A distinctive design feature of the Ocean was its dual sliding mechanism — when slid down in the vertical position, it revealed a telephone keypad.

A deactivated Helio Ocean can still be used as a digital camera, allowing images and video files to be downloaded via the included USB interface cable directly to a computer.

[3][4] When publicly released on Friday, May 11, 2007,[5] the Ocean was billed as "the ultimate messaging and talking machine" and "the definitive mobile social networking experience.

"[6] The Ocean is seen as a breakthrough device for Helio, appealing to a more mainstream audience and not just the "ultra-cool hipsters" the company had previously targeted.

For communication, the device included caller ID (with support for photo caller ID), a speaker phone, a voice memo recorder, a record call feature, address book (with multiple online syncing abilities), T9 Text, and Korean character set support.

The Ocean was loaded with a version of Google Maps, which displayed turn-by-turn directions; however, the application warned users that it should not be used while driving.

The integrated music and video player supported multiple file formats (including MP3, MPEG-4, H.264, AAC, and WMA) and allowed for over-the-air (OTA) downloads.

On August 2, 2007, those in the Helio community had figured out how to build custom applications (the device is Java-based), including Opera Mini.