This is the most functional phone I have ever seen, you would never fear getting lost, great for travellers and it's cheap for all the functionality. I still don't get how they could fit all that in such a small size, but if all these functions actually fucntion, than I WILL buy one.

"...the Drift could be the GPS phone ever, especially in the attractive at $225..."

A phone so powerful, it defies the laws of grammar.

F'reals, though, this looks like something I've wanted for a long time... but I'm not willing to switch carriers for it. :(

1. "the Drift could be the GPS phone ever" -Me thinks that an adjective might make this statement work better.

2. I think I'm going to pick two up, one for myself and one to hide in my girlfriend's bag so I can track her every movement.

Helio should really try to partner up or latch onto a bigger provider; this a great looking phone and a theoretically feature-loaded one at that.

Ain't nothin wrong with buddy stalking.

Sounds cool... I'll sit back and wait for wider implementation though... I'm sure second gen. will have much better functionality.

Yeah, I've been wanting this feature for a long time now... too bad it doesn't have a nice qwerty keyboard and is thus immediately out of the running for me.

Don't call it a phone!

Also in the "too bad" category, it's on a network that 12 people use. When this is rolled out for grown ups, as in, geolocates anyone in your phonebook not just your myspace buddies, uses google map overlays, available from a big provider, then it will be a pretty sweet piece of kit.

Wow, can't wait to get one of these for my 1 year old son... little jerk just loves crawling around the neighborhood...
Seriously though, I think something like this will be very handy when my kids get older. Now if an actual network provider would just pick it up.

"i'm working from home"
Boss
"ummmmm yeah..... it says here you are at the beach.... we're going to have to go ahead and ..ummm. ahhh.. yeah.. fire you."

Innovation should be rewarded, stupid commercials shouldn't be :p

Woah! I just noticed something! That's the Google Maps for Mobile J2ME app! I wonder if this is a special version just for helio, or if google's going to let us all have the GPS-enabled goodness soon.

This would suck in the hands of a girlfriend or a wife.

i could picture it now "your not where your supposed to be!"

People...When you first get the phone--err helio thingy--just turn it off except for those brief few minutes when you need to make a call and that way the gf/wife would never expect to be able to track you with it. After 1 or 2 months you can go back to having it on all the time.

This looks pretty tempting...I've been reading the site and can't figure out if it supports checking email though.

This looks pretty tempting, but I've been checking the site and can't figure out if it checks email. I am constantly wishing my phone had GPS when trying to locate businesses around me.

I'm not buying it unless it can be set up to track the people I want to avoid.

It doesn't look like the google maps system has any GPS functionality. The "buddy beacon" is a separate app. There's no "you hare here" dot on Google maps, and it is running the standard-edition of the app.

Also, I like the 6 signal bars. I hope the volume goes up to 11, too.

Lazy cops are stoked. They can see if you're speeding from their comfy seat at the donut shop.

yes! now you can finally find BOTH of the other Helio customers!

Hey everyone go easy! Helio is at least attempting to bring us some new technology! I just ordered the Drift as a second cell after my work BB so for me the lack of a qwerty keyboard is not an issue. Let me be perfectly clear: I will be the first guy on my block with this HOT phone! It's time that innovation was looked as good rather then why it's so bad!

Congrats to Helio for trying something new!

hmmm... let's see; kick flips are sold out. they ordered over 30,000. so wouldn't it be fairly conclusive to say that they're AT LEAST 30,000 subscribers? my friend who owns a cell store (T-mobile and Helio only) has sold over 700 since June.

Google maps IS GPS-enabled. My friend came over Saturday to show it off and we drove around the neighborhood to test it. Only thing is you have to refresh it manually, I think.

i'll try to clarify a little (friend brought his phone over saturday)

1.) Google maps IS GPS-enabled; just have to manually refresh it.
2.) buddy beacon can be turned on and off;
3.) stereo blutooth
4.) TONS of customizations; fonts, colors, sizes; advanced picture editing (humorous stuff - facial expression recognition)
5.) 5MB music video took 1 min to download; "Chicken Noodle Soup" :)
6.) I'm trading in my Hero for it next week!

I don't understand the "there are only 4 subscribers" joke. My friend owns a cell store down the block and has sold 700+ Helios since the first of June. AND if the Kickflip is sold out - assuming their first batch was a conservative 30,000 devices - won't that make the joke not only lame, but with no base?

I'm just offended, considering I'm a Helio myself. :)

i don't care who's friend sold 400,000 of these this week. if it can not be bluetooth tethered to a laptop, then it's waaaay behind the rest of the market; also nothingwith any useful gps interaction needs "refreshed manually" the point is to watch the map move with you, not to hit the button every 3 seconds........

i don't care who's friend sold 400,000 of these this week. if it can not be bluetooth tethered to a laptop, then it's waaaay behind the rest of the market; also nothing with any useful gps interaction needs "refreshed manually" the point is to watch the map move with you, not to hit the button every 3 seconds........any moron can find one's self on a map, it's turn-by-turn directions and a "self-refreshing" mapthat people have use for.
p.s. all the jokes about the lack of subscribers is from the COMPLETE AND TOTAL LACK of these fine folks (and myself) above knowing anyone owning one, rendering specific features worthless.
p.p.s. please do not attempt to explain features you don't understand, anyone here can go to the web site and do a little research..........

Holy Crap! There's a Helio Drift!?! Damn! This cell phone is like the best ever! I have the Helio Kickflip!
Now. All the Helio or all new cellphones are MINE!
I'd love to get a Free! and I mean FREE Helio Drift!
I hate it when people make an add that says," You can get a FREE* Mortor rzor! Claim your gift now."
Those are so damn cheap.
ALL THE NEW CELLPHONES ARE MINE!!!!!!!!!!!
HM!!!!

Helio is the worst customer service company
I have ever ever freak'n dealt with.
4 starters, they put me on an "all in" plan but did not tell me...
they are now charging me for a phone that was not activated
until July 18th...the customer service department told me
and I quote "well, we sold you the phone on the 11th of July"
my response was" What? I did not get the phone until the
17th and could not activate it until the 18th and it did not work
until the 19th-they told me they did not know why when I called
them about it on the 18th...some how a code was given
and the phone person at Helio gave me the code and the
phone worked....OK today they email me -Aug12 that the phone bill is pass due....I am on the line with them now....and guess wHAT their records can not show how many minutes i have used! AND i forgot my voicemail pass word and they tell me that "we have to have you ship the phone and erase everything on there and start over" WHAT....my research shows that SPRINT is this company and I am going to make a LOT of NOISe about this company....HELL-E-O!
INternet here I COME!!

HELIO SUCKS!! THE DAMN phone is nothing
without decent customerservice!