What's better than a black Samsung UpStage? Why, the very same handset in red, of course. As rumored last week, Sprint has chosen June 18th as launch day for its freshly re-colored UpStage. While nothing new is under the hood, we know some of you out there will appreciate this new -- and perhaps prettier, depending on taste -- iteration of this two-but-really-should-be-one-useful-faced handset. Pricing is set at $99 on a two-year deal and $50 service credit.

What's that we hear? Could it be the gentle thumping of beautiful music pouring out of another Sprint UpStage? Why, yes, we think it just might be! Why not go try to make it your own?

Have a look at our other contests, too, before it's too late: T-Mobile Wing, Sprint UpStage by Samsung (the first one), Nokia N75, Motorola T305, Samsung u620, (PRODUCT) RED MOTORAZR V3m for Sprint

Some of the more emotionally stunted Engadget Mobile writers prefer to express their deep affection for our readership through their actions -- actions like, say, offering up day after unrelenting day of sweet contests. In fact, today marks the third in a row that our Mobile outpost is blowing out its fabulous relaunch with an awesome phone, and this time around it's the Sprint UpStage by Samsung. Get in while the gettin's good!

Be sure to get in the running for our previous giveaways, too: Helio Ocean, T-Mobile Wing

Sure, the Xbox 360 Elite was finally announced, but we've got a fair bit of interesting cellphone news this week, too. Check out Samsung's UpStage, finally launched; or the long-awaited Helio Ocean dual-slider QWERTY featurephone -- not bad eh? And then HTC had a whole slew of gear, too, from their first UMPC to the Advantage's US launch. We won't only be talking about cellphones this week, but if you're not down with mobile gadgets then you might want to snag our enhanced RSS and skip some chapters, because we've got some CTIA stuff to catch up on.

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Hosts: Peter Rojas and Ryan Block

Producer: Trent Wolbe

Music: Solvent - Instructograph (Ghostly International)

Program:
00:50 - Xbox 360 Elite and 120GB drive now official
07:22 - The Helio Ocean
12:31 - Sprint announces Samsung UpStage, 99 cent songs over the air
17:15 - HTC Shift -- the cellphone company finally goes UMPC
19:46 - HTC Advantage coming to US... under the HTC brand
23:29 - HTC 6800 / Titan hands-on
25:36 - HTC S720 vs Vox and TyTn hands-on
26:02 - Hands-on with the Samsung Ubicell
34:15 - How-to: Upgrade the drive in your Apple TV

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We got our grubby mitts on the first of many phones here at CTIA in Orlando, today: the Samsung UpStage on Sprint (which you might otherwise know as being the F300, m620, and so on). There are very few phones on the market for $150 or less that offer EV-DO, music integration, and the style and unique, ultraslim form-factor of the UpStage. But we'll be honest, the whole thing seems like a kinda hacked take on an otherwise worthy premise -- that your phone and your music device should be the same, but separate. The "scroll-wheel" on the music side has no tactile feedback and doesn't rotate in circles, only up/down or left/right, one direction at a time -- totally different from the more natural motion on, say, an iPod, and half-baked feeling. Basically, if they were going to go tactile-free, the music side should have incorporated a larger touchscreen instead of that silly trackpad. The "business" side (the one with all the buttons) could really do with a larger screen, but hey, this thing is only $150, it can't be everything to everyone, right? Check out our many pics in the gallery.

As expected, Sprint has announced the SPH-m620 "UpStage" dual-faced musicphone today, giving Sprint a decided "wow" factor in its lineup -- for the moment, at least. Manufacturers seem to be turning to unusual form factors in an effort to gain some differentiation in a crowded high-end and specialty phone marketplace, and the UpStage fills the bill nicely with a full side devoted to traditional phone activities -- "calls, text messaging, and contact management" to use Sprint's verbage -- while the entirety of the flip side takes the form of a traditional MP3 player; a button press switches between sides. Naturally, the phone offers a microSD slot for up to 2GB of external storage, a 1.3 megapixel camera, and stereo Bluetooth, while an included 3.5mm jack adapter lets folks use more traditional headsets if they so choose; even cooler, incoming calls are announced via text-to-speech while you're jamming out. Also included is a Music Manager app for sideloading tunes to the phone via USB and a unique "battery wallet" boosting the phone's stamina for playing music up to a solid 16 hours or 6.3 hours of talk time (up from 2.5 hours talk time without) -- you sacrifice a bit of girth from the phone's normal, svelte 1.73 x 4.07 x 0.37 inch form, but for music junkies, the tradeoff may be worth it. Simultaneously with the phone's release in early April, Sprint will be offering 99 cent over the air (nice!) music downloads good on its entire Music Store catalog, which we reckon is just perfect for a phone of the UpStage's nature. Look for it to hit shelves for $149 on a two-year agreement with a $50 rebate available.

So it won't be called the "Flipper" or the "Ultra Music" -- no, it seems Sprint wanted a name all its own for the very unique m620 musicphone from Samsung. When it launches at CTIA this week, the two-faced handset will get slapped with the name "UpStage," which in our opinion really doesn't convey the craziness of the phone's form factor appropriately -- but does give a nod to its unusually strong audio capabilities. As the Flash presentation points out, the UpStage's key features include touch-sensitive music controls, a 1.3 megapixel cam (which is shared with the phone side's face), stereo Bluetooth, built-in speakers for rockin' out the old-fashioned way, and microSD expansion. We're hoping that everyone is going to be able to waltz into their friendly local Sprint store in the next few days and pick up an UpStage of their own, but either way, expect some serious hands-on action from the floor of CTIA!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]