In contrast to hyped-out lead-up to the Verizon/Moto Droid, Sprint’s Samsung Moment kind of slid in and had a fairly quiet debut over the weekend.

This was the phone that the booth babes at CTIA wouldn’t let us hold. They were under strict orders not to lift their paws off the handset, and actually let us bloggers hold it.

I know — At this point, it’s all moot. Everyone can put their hands on it now, as Sprint officially launched the Moment yesterday. The second Android device offered by the carrier, it comes with Android 1.5 and features a 3.2″ AMOLED touchscreen display, QWERTY keyboard slider, 3.2 MP camera, Wifi, GPS, 256MB RAM and an 800MHz processor.

At $179.99 (after $100 mail-in rebate), the Moment matches the current price tag and MIR of Sprint’s first Android phone (the Hero). And it also slightly undercuts that other CDMA carrier’s DROID offering by about $20. Some in the industry think this price will drop, as fans of the open-source OS are starting to experience an embarrassment of riches (not to mention upcoming flavors of 1 GHz Snapdragon phones).

So the question is, are you biting? And if so, are you nabbing it now or waiting for a price drop? Those interested may disclose their strategies below.

For more on the Samsung Moment, click here.