Upstart wireless carrier Helio went with a proven name for its third phone today, tapping Samsung to build a slider called the "Drift."

According to Helio's press release, the Drift takes several steps forward compared to Helio's earlier phones, the Kickflip and Hero—most notably by including stereo Bluetooth for wireless headsets and music playback. The Drift also has GPS capability to support new social-networking services that Helio plans to release.

The first of those services, Buddy Beacon, lets Helio members see the location of up to 25 of their Drift-owning friends overlaid onto a very Google Maps-looking map, with their friends' permission. You can send out mass SMS messages to tell your friends to turn on their transponders, and if you notice a friend is nearby, you can place a call directly from the Buddy Beacon screen.

The Buddy Beacon map looks very Google because it probably is a Google Map. The Drift comes with a GPS-enabled version of Google Maps for mobile, which pulls up current location along with real-time traffic reports, driving directions overlaid on the map, and local search results.

Helio has been sending some mixed messages with the Hybrid service. Read about it here.

Otherwise, the Drift seems similar in many ways to the existing Helio Hero. It has a 2.12-inch 320-by-240 screen, 128MB of internal memory, a MicroSD card slot that supports up to 2GB cards, a 2MP camera and EV-DO high-speed data on the network that Helio rents from Sprint.

"Helio is hitting its stride as the new premium mobile service custom-built for young, connected people that want a fully loaded wireless experience," Helio spokesman Justin Ried wrote in an e-mail to PC Magazine.

The phone will cost $225 and come in black and white. We'll have a review within the next few weeks.