Cake

Why it’s probably not Oz2:

Hopefully these rumor shots can rest in debunked peace now. We’ll have images up as soon as we know what Oz2 actually does look like.

“OZ2″ hits FCC

Friday, March 28th, 2008

Oh, the FCC - how vast is your collection of goodies, and how large your mouth is.

Every time anyone develops a new device, they’re required to place an FCC conformity label somewhere visible to the end user. Pictures of the label’s placement are put up on the publicly accessible FCC site. There are some confidentiality practices in place to help protect the secrecy for the related companies, but (as just about every manufacturer has found out) they don’t tend to work for crap.

Today, an entry for “OZ2″ hit the FCC site. As you may recall, the Ocean went by “Oz” prior to release. It doesn’t take much deduction to connect the lines from there. Is this the much theorized “Ocean 2″?

What the FCC report shows:

  • The above picture, which appears to be the rear of the device
  • Camera
  • Made by Pantech
  • Bluetooth
  • MicroSD below battery
  • If the speculation was rampant before, I can’t imagine how hard the rumor mill will be churning after this.

    Read the FCC Report Here

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