If you’re in love with Verizon’s 4G LTE smartphone, released early 2011, consider cheating on it with the Samsung Stratosphere – not only is she faster, but she’s equipped with a slide-out, full QWERTY keyboard that provides amazing tactile feedback, and is decked out with a 4-inch 800 X 480 Super AMOLED screen offering images across a lush, spectrum of hues and a 5-megapixel camera. She’s swanky, too, with smooth, curvaceous edges, dark silver sides and a gray textured back.
How fast is she? The Stratosphere has a download rate of about 15.4 Mbps and an upload rate of about 6.2 Mbps, making her speedier than the HTC Thunderbolt and the Droid Bionic. (The phone’s 1GHz Samsung Hummingbird Processor is the primary force behind the speed). If you feel like showing off your new toy, go ahead with Verizon’s hotspot service, which enable users to share the Stratosphere’s supergirl-speed with up to 8 other tech gadgets via Wi-Fi. The hotspot service also makes it possible for users to connect to a notebook via direct USB (but caveat connectors: the tethering process has been reported by users as being a bit difficult to set up, as the phone seems to be glitching in this area).
The phone-call quality of the Stratosphere is being touted as exceptional and one of its paramount features – however it’s one that users may have to sacrifice a great battery life for. LTE phones are somewhat infamous for having a short battery life, and the Stratosphere is no exception as it delivers a typical talk time of only about 4 hours. While the camera is nothing to write home about either, you’ll still be able to capture bright and colorful standard-def 480p video of your vacation – it just won’t be very high-res.
For the keyboard, outstanding phone-call audio, a gorgeous body and display – not to mention a very reasonable price, the Samsung Stratosphere is a more-than-decent choice amongst the latest 4G smartphones of today.
