Samsung Galaxy Stratosphere II Review

Introduction:

In a world where large-screen smartphones dominate the scene, it’s nice to see there is still a selection of moderately sized devices that feature a physical QWERTY keyboard. As one would have it, the new Samsung Galaxy Stratosphere II takes the reins from the original Samsung Stratosphere, which came out near the end of 2011. Though the Galaxy Stratosphere II has a few other devices to compete with, namely the Pantech Marauder and Motorola DROID 4, it still manages to fit nicely in the group while offering a good selection of features.

Included in the retail package is the Samsung Galaxy Stratosphere II i415 smartphone, 1800mAh battery, wall charger with microUSB cable, and user guides.

Design:

It is clear that the overall design and appearance of the Samsung Galaxy Stratosphere II draws on elements of other Galaxy models; with smooth curved edges, sleek lines, and a glossy plastic exterior. This combined with only weighing 5.43oz, allows the Galaxy Stratosphere II to be held quite comfortably for periods of time. Though we do wish the battery cover was textured like on the original Stratosphere for a secure grip, as the one on the Galaxy Stratosphere II can feel slippery.



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

Below the display are four touch sensitive buttons for back, home, recent apps, and menu, while above the display is a 1.3MP front-facing camera. Along the left side is the volume rocker, which has a nice feel to it, yet the power/lock key on the right side is a bit small and recessed into the surrounding plastic. Up on top is a 3.5mm headset jack, while the microUSB port is on the bottom. Around back you’ll find the 5MP autofocus camera with LED flash, and removing the battery cover will allow access to the microSD memory card slot.


Display:

Even though the body of the Samsung Galaxy Stratosphere II has been updated from the original model, it appears to be using a similar display, as the specifications have not changed. It remains a 4” Super AMOLED screen with WVGA 480x800 pixel resolution, which allows for saturated colors, good contrast, and deep black levels. While this is good for the most part, it still suffers from some pixelation and jagged edges when viewing small text. It would have been nice if a higher resolution Super AMOLED screen was used instead, such as qHD, as that would pretty much solve the pixelation issue.


QWERTY Keyboard:

When opening the keyboard on the Galaxy Stratosphere II, you can still feel (and hear) it stick and catch on the keyboard’s buttons, something that was present on the original Stratosphere. Though once opened, you are presented with a nice 5-row keyboard layout with dedicated number keys across the top. In fact, the only difference between the keyboard on the Galaxy Stratosphere II and first Stratosphere is the removal of the menu, home, search, and back function keys on the sides, but in doing so it allows for a slightly larger keyboard. We had no issues typing on the keyboard with the Galaxy Stratosphere II, as the buttons are a nice size and have some space between them, though the keyboard on the Motorola DROID 4 remains a bit larger and with a more premium look and feel to it.







User Interface:

Even though the Samsung Galaxy Stratosphere II a mid-range device, it would have been nice if it came with Android Jelly Bean. Instead we are presented with Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, though it does feature the updated Samsung TouchWiz Nature UX interface layer that is found on other models, such as the Galaxy S III, which you can read more about here. This is a nice improvement over the older TouchWiz interface used by the original Stratosphere, as the Galaxy Stratosphere II is more fluid in moving between the homescreens and app drawer, not to mention you can now have 7 homescreens instead of just 5. Naturally, there is also a nice selection of desktop Widgets to choose from.


Everything else pretty much standard for a Galaxy model, such as the phonebook and contacts, E-Mail and messaging, organizer and calendar, as well as Samsung’s S Voice, S Beam, and AllShare features. Other apps included are Amazon shopping and Kindle, Amazon MP3, Audible, Color for Facebook, IMDb, Let’s Golf 3, NFL Mobile, Plants vs Zombies, QuickOffice, Slacker Radio, VZ Navigator, and Zappos.



Processor and Memory:

The Samsung Galaxy Stratosphere II features a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon S4 processor along side with 1GB of RAM, which is the same as on the Pantech Marauder.

	Quadrant Standard	AnTuTu	NenaMark 2
Samsung Galaxy Stratosphere II	4128	9700	60,2
Samsung Stratosphere	1231	3652	24,2
Motorola DROID 4	2552	8119	37,2
Samsung Galaxy S III	5335	12016	58,6

As you can see from the above test, the Samsung Galaxy Stratosphere II with its dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor not only crushes the original single-core Stratosphere, but also vanquishes the Motorola DROID 4 with its dual-core TI OMAP 4430 processor. Even though it’s not as fast as the quad-core Galaxy S III when it comes to benchmarks, the Galaxy Stratosphere II still feels quite fast and zippy when running apps and multitasking.

The Galaxy Stratosphere II also comes with 8GB of internal memory, of which 4.2GB is available to the user. This is nice improvement over the original Stratosphere, which only came with 4GB of internal memory, and left only 1.9GB available to the user. You also have the option of using microSD memory cards up to 32GB in size.

Internet and Connectivity:

It should come as no surprise that the Samsung Galaxy Stratosphere II can make use of Verizon’s 4G LTE data network. Though using the 4” display can feel cramped at times, especially when viewing large web sites, they are still properly rendered and easy to navigate.


When firing up the SpeedTest.net app, we were able to get download speeds of 7 Mbps and uploads of 3 Mbps. Even though these are not jaw-dropping speeds, they are still good enough for the device to quickly load web pages and download apps. Also supported is Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4GHz, 5Ghz). What did surprise us is that the Galaxy Stratosphere II supports Global Roaming, which means it can be used outside the US with GSM (850/900/1800/1900MHz) and HSPA/UMTS (2100MHz) networks.

Camera:

There has been very little change in regards to the camera and its features on the Galaxy Stratosphere II, as it still allows for numerous settings and adjustments, such as image resolution, ISO, metering, scene modes, and effects.


When using the 5MP autofocus camera outside during the day, images produced nice details with good color, though bright areas did tend to be overexposed. Inside images weren’t spectacular, as there was plenty of grain visible as light-levels decreased, but the LED Flash does a modest job of illuminating dark environments.


Thankfully, this time around videos can be recorded at 1280x720 resolution at 30 frames-per-second. With the higher resolution and smooth framte-rate, videos captured with the Galaxy Stratosphere II look better and more detailed than the 720x480 videos recorded by the original Stratosphere, as well as the 1280x720 videos recorded by the Pantech Marauder.

Samsung Galaxy Stratosphere II Sample Video:



Multimedia:

The included music player on the Samsung Galaxy Stratosphere II is pretty much a duplicate of the one on the Galaxy S III, which is a good thing. It is easy to navigate with multiple tabs on the top for playlists, albums, artists, music square, folders, and nearby devices. When the music player is used in the background, you can still access it by pulling down the notification bar. Music playback though the rear speaker was quite good and loud; pretty much identical to what we experienced with the first Stratosphere. The extra equalization settings are also a nice touch.


Ditching the stock Android 3D gallery, this time around the Galaxy Stratosphere II uses the Samsung Gallery for displaying your images and videos, just like on other Galaxy phones. Even though watching a full-length movie can be daunting on a 4” screen, the Super AMOLED display has bright and fully saturated colors to help make up for its small size. We had no problems playing back a wide variety of formats, including MP4 H.264/263, DivX and XviD up to 720p resolution.



Call Quality:

Unfortunately, one area that did not impress us on the Samsung Galaxy Stratosphere II was the call quality on our end, as there was noticeable “buzzing/rattling” from the earpiece speaker; even when the call volume was turned down to medium. But this could have been a defective speaker on our unit. However, people that we called while using the Galaxy Stratosphere II said we sounded clear on their end.

Battery:

The included 1800mAh battery is rated at 15 hours of usage time, or 6 days of standby time. In our testing, we were able to get 8 hours of continuous talk time or a full charge, or about 2 days with mixed usage (which includes some talk, email, internet, app usage and standby).

Conclusion:

Overall, we’re content with the Samsung Galaxy Stratosphere II. Not only is it more fashionable than the original model, but is quite faster with the dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon S4 processor. The full QWERTY keyboard is one of its main features, and we like how it is laid out and is easy to use for those of you that do a lot of typing. We do wish that the 4” screen was a little larger and higher resolution, but it still does a good job for a mid-range device. As it stands, the Samsung Galaxy Stratosphere II is currently priced by Verizon at $129 with a 2-year contract, while the Pantech Marauder is free, and the Motorola DROID 4 is $99. Between them, the Galaxy Stratosphere II and DROID 4 are the better choices, but the edge does go to the Samsung since it’s using a faster processor along with a Super AMOLED display.

Software version on the tested device:
Android 4.0.4
Kernel version 3.0.8-1157001
Build number IMM76D.I415VRALJ2