Verizon Samsung Stratosphere Review

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Our friends over at Samsung have sent us the Verizon Samsung Stratosphere for us to review. It is a Verizon 4G LTE Device that has both a touch screen and a full QWERTY keyboard. Ah but, does it live up the other 4G LTE Devices on the market is the question. Now, let’s get started with the full review of the Verizon Samsung Stratosphere!

 

Design And Hardware

The Samsung Stratosphere is the only Verizon 4G LTE Device to have a physical QWERTY keyboard. The device is not the thinnest 4G LTE Device, it does have some thickness to it. This is due to it’s QWERTY keyboard, that slides out from under the screen. It is built well, and it has a plastic back cover. The keyboard slides out from the left side of the device. The volume rocker is located on the left side as well. Power/sleep button can be found on the right hand side. The top of the stratosphere is home to the headphone jack. Your micro USB port is found on the bottom of the device. Above the screen is the Verizon logo, earpiece, and 1.3 mega-pixel front facing camera. Under the screen is the Samsung logo and the 4 Android buttons; menu, home, back, and search buttons. On the back you have the 5 mega-pixel back camera with LED flash, a speaker, and Verizon, 4G LTE, and Samsung branding. If you take the plastic back cover off, you will find the Verizon 4G LTE SIM Card, micro SD card, and the Samsung battery. The QWERTY Keyboard does come in handy but, if you don’t need the physical keyboard you can find a better 4G LTE phone from Verizon. The sliding mechanism for it does require some force but, it does work well. Now the Samsung Stratosphere has a great 4 inch Super AMOLED Display with a resolution of 800 X 480! The screen is great and makes the phone much better. Samsung is known for making great screens. For speed it has Verizon’s 4G LTE Network and a 1GHz dual-core processor. Samsung put the 1GHz Dual-Core processor in here so you can “Hyper-Task“. It does speed up the phone quite a bit. The main issue with the Samsung Stratosphere would be the battery life. If you’re using it throughout the day it will not last the entire day. If you do get one be sure to keep a charger with you. Overall, the Samsung Stratosphere has some pretty good features

 

Operating System

The Samsung Stratosphere is running Android 2.3 Gingerbread with Samsun Touch Wiz. Samsung has not said anything about this device getting upgraded to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. I have a feeling that it will not, since it is not one of there top of the line smartphones. I am personally a very big fan of Samsung Touch Wiz and it does it’s job here on the Stratosphere. It makes the phone much easier to use and adds some new features. The pre-loaded unlock screen is the placing the last puzzle piece. It is one of Samsung’s classic unlock screens. You also have the date/time and weather widget pre-loaded, they are very handy. In terms of pre-loaded apps, there are plenty of them on the Samsung Stratosphere. Some of them are All Share, Amazon Kindle, Blockbuster, City ID, Desk cradle, Gallery, Music Plus, Google App Suite, Guided Tours, IM, Let’s Golf 2, Media Hub, Memo, Mobile Hotspot, My Files, My Verizon Mobile, NFL Mobile, NFS Shift, Quick Office, Setup Wizard, Slacker Radio, Task Manager, VCast Suite Of Apps, Video Player, VZNavigator, and many more! Some of them will come in handy, others you may never use. The operating system runs well on the device, at times it may run a little slow. Most people will be able to deal with its slowness at times. Overall, Samsung Touch Wiz and Android 2.3 Gingerbread add some great fears to the Stratosphere.

 

Bottom Line

The Samsung Stratosphere is a good phone. It’s main feature is the slide-out QWERTY keyboard. If you want a Verizon 4G LTE phone and a physical keyboard, then go for the Samsung Stratosphere. If not there are better devices that they offer. The main issue with the Stratosphere is the battery life, it is not the best and it needs to be improved. The camera is decent but, any other 4G LTE phone can top it. So, if you want a QWERTY keyboard on your Verizon 4G LTE phone go for the Stratosphere. If not there are better 4G LTE phones on the market. The Verizon Samsung Stratosphere retails for $99.99 with a 2-year contract or $409.99 without a 2-year contract. You Can Get Your Verizon Samsung Stratosphere, By Clicking Here.


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