Verizon’s latest Samsung phone, the Stratosphere, has an interesting surprise hiding underneath its battery cover. As far as we can tell, it’s the very first Verizon LTE phone to use the teensy Micro-SIM standard. The Micro-SIM will be Verizon’s standard phone identifier going forward – you can see a Micro-SIM slot on the DROID RAZR in our hands-on coverage.
This isn’t the first device to use the tiny SIM card on Verizon – that honor goes to the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. The iPhone 4S also gets a Micro-SIM card that’s technically unlockable, although with Verizon’s unique CDMA bands, there’s nowhere to take it once you do. But the Stratosphere has the first Micro-SIM that uses Verizon’s ever-growing 4G LTE network, and if current trends are any indication, it will be the first of many.
The Stratosphere is Samsung’s latest QWERTY slider phone, a distant cousin of their original Galaxy line sporting Android Gingerbread. The overall design is a lot like the Epic 4G, including its Super AMOLED screen and 800 x 480 resolution. At $150 on-contract it’s a pretty good deal if you want a full QWERTY phone, instead of the thin slate form factor that seems to be all the rage. We’ll have some hands-on coverage of the Stratosphere soon.
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I got the device on the release date. I love it. I especially enjoy the 4G LTE. The only problem I have had is that it loses the mobile data connection for no apparent reason, that is a tradeoff I’m willing to deal with. I truly feel that this will be the first phone that I could see keeping for at least the duration the contract. Overall: Completely satisfied
i have had the same radio issue. i really do hope that issue gets resovled
The radio loses connectivity all the time while browsing the web.
SOME PLEASE HELP ME I BOUGHT A SAMSUNG STRATOSPHERE AND I ACCIDENTLY BROKE THE SIM AND BOUGHT A NEW ONE FROM EBAY SO I INSERT IT TO THE PHONE AND IN THE WIZARD SET UP TAKES A LIFETIME TO LOAD AND IT SAYS THERE HAS BEEN A PROBLEM ACTIVATING YOUR PHONE AND I DONT HAVE VERIZON SERVICE I JUST WANT TO HAVE THE PHONE AS A EXTRA ONE HELP PLEASE….
you can just click on ermergancy call in the wizard set up and type *#testmode witch would be *#83786633