The eternal question everyone asks themselves constantly through the day, what is the Ocean 2 going to be like? While we still don’t know much about this device, we’d like to start seeing what our community wants to know.

Over in our forums we would like our users to post the top 3 to 5 things they’d love to know about the Ocean 2. Don’t be lethargic and say “I WANTZ 2 KNO EVRYTHNG!!1!”. Think about it! New web browser functionality? IM capability? Hardware specs? You name it.

Why are we doing this? There are secret Helio/Virgin Mobile spies lurking around every corner… Well, not quite, but we do know that they read our forums every now and then, and we’d love to see if we can eventually get them to spill some details on this mystery device.

That’s right, the day has finally come, it was like a gigantic present this morning when the FCC’s confidentiality expired on the Ocean 2. Pictures and more pictures (and a half naked guy in a reflection, or a hand– you decide), oh joy! We’ve gone through the images at the FCC and cropped/rotated/resized them for convenience, and without further delay, here they are. These are very large photos, so after you click the thumbnails you may need to wait a bit for it to load.

If you’re bored with the pictures, check out the user manual for the Ocean 2. Nothing like reading the manual for something you can’t have yet, eh? Skimming through it gives away a few details (but in no way guarantees a final feature list as it’s an extremely old document– only the basics):

While the specific release date of the Ocean 2 hasn’t been announced, last night we received an e-mail from Virgin Mobile USA’s PR rep Jayne Wallace telling us the general time frame– the Ocean 2 will be released sometime in the 1st quarter of 2009.

This can be taken as great news and not-so-great news depending on how you look at it. It’s not-so-great for all the current Helions who have been waiting endlessly for the Ocean 2 through all the madness and mayhem that has happened in the past year. It can be taken as great news because there is finally an official source stating when the Ocean 2 is going to drop. Virgin Mobile obviously realized that the Ocean 2 was quickly outdated by the many new phones coming out and wants to work on that aspect of the OZ2.

“The Ocean 2 is not going to be 2008,” Wallace said. “It has been manufactured, and there is a commitment to putting it on the market, but it’s going to be in early 09 … just because the shell has been manufactured doesn’t mean it should be released right now. We want to put it out when it’s the best it can be.” (from PCMag)

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

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:

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:

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:

Why it’s probably not Oz2:

• It’s a cake.

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.

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