The cell phone’s name is SYNC, but, ironically, as much as we tried, it’s the one thing it couldn’t do properly.

And now we know why: The Samsung Sync’s release has been officially delayed a day because of a manufacturing defect that made the device unable to sync to and load Windows Media Digital Rights Management-protected (DRM) music, the company has confirmed. The phone was scheduled to be in Cingular stores today, after being promoted last week in conjunction with Cingular’s new music service announcement, Cingular Music.

This means that the phones could not sync via computer with Napster or Yahoo Music services, which were both highlights of the Cingular Music service. The phone we tested also didn’t work with Samsung’s Media Studio software, which came bundled in the phone’s accessory pack along with a pair of earphones and a USB data cable. Cingular said it was not sure why the Samsung software wasn’t working, but said it was possible that the problem was related to the manufacturing defect.

Cingular learned of the DRM defect late last week, spokesman Mark Siegel said. The company is recalling phones it already shipped to stores across the country and will fix them with an over-the-air software update, said Rob Hyatt, Cingular’s executive director for entertainment and music services. Another shipment of the phones was updated in factories over the weekend, he said.

“We quickly had another shipment updated, and we’re priority expediting them out today, and they’ll arrive by tomorrow morning at the latest,” Hyatt said.