Great phone for the money, November 3, 2011

Pros:
Fantastic Screen
Good camera
Good build quality
4G
Really nice keyboard
Android 2.3

Cons:
A bit on the chunky side
Battery life could be better
No 1080P video recording

Summary:
My wife and I recently ditched our OG Droids. She got a Droid Charge, and I got the Stratosphere.

As far as:
Speed, mine is as fast as hers.

Software, mine has the advantage of Android 2.3.

Screen, you can’t tell a difference in image quality, but her screen is a little bigger (although hers is almost too big to manage with one hand).

I’m really liking this phone so far. They keyboard is really nice (much nicer than on my Droid). Build quality is very good (although a little more plasticy than my Droid).

The camera actually is pretty good. You’re not going to get DSLR pictures out of it, but it’s very servicable.

The battery on the Stratosphere is bigger than on the Charge, but it doesn’t seem to last much longer. Still long enough to get through a work day with pretty heavy use (I stream podcasts and books to my bluetooth headset all day). I sure miss the pre-smartphone days of recharging twice a week though. I ordered the extended battery to stretch this out a little more.

I haven’t hit any performance snags yet, everything seems to be pretty buttery smooth.

I would highly recommend the Stratosphere to anyone wanting to upgrade to a new keyboard-packing smartphone.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 

Was this review helpful to you? 

|

 Comments (2)

]]> https://lap-tops.net/samsung-stratosphere-4g-android-phone-verizon-wireless/smart-phones/#comment-468 Kfu Mike "Kfu" Mon, 09 Jul 2012 12:48:52 +0000 http://lap-tops.net/samsung-stratosphere-4g-android-phone-verizon-wireless/smart-phones/#comment-468

Can’t beat FREE!!, November 16, 2011

Customer Video Review Length:: 0:30 Mins

So, it’s not actually free as I needed to sign up for 2 more years of Verizon. But who cares, I needed to sign up with someone anyway…

I’ll just hit on a few pros/cons.

Pros
-MUSIC – I downloaded the Power Amp app and the resultant audio quality on this thing is amazing. I can safely pull the card out of my Sansa Fuze and drop it in the Stratosphere. I won’t miss the Fuze (which had unbelievably good sound) a bit. This is the main reason I went with this phone. I no longer need to carry both a phone and MP3 player to the gym – don’t cry Sansa; you served me well
-Video playback is excellent as well.
-The screen is beautiful.
-The phone/dialer GUI is beautiful as well – so good in fact that Apple is suing Samsung because the Samsung overlay (over the Android OS) looks a little ‘too’ good (a copy of Apple’s)
-4G – LTE, this is noticeably faster for downloads than my wife’s 3G Motorola Droid X 2.
Although the phone itself, running apps, etc. isn’t faster (or if it is, I can’t tell the difference)
- Android OS; highly customizable. Layout the screens exactly the way you want.
- Apps galore; seriously, what App (actual useful app that is) can you get for an iPhone that you can’t get for an Android now?
-Room for 36GB total (4 internal, 32 on micro SD) – getting a smartphone without a Micro SD card slot is like getting an SUV without a luggage rack.

Cons
-ergonomics. This phone is difficult to handle when trying slide out the hard-key keyboard. Also, the keys themselves are difficult to press. I don’t have large fingers, but I can’t press individual keys without using my thumb nails. It’s not a big deal – it will just take getting used to it.
However, once the keyboard is open, it has very good balance in your hands
- NO external notification LED when a message or voicemail has been left. This seems like a no-brainer add on.
- can’t tell what it’s doing when plugged in. It would be nice if it would at least show the battery status when in that semi-standby mode when charging

If you’re not concerned about the cons; consider this a 5 star phone

****UPDATE 12-1-11 ****
I downloaded the NoLED app and it now shows a small colored square on the screen (when off) to notify me of a new voice mail or email! (thank you Jan for the tip!) I therefore would give this phone 4 1/2 stars and the keyboard ergonomics are still a little questionable, although now after having it for a couple weeks, I can hunt-and-peck type pretty fast.

****Updated 12-6-11****
I bought the Empire hard case and it greatly improves the handling of the phone when opening the hard keyboard. This phone is about perfect for me now.

****Updated 01-29-12*****
I added a video taken with the camera – WARNING the wind hitting the microphone was really loud.
I really love this phone. I haven’t had ANY problems with it in the month and a half I’ve had it.
I use it a lot.

****Updated 3-10-12*****
Just wanted to add a couple words about the Bluetooth. I’ve been pairing the phone with a small Alcatel Bluetooth receiver when I go to the gym (the receiver has an 1/8th inch stereo receptacle). That way, the phone can stay safely in a gym bag or on the book shelf of a cardio machine without the threat of an accidental pull on a headphone cord resulting in the phone flying through the air. The Alcatel pairs very nicely with the phone ; I’ve never had to “re-pair” the connection after it connects the first time. The range is about 25-30 feet. I think both are Bluetooth 3.0 or higher, so the audio bit rate transferred is very high resulting in very good sound quality.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 

Was this review helpful to you? 

|

 Comments (4)

]]>