Samsung Stratosphere review

Once upon a time, in the not-so-distant past, Verizon was still in phase one of its LTE lineup, which consisted of nothing but 4.3-inch slate phones with questionable battery life and very little to stand out from the rest of the competition. Now that we're seeing the second generation of devices coming into the 4G fold, Big Red appears to be pushing choice -- not just in terms of size and feel, but price as well. The Pantech Breakout was the first to, well, break out of the mold, offering a smaller form factor for a much more reasonable cost. It was nothing to write home about, but the fact that it existed gave us hope that we'd see a slew of phones in the same price range, finally making high-speed connectivity a more affordable option.

Shortly afterward, the Samsung Stratosphere sneaked up and snatched the spotlight away from Pantech, offering the very first QWERTY keyboard on an LTE-capable device for a cost similar to that of the Breakout. But when we first saw the phone, something felt eerily familiar: it looked almost exactly like the Epic 4G, a Galaxy S-era device that was released on Sprint's WiMAX lineup nearly a year and a half ago. Looks are one thing, but what about the internals? Does the brand new Stratosphere perform like an old phone, or does it give a completely fresh perspective on a 2010 classic? Read on for the full scoop.

Samsung Stratosphere overview

Hardware

The Epic 4G got a lot of praise when it first came out... in August 2010. Almost a year and a half later, it's still a decent phone, especially now that it's finally been updated to Android 2.3. Still, its chassis isn't exactly what we'd expect to see in Verizon's premier LTE lineup in late 2011. And yet, here comes the Samsung Stratosphere, a phone with eerily similar guts and looks to Sprint's version of the Galaxy S (with the obvious exception of high-speed radios, of course). The Stratosphere uses the same display, 1GHz single-core Hummingbird Cortex A8 CPU with 512MB of RAM and five megapixel rear camera with LED flash and front-facing cam.

At 4.96 x 2.54 x 0.55 inches (126 x 65 x 14mm) and 5.8 ounces (164.4g), it's a tad longer, a hair thinner and about 0.3 ounces heavier than the Epic 4G. The in-hand experience is almost exactly the same, as the extra heft doesn't make a substantial difference. All in all, we're not looking at identical twins here, but it's easy to see the family resemblance. Verizon and Samsung have made a few tweaks to the keyboard and buttons, and it feels more solid and durable than the Epic -- we're not sure whether or not that's simply a perceived notion, but it helps put our mind at ease.

On the front you'll find the same 4-inch WVGA Super AMOLED (read: PenTile) screen, a display technology that we highly praised last year because of its beautiful color saturation and contrast, but is now well behind the 720p HD display found on high-end devices like the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, HTC Rezound and LG Nitro HD. Granted, first-time smartphone buyers likely won't care as much about lower pixel density because of the bright and saturated colors, but it was difficult for us to go back to a low resolution after reviewing a string of newer devices. The fact that the Stratosphere is using a display that was considered top-of-the line a year and a half ago is a tough pill to swallow, given that it's a brand new phone. Yes, it's an LTE device, but it should have made room for some fresher components as well.

The Super AMOLED screen we praised last year is now well behind the 720p HD displays found on higher-end devices.

Also on the front is the same set of four capacitive navigation buttons. Above the screen sits a 1.3MP front-facing cam, a decent improvement over the Epic's VGA. Continuing our tour of the phone's exterior, you'll see tiny nuances in design when compared to the Epic 4G: the Stratosphere is completely missing a hardware shutter button, the front speaker has moved down a few millimeters, the screen lock / power button is longer, the four capacitive buttons are actually visible when not being used (a welcome change), the volume rocker has a slightly varied design and the micro-USB charging port is located at the bottom of the device rather than the top.

The battery cover of the Stratosphere has ridges on both ends of the device, which offers a little extra grip when you're using the slide-out keyboard. It's also lightly textured, which adds just a smidge more friction than the Epic 4G's smooth plastic finish. Fortunately, much like its WiMAX counterpart, smudges and fingerprints aren't easily noticeable.

Samsung Series 7 Slate PC review

All quiet on the Windows 7 tablet front? Well, no, but we haven't exactly seen many shots fired lately. Sure, HP recently refreshed the Slate 500 with the Slate 2, but for the most part, products like this have been eclipsed by excitement around Windows 8. Of course, Redmond's tablet-friendly OS won't ship for another year, so for now tablet makers are releasing Windows slates with little fanfare. Not Samsung, though. While its mobile team has dug its heels into the consumer tablet market with devices like the Galaxy Tabs 10.1, 8.9 and 7.0 Plus, its PC division is taking a different tack. The Series 7 Slate PC was built by the same team behind the striking Series 9 laptop, making it one of the slickest business tablets we've ever beheld. It rocks an 11.6-inch display that handily dwarfs pretty much everything else out there. It runs a Core i5, not Atom, processor, and is offered with a custom dock and Bluetooth keyboard. The Series 7 Slate isn't just a rare Windows 7 tablet; it's also one of the most memorable. But are all of those things worth the $1,099 starting price? Could be, but we can think of a few caveats. Allow us to explain.

Samsung Series 7 Slate PC review

Hardware

If you were to take our last few reviews of Samsung tablets and scoop out the paragraphs where we talk about design, they'd be more or less interchangeable. The Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus looks kind of like the Galaxy Tab 8.9, which reminds us of the 10.1. Heck, we've even fallen into a pattern describing Samsung's phones: they're plasticky, we say. Not premium-feeling, exactly, but lightweight and solidly built.

It feels like a cousin to most other tablets, not a member of the same species.

But the Series 7 is no Galaxy product. In fact, it comes from an entirely different division within Samsung: not the mobile group, but the team responsible for the Series 9 and other laptops we've been ogling lately. Unsurprisingly, then, it feels more like a keyboard-less PC than the kind of consumer tablet we tend to review. Which is to say, it's a serious-looking thing, with full-sized ports, a charcoal, brushed aluminum lid and three vents hinting at the powerful Core i5 CPU that lies beneath. It has style, to be sure, but also the kind of gravitas that makes even the Transformer Prime look like a toy in comparison.

Here's the thing about gravitas, though: it connotes weight. Dignity, yes, and in this case, a stunning 2.06 pounds (934.4g). It's not just that the Series 7 is heavy, or thick, at 0.51 inches (13mm): with an 11.6-inch, display, it's simply outsized. Particularly because of that 16:9 screen orientation, it feels like a cousin to most other tablets, not a member of the same species. That said, though, it's not as unwieldy as you'd think. It's surprisingly easy to cradle in landscape mode -- much more so, certainly, than the Grid10, another of the few 16:9 tablets we've seen. Samsung was also smart to put the vents toward the top of the back side, near the three megapixel rear camera; even though the vent is quick to spew out warm air, it sits high enough that you're unlikely to graze it with your fingers. Still, we tended to avoid using the tablet in portrait, as the weight distribution at the other end made it uncomfortable to hold up (viewing angles became an issue then, as well).

We'd add that the 16:9 aspect ratio makes it easy to slip under your arm and carry hands-free. It also helps that the metal surface is blessedly scratch- and fingerprint-resistant (those wide bezels are another story). And as hefty as it is, we regularly slipped it into a shoulder bag and toted it to and from the office without any real burden. Still, pile on the keyboard, dock, charger and a Bluetooth mouse and that journey turns into a schlep.

As you might expect from a Windows tablet, the Series 7 is well-stocked with ports and once again, Samsung arranged them in pretty intuitive way. Imagine for a minute that you're holding it in landscape mode. On the bottom, all you'll find is the docking connector that allows it to work with the accompanying dock (more on that in a bit). On the right edge, toward the top, there's a power / lock button, which you can press lightly to turn off the screen, and hold to force a shut-down. Next to that, there's a button for locking the screen orientation. As with the rear camera, we appreciate that Samsung put these in a place where you're unlikely to hit them by accident in either landscape or portrait mode. Moving on to the left side, you'll find a USB 2.0 port up top, along with twin volume buttons that sit within reach of where your fingers would be. Also on this side is a micro-HDMI socket and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Finally, on the top edge you'll find a microSD slot, hidden behind a sliding door.

The one thing we wish it had is a full-sized SD slot, like the kind you'll find on the ThinkPad Tablet. Even if Samsung couldn't fit it on the tablet itself, perhaps it could have squeezed it into the dock, as ASUS did with both generations of its Transformer keyboard.

And, not to be confused with an iPad or Android slate, the Series 7 has a button on the lower bezel that would appear to be a Start button -- after all, it bears the same logo as the one on your PC. Ironically, though, the button acts as a shortcut for Samsung's Touch Launcher -- a proprietary skin that makes the tablet feel a little less like a Windows tablet. There's a good reason for having this finger-friendly UI, of course (Windows 7 is best used with a pen or keyboard-mouse combo), but before we get ahead of ourselves, let's continue talking about the hardware.

Accessories

Depending on the configuration you choose, your Series 7 may or may not come with Samsung's accessories, which include a Bluetooth keyboard ($100) and dock ($80). As it turns out, our top-shelf configuration did, but everything else comes with just the pen.

In case you were wondering why the tablet has only one USB port and no full-sized HDMI socket, fear not: all of that and more sits on the back edge of the dock. In total, you'll find an Ethernet jack, an extra headphone port, along with USB 2.0 and HDMI. The dock itself has a flap on top that opens to reveal the docking connector, and against which you can rest the tablet to prop it up. Close the flap, though, and the dock becomes a pocketable slab, decked out in the same brushed metal as the tablet. We especially appreciate that it has a soft, rubbery finish on the bottom, making it difficult to accidentally slide it out of place on your desk.

Galaxy Nexus gets unofficial Google Wallet, leaves rooters feeling flush (update: now root-free)

While it may have arrived with the Nexus name, Google's latest flagship has appeared without Wallet functionality, despite the inclusion of NFC hardware. Fortunately, it hasn't taken long for a few eager Android tinkerers to get it working on the LTE model. There's still a few hiccups and bugs and the phone needs to be rooted and unlocked, so consider yourself forewarned: you're on your own if it bricks. Still, it works -- user Mike Beauchamp was able to add extra funds to his account and make his first NFC McDonalds purchase. His video demonstration awaits after the break, Nexus-toting risk-takers can find a full step-by-step guide at the Google Plus link below.

Update: We talked too soon. Those that fear the uncertain future of a rooted handset now have a workaround. An APK is now up for grabs at XDA-Developers that will furnish your new favorite smartphone with Google Wallet goodness, hack-free. Non-US residents, however, still appear to be locked out from adding funds to their account. Let us know how it goes in the comments below.

Click here to find out more! No root Google Wallet port for Galaxy Nexus

If you have a new Galaxy Nexus and you aren’t happy with the fact that Google Wallet isn’t offered for the smartphone, you need to check out this port. Some of the devs on XDA-Developers have been able to port the app to the Galaxy Nexus without having to root the device. The port involves installing the app as an APK.