Virgin Mobile USA fanatics will have their first taste of 3G phone coming from the carrier after the company integrated Helio’s service into its mobile phone Shuttle.

The Shuttle originally came from PCD. The phone sports a 1.3 megapixel camera, 2-inch screen, stereo Bluetooth, a memory card slot, and music streaming capability. It runs under Sprint’s physical EVDO 3G network which Virgin Mobile will resell under its own brand.

Virgin will also bundle the “Buddy Beacon,” to the phone. Buddy Beacon is a GPS-based friend-finder application from Helio. Virgin Mobile believes that this new arrangement will greatly benefit their consumers.

Helio used to be a separate carrier offering advance high-end phones that are engineered for web browsing and networking apps. Virgin Mobile absorbed the company for a huge amount of $39 million last June.

According to Virgin Mobile’s first release the Shuttle will feature improved access to social networking communities and other mobile Internet sites through partnerships with Accuweather, Facebook, ESPN, YouTube, MySpace, Yahoo!, and others.

On related news, Virgin Mobile earlier beefed up its $80-per-month plan with unlimited minutes of voice call.

Source: PCMag