In terms of hype, nothing beats an actual launch date for a new flagship phone.   Pre-order dates come close, but what happens until then?  What are we fanboys and fangirls to do until we have something to sign up for?  A recent trend is putting up countdown timers for pre-sales and orders and that's exactly what happened today with the Motorola Cliq.

You can now register for updates and information as it pertains to the Cliq on a T-Mobile minisite dedicated to the handset.    Doing some basic Calendar 101, we find out that October 19th is the official day to pre-order your next Android phone.

While you wait for the countdown to reach zero, visitors can play with a demo of the MOTOBLUR interface as well as chat with other fans in the forums.  By the way, if you register for the updates, you are entered into a drawing for a "grand prize vacation" courtesy of T-Mobile!

Motorola CLIQ with MOTOBLUR will be available exclusively to T-Mobile customers in both Titanium and Winter White beginning Oct. 19 at http://www.T-Mobile.com/CLIQ or by calling customer care. CLIQ will be available in stores nationwide and online beginning Nov. 2 for $199.99 to eligible customers with a two-year agreement. - PRESS RELEASE

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!  BTW - If you are a current T-Mobile customer, chances are you already heard about this via those free messages they send out.