Helio are expanding the accounts that their push email service supports, having enabled the instant delivery service for Helio Mail, Yahoo, Windows Live and AOL accounts last year.  Now any handset from the company that has Ultimate Inbox - which includes the dual-siding Ocean smartphone pictured here - can activate automatic notifications on new messages from any POP or IMAP account.  That means GMail or in fact pretty much any email provider can now be used for push email on compatible Helio devices.

Setup is seemingly very straightforward.  If the account already exists on the handset, manually selecting Send/Receive should prompt a query as to whether you want automatic notifications activated.  Choose yes, and the Helio servers will keep track of any new messages and instantly flag them up on your phone.  New accounts will have automatic notifications as an option during the setup; alternatively, you can stick with manual checks or timed checks (such as every 30 minutes, if you don’t want to get addicted to instant email).

The new functionality means that Helio is the first provider to offer push email on all compatible handsets at no extra cost.  Couple it with an unlimited data account and you’ve got a reasonable alternative to a BlackBerry, with no need to pay for RIM’s servers or set up an Exchange account.

[via Heliocity]