Samsung Galaxy Stellar Review

Introduction:

Recently, Samsung has been receiving praise for its high-end Galaxy S III smartphone, though it will cost you a few hundred bucks to buy one, even with a 2-year contract. But let’s face it, not everyone can afford it. Verizon hopes to appease those customers with the new Samsung Galaxy Stellar – and the main thing that is “stellar” is its price: FREE with contract. We recently looked at another budget smartphone from Verizon, the Pantech Marauder, but we weren’t that pleased with it. Let’s see is the Samsung Galaxy Stellar can do better.

Included in the retail package is the Samsung Galaxy Stellar SCH-I200 smartphone, 2100 mAh battery, wall charger with detachable microUSB cable, and user guides.

Design:

There isn’t anything inspiring about the overall design and appearance of the Samsung Galaxy Stellar, as it features a basic all-black plastic form and finish. Be that as it may, the device is comfortable to hold, since it is only 4.80” in height, but does feel a bit chubby at 0.47” thick.



You can compare the Samsung Galaxy Stellar with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

Above the display is a 1.3MP camera, and below it are four touch sensitive buttons for back, home, recent apps, and menu. Along the left side is the volume rocker and microSD port, while up on top is the 3.5mm headset jack. On the rear is a 3.2MP autofocus camera and external speaker.



Display:

Most Samsung smartphones we’ve seen recently have been incorporating an AMOLED display in some fashion, but the Galaxy Stellar is using a standard 4.0” 480x800 pixel TFT display. The size of the display isn’t bad, and is actually 0.2” larger than the display on the Pantech Marauder. Text and images both look adequate on the Galaxy Stellar’s display, but our real disappointment was that it is not bright enough to view in sunny conditions and has poor viewing angles.