Sprint’s Upstage Turns Up Red

Sprint plans to offer a red version of Samsung's dual-sided Upstage music phone beginning June 18.

U.S. mobile operator Sprint has announced it plans to beginning offering a red version of Samsung’s dual-sided Upstage music phone beginning June 18.

"Within its first few weeks of availability, UpStage became Sprint’s best-selling music phone and our leading Power Vision device," said Oliver Valente, Sprint’s senior VP for product management and development, in a statement. "Our customers appreciate that UpStage makes the mobile music experience fully wireless without the need for cables or wires to download songs or listen to music on your phone."

Introduced last March, the upstage looks like a traditional candy bar phone on one side; flip it over, and the phone offers a dedicated music player. The phone also sports a 1.3 megapixel video-capable camera, microSD storage, USB and Bluetooth wireless connectivity, and a total weight of just 2.57 ounces. Users can sideload music onto the phone using the Sprint Music Manager application (Windows only), and users can also buy music over-the-air from the Sprint Music Store, downloading full-lengths songs for 99 cents.

The red edition of the Upstage phone will be availabel beginning June 18 for $99 with a two-year service agreement at a $50 service credit. The black version of the Upstage will still be available, along with accessories like an extended battery wallet, which increases music listening time to 16 hours and talk time to 6.3 hours.