Samsung Stratosphere Officially Announced

Posted on Android, Samsung | October 13, 2011 by compunet

This week, Samsung announced more details about a sleek and sophisticated new smartphone that will be carried on Verizon’s 4G LTE network. The Stratosphere is made to target a professional crowd; the phone is the first from Verizon to carry a full QWERTY keyboard as well as 4G capabilities, making it a powerful, high end replacement for workers that still use BlackBerries but want to transition to Android. Coming at a time when the business world has no clear smartphone of choice, and in an era where the rise of enterprise cloud computing means that more professionals can do – and will seek to do – work on their phones, Samsung’s positioning for the Stratosphere seems appropriate.

The phone will run Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and carry a 4 inch Super AMOLED display, all on a 1 GHz Humingbird processor. It will also have two cameras – a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera and a 5 megapixel rear one – and the ability to locate hot spots for eight Wi-Fi devices. In conjunction with its business appeal, the Stratosphere will support Microsoft Exchange Active Sync, encryption services, and VPN.

The Stratosphere’s specs don’t match up with some of the hottest new phones on the market, which has led some early reviewers to give it more mixed ratings. Some of its features are a year behind the times, and it is easy for the phone to get lost amidst a gaggle of new products. But most reviews do agree that the Stratosphere offers fast internet browsing, excellent message capabilities, and a more affordable price.

In other words, it should appeal more to the business crowd than to the tech junkie. The business crowd will like the phone’s fast connection speeds as well as its keyboard, which provides for easy email writing on the go. For this reason, and due to having a price lower than most of its 4G competition, the Stratosphere remains an interesting product to watch as its launch date nears.

Tagged with : Android 2.3 Gingerbread, Samsung Stratosphere