Remember the newest Helio device in the pack? Helio has made good on their promise — the Helio Mysto is available at all usual Helio channels — and you no longer have to be jealous of that Korean friend of yours for getting it first. We went over the Mysto pretty well, but there were a couple applications we didn’t get to test out on our unit. These are Tellme and WHERE. We were actually told about the Tellme thingy a while back and have been intrigued ever since. Since the Mysto (all Helios, really) has built-in GPS, Tellme uses your voice to take advantage of that. Let’s say you have no idea where you are but are in desperate need of some Purell from a CVS (come on, who hasn’t been in that situation?). All you do is press the side button, and say “CVS”. The application would then find the nearest CVS to your location. Pretty neat, right? WHERE is a whole ‘nother story. It’s actually a GPS widget platform, and it runs in the web browser. The really cool thing is that the browser is location-aware, so to speak. So as long as you grant permission to access your GPS, the web browser that comes with the Mysto will actually be able to use your location for all the cool web GPS widgets. Some of these are GasBuddy (find nearest gas station, and by gas price), Weather, Eventful (shows you local music, performing arts, sports events, etc.), and a total useless but kind of cool widget called Dig to China (it basically takes your location and shows you where you’d end up if you dug straight down into the earth and out of the other side. They even have a location-enhanced Twitter for you freaks. These GPS services are in addition to BuddyBeacon, Google Maps, and Garmin Mobile, so we have to give Helio a big high five for totally maximizing the crap out of that little built-in GPS chip! Tellme will run you $2.99 / month, and WHERE is free. Hit the jump for the full press release!
LOS ANGELES, CA – January 16, 2007 – Helio today released Mysto™, an ultra-thin slider featuring a large, reflective mirror-like screen, a svelte, sapphire blue body and electrostatic keys that make the device shiver when pressed. Mysto also debuts two new Helio GPS search services, WHERE™ and Tellme™, adding to Helio’s burgeoning portfolio of GPS-enabled services that started with the industry-first launch of GPS-enabled Google Maps™ for mobile and GPS-tagging of photos and videos, plus real-time Garmin turn-by-turn Navigation. Combined with nationwide 3G access and Helio’s acclaimed user interface and suite of communications services, Mysto is an ultimate mix of good looks and intelligence.
Based on the U600 that was released in Europe and Korea this past year where it has been a huge success, selling millions of handsets worldwide, Mysto has been customized and made exclusively for Helio for the U.S. market by Samsung.
“Mysto is a startling combination of beauty and brains,” said Sky Dayton, CEO of Helio. “We packed our best communications services and some amazing new GPS features into one of the thinnest sliders available. Mysto feels like a finely tuned machine in your hand.”
Beautiful Genius
Mysto combines exquisite design and sophisticated technology to meet Helio members’ needs. Smooth to the touch, thin and sexy, Mysto boasts a 2 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom, night mode and built-in Photo Studio for high quality photos and video, a large mirror-like 2.2 inch QVGA display, 100MB of available internal memory expandable via microSD™ to 4GB, an HTML browser, stereo Bluetooth and support for an array of audio and video formats including MP3 and AAC audio, and MPEG-4 and H.264 video. Mysto also has external electrostatic keys that vibrate with “haptic feedback” with the tap of a finger, giving users the look of touch sensitive controls and the tactile sensation they want while using one-click search to jump onto the Web from the device idle screen, navigating through Helio’s ultimate inbox messaging hub made famous on Ocean, or playing a favorite song or video downloaded from Helio Player.
Lose Your Lost
With the introduction of WHERE and Tellme, a Microsoft subsidiary, Mysto expands on Helio’s line-up of GPS-enabled services that already include geo-tagged images and videos uploaded to Flickr and YouTube™, Buddy Beacon™, Google Maps™ for mobile and Garmin Mobile™. Tellme, the first one-touch voice search application for mobile in the U.S., lets users simply press one button and say a word to receive local search results, no need to know your location or spend time typing, just say what you want and get it. Tellme returns local listings containing phone numbers, maps, turn-by-turn directions and the ability to SMS the listing to friends. Now, Helio members don’t have to worry about saving restaurants, theaters or other business listings in their address books and finding a late night snack is a snap.
WHERE, a service of uLocate Communications, is a mobile GPS widget platform that gives users access to a library of location-enabled applications. WHERE provides information on things like local weather and events based on the user’s current location. WHERE is accessible on Mysto through its location-aware mobile browser and is a free service for Helio members.
Availability and Pricing
Mysto is now available at Helio retail locations, http://www.helio.com, by calling 888-88-HELIO and at thousands of retail locations nationwide for $149. Tellme is available on Mysto for $2.99 per month. WHERE is free of charge to All In Members; data charges apply for A La Carte Members.
