Shortly afterward, the Samsung Stratosphere sneaked up and snatched the spotlight away from Pantech, offering the very first QWERTY keyboard on an LTE-capable device for a cost similar to that of the Breakout.
But when we first saw the phone, something felt eerily familiar: it looked almost exactly like the Epic 4G, a Galaxy S-era device that was released on Sprint's WiMAX lineup nearly a year and a half ago. Looks are one thing, but what about the internals? Does the brand new Samsung Stratosphere perform like an old phone, or does it give a completely fresh perspective on a 2010 classic? Read on for the full scoop.
Samsung Stratosphere Specifications :
Hardware :
The Epic 4G got a lot of praise when it first came out... in August 2010. Almost a year and a half later, it's still a decent phone, especially now that it's finally been updated to Android 2.3. Still, its chassis isn't exactly what we'd expect to see in Verizon's premier LTE lineup in late 2011.
And yet, here comes the Samsung Stratosphere, a phone with eerily similar guts and looks to Sprint's version of the Galaxy S (with the obvious exception of high-speed radios, of course). The Stratosphere uses the same display, 1GHz single-core Hummingbird Cortex A8 CPU with 512MB of RAM and five megapixel rear camera with LED flash and front-facing cam.
Software
Accompanying Android 2.3.5 is Samsung's signature TouchWiz UI, though Sammy doesn't come right out and mention a specific version number; in reality, it looks incredibly similar to 3.0 (it even offers the same puzzle-piece home screen found on 3.0 devices) but offers a couple notable changes.
The Stratosphere offers only five main panels on the home screen instead of seven, but also improves the app tray experience by adding in the same ability to add folders as we've seen on the Galaxy S II series and TouchWiz 4.0. If you're wondering why this is such a big deal, consider the explosive amount of uninstallable bloatware Verizon tacks onto its phones; without the option to tuck them away into folders, your menu is forever littered with apps you'll most likely never use.
Samsung Stratosphere Full Specifications :
- 4G LTE capability
- Five-row QWERTY keyboard
- 4-inch Samsung Super AMOLED display
- Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
- 1GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird processor
- 1.3-megapixel (front) camera
- 5-megapixel (rear) camera
- Mobile hotspot capability
- AllShare
- Samsung Media Hub
- Bluetooth 3.0
- DivX and XviD support
- Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n
- Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync
- Support for Cisco AnyConnect 2.1 SSL VPN
- Encryption Services
- Support for Sybase Afaria
