The much awaited offering from Helio the Helio Ocean 2 is rumoured to finally be on its way as a Silicon Alley Insider has claimed a rep from Helio has said the Helio Ocean 2 will launch in Q1 of 09.

The Helio Ocean 2 is obviously the successor to the Helio Ocean, and will feature a slide out QWERTY and a numeric slide out keypad.

Virgin Mobile now owns Helio having purchased the company back in 08 and leases network access via Sprint. It has been suggested that the Helio Ocean 2 will command a price tag of over $100 but this hasn’t been confirmed. Further word has it that the Helio Ocean 2 will be released sometime in February although neither Virgin nor Helio have commented.

Source — mobileburn