Handsets

QWERTY-enabled Verizon Samsung Galaxy Stratosphere 2 now available

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In a time filled with Galaxy Note 2s, Galaxy S3s, and Galaxy Tabs galore it may be hard to accept phones lower on Samsung’s totem pole, let alone the entirety of Verizon’s shelves. The Samsung Galaxy Stratosphere 2 seems to have found itself some space, though, as Verizon quietly launched the device in stores and online.

Verizon’s asking for $130 after a new two-year contract, and for that you’re getting a phone that actually does well for itself. It features a 4 inch WVGA Super AMOLED dispaly with a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage, a 5 megapixel camera with a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera, a physical slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 4G LTE, Ice Cream Sandwich and more.

It’s not a bad phone, it’s just that it’s not Verizon’s best phone. If you were to put the this up against the Galaxy S3 for the same price people would probably choose latter, but its price point will help consumers get over the fact that they’re not getting Samsung’s absolute best.

Another reason this phone might capture sales is because it’s one of the few decent phones that have come out with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Those come in rare form these days, and it’s even rarer to see this form factor with such great specs.

And perhaps folks haven’t grown fond of that 4.7 inch size that has swept the smartphone landscape as of late. Whatever the reason, though, we would have no qualms if we were to ask you to pull out a respectable smartphone and this is what came out of your pocket. Head to Verizon Wireless if you’re thinking about adding this beaut to your life.

 

Quentyn Kennemer
The "Google Phone" sounded too awesome to pass up, so I bought a G1. The rest is history. And yes, I know my name isn't Wilson.

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5 Comments

  1. Not bad, but should probably be $50. I’m sure it will be soon.

  2. I’m kinda disappointed this is a brand new smartphone on the market, and it doesn’t support microsd-xc memory cards up to 64GB’s.
    And,…I wonder what the likelihood is that it’ll be upgraded to 4.2???

  3. Might not get 4.2 for a while. The original stratosphere is stuck on 2.3 but it did get an upgrade pack with some added features. Not bad for what was basically a galaxy s 1 with a keyboard.

  4. Does the Stratosphere II have the same S Voice features as the S3? Like to take a picture just say “Cheese” or with the alarm clock just say “Galaxy snooze”?

  5. $0.01 from amazon wireless.

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