Can the Helio Ocean Turn the Tide on the iPhone?

I have been pondering over whether or not to renew my cell phone contract for some time. Admittedly, the release of the iPhone was one reason I had delayed doing so; however, as I have explained in previous posts, I had no intention of purchasing one once I learned Apple had committed solely to AT&T. While the ubiquity of the Blackberry is at a bothersome level (when you have to walk behind people every day who can't look up for one minute, you will know what I mean!), to RIM's credit, all of the major carriers sell their devices (though perhaps not the same models).

There are a handful of competitors to the iPhone, but one - the Helio Ocean - is a truly stylish, sleek and unique device. Helio is a joint venture between SK Telecom (a Korean cell phone maker) and Earthlink. Helio provides both the phone and the service (they use Sprint's 3G EV-DO network).

The Helio Ocean has a lot of great features, many of which are NOT in the iPhone. But, what stands it apart from its competitors is its dual-sliding keyboard. When you hold the phone vertically, you make use of its numeric keypad for phone calls. However, when you hold the phone horizontally, you now have a full QWERTY keyboard for e-mail and instant messaging.

I have read there are less than 100,000 Helio subscribers. So, it seems to me this is truly a word-of-mouth issue. Indeed, anyone taking a look at this phone, especially compared to the iPhone, is going to see how much more they are getting. And for HALF the price!