Adriana is live at the Samsung/T-Mobile joint press conference in New York City. She just texted me to say that the phone has officially been announced as available November 18 for $229 on contract. This contradicts widespread reports of a $199 price point that hit the Web earlier this week.

So I texted her back saying, "Whoa, $229? Are you sure?" She hasn't replied. Probably because she doesn't have time to type out, "Yes, Noah, I'm sure. I know how to read a press release. Duh."

$229 seems like an awful high price tag in the age of the $99 Droid Eris and $199 iPhone 3GS and Moto Droid.

More soon, including some hands-on impressions (we hope!) from AL in NYC.

Updated: Adriana's first thoughts on the device:

"It's much less plasticky in person than it looked in the photos."

"The screen is really pretty and the phone is very thin. It feels really pretty good in the hand."

"I'm kind of worried about this phone, though, because the whole Cube UI thing feels very gimmicky. For a moment, at first, it's kind of neat, but then it's like, 'I could see this getting really annoying really quickly.'"