It looks like Pantech is on a roll in the United States. Yesterday the company announced that they are supplying the first mobile phone for the new Disney Service. Now Pantech announces the 'Hero' handset for the new virtual network operator Helio that will launch in the United States.

Helio is a joint venture of Korean mobile operator SK Telecom and Internet service provider EarthLink Inc and is supposed to become a hip and cool mobile phone service.

Sk Telecom and Pantech are close, so it is no surprise that Pantech has won a deal with them.
The Hero is a EV-DO slider-style phone with 2MP digital camera, 2.2 inch QVGA screen, 70MB internal memory and Transflash card slot.
Pantech says that the Hero features a co-processor chip that can provide high-quality music and video playback. Helio is supposed to launch in Spring. Helio is geared towards young and passionate consumers. More details on the Helio site and on the Pantech site.