Occasionally, a new wireless phone surprises me with its feature set, size and ease of use. The Motorola Debut i856 is one of those phones.

The folks at Motorola loaned me one to try out on some recent travels. And they’re also supplying a new Debut to give away to a lucky Practical Travel Gear reader.

First, a few impressions of the phone. The Debut is Motorola’s first slider phone with Nextel Direct Connect push-to-talk on Sprint’s iDEN network. With a slide-out keypad, it can be used like any other wireless phone. In push-to-talk mode, you can chat with up to 20 friends at once. It can also be used for short-range conversations outside of network areas—just like a walkie-talkie.

The Debut boasts a well-rounded set of features, including a camera for still pictures and video, music player, web browser, calendar, e-mail, text and multimedia messaging, voice dialing, Bluetooth and GPS.

This is the kind of phone I wrote about earlier that is blurring the line between barebones phones and smartphones. Business users might demand more, like a hardware keyboard and larger screen and support for Exchange e-mail, calendar and contact synchronization. But not everyone needs that.

Another nice feature on the Debut is a slot for an optional memory card. If you want to carry lots of tunes, an 8 gb card will hold around 10 hours of music. The phone has built-in dual speakers and a standard 3.5 millimeter audio jack.

The phone is lightweight and fit well in my hand. It’s intuitive, so  you won’t spend much time thumbing through the instruction manual.

Even though the screen (it’s not a touchscreen) is small, the Myriad web browser performs well. It’s handy for getting the latest weather and news. And some mobile websites,such as USA Today and the New York Times,also include pictures with their stories.

Prolonged web and GPS use will cause substantial battery drain. But that’s a trade-off of having a smaller-sized phone. If I’m in the car, I’ll usually plug my phone into a charger for more than a few minutes of Internet or GPS use. And I carry a spare battery, too.

The 1.3 megapixel camera produced respectable still images and video. Also, profiles allow different call settings for different activities, such as when you’re at work, out jogging or in a meeting. For example, a profile can be set to receive all calls or only calls from those on your contact list.

The Motorola Debut i856 is currently sold by Sprint for $99.99, with contract, after instant savings and rebate. The phone offers a solid set of features for the price.

But one lucky Practical Travel Gear reader will get a new Debut phone free, courtesy of Motorola. Sprint service is not  included.

To enter, post a comment about what you could do with the phone or what features you like the best. One entry per person and you must have a U.S. mailing address. We’ll pick a winner at random.

The deadline to enter is December 13, 2009, at 11:59 p.m. CST. Be sure to include your e-mail address in your post.

Good luck!

Update: Congratulations to Holly B (Comment #64), winner of the Motorola Debut phone!  And thanks to all who checked out the phone and left comments.