Samsung Rant and Highnote Come to Sprint

The Samsung Rant features a full QWERTY keyboard for snappy text entry, while the Highnote has a music-centric control set and highly portable design.

Rounding out its selection of mid-priced handsets, Sprint debuted two new phones catering to text messaging and music on Monday. The Samsung Rant features a full QWERTY keyboard for snappy text entry, while the Samsung Highnote has a music-centric control set and highly portable design.

Much like Sprint’s existing LG Rumor, the Rant features a rounded rectangular profile with an exterior number pad and full length QWERTY board that slides out the side. There’s also a 2.0-megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, and 3G Internet, for a rather impressive price of $50 after a two-year contract agreement and mail-in rebate.

By contrast, the Highnote’s round exterior control pad has been tailored to music, with the number pad sliding out from the bottom. It also sports the new One Click interface, which allows users to customize a list of shortcuts, including to Web sites, that appear with a single click from the phone’s home screen. Rather than the mini 2.5mm stereo jack many phones use for headsets, the Rant gets a more standard 3.5mm jack for compatibility with more headpgones. Like the Rant, the Highnote also picks up a 2.0-megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, and expandability up to 16GB via an integrated microSDHC card slot. It will sell for $100 after contract and rebate.

Both phones are available immediately through both Sprint.com and retail Sprint outlets.