Surrounded by the DROID RAZR, HTC Rezound, and DROID Bionic releases, the Samsung Stratosphere may have been lost in the shuffle a bit.  Heck, if you Google Samsung Stratosphere Verizon Wireless, the official Verizon results are two-thirds of the way down the page.  Don’t let that fool you; The Stratosphere is a great mid-tier device AND it is packing Verizon 4G LTE.

Not surprisingly, the overall design reminds me of the Samsung Epic 4g (on Sprint).  But in the land of 4.3″-4.65″ screens, this 4″ screen feels smaller than the ol’ Epic (even though it’s not).  The Stratosphere runs Gingerbread and Samsung’s TouchWiz UI.  Of course, it’s pre-loaded with tons of value-add Verizon apps </sarcasm>.  Unlike the Skyrocket, which has a blueish theme, the Stratosphere has lime green accents.  I wish this was user selectable.  The 5-row keyboard is spaced well and easy to type on.  The device is part of the “Galaxy S” line, and in keeping with a standard S phone, it has a 1 GHz single-core processor.

Overall I like this phone.  I’m not a fan of slider phones, but I think that folks that like a physical keyboards will like this phone.  As with all of the Verizon 4G LTE phones, the service is fast and reliable.

The Samsung Stratosphere is available now from Verizon Wireless for $99.99, with a new 2-year contract, after an online discount.  You can also pick it up from Amazon Wireless for a shiny penny (new contracts, and what-not).  If you’re looking for a 4G LTE phone, with slide-out keyboard, then this is it.