Samsung Stratosphere with 4G LTE launching on Verizon a day before iPhone 4S

Although this week will see the release of the hyped iPhone 4S, that isn’t stopping Verizon Wireless from launching the 4G-LTE-enabled Samsung Stratosphere the day before.

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One fault many saw with the iPhone 4S was its failure to include a 4G chipset so it could run on the fastest possible data networks in the U.S. If Verizon Android fans want to hold one thing over their iPhone carrying brethren, it’s that many of the latest Android phones have 4G LTE while the new iPhone only supports 3G data speeds.

Still, the iPhone 4S will be a huge seller and has already reportedly sold more than 200,000 units in pre-sales since Friday on AT&T alone. We expect similar numbers have been sold on Verizon and Sprint as well.

But if you’re not in the market for an iPhone, perhaps the Samsung Stratosphere, as first reported by Droid Life, will be up your alley. The smartphone looks much like Sprint’s Samsung Epic 4G, except with Verizon’s blazing 4G LTE speeds.

The phone will offer a 4-inch Super AMOLED screen with 480 x 800 resolution, a single-core 1-GHz processor, a 5-megapixel rear camera, 1.3-megapixel front camera, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of onboard storage and 4GB extra memory from a pre-installed microSD card. The standout feature, like the Epic 4G, is the Stratosphere’s full QWERTY keyboard, which some people prefer to touch keyboards.

The Samsung Stratosphere’s Android competition on Verizon is fierce, however. Not only is there the powerful Motorola Droid Bionic, but there is also the upcoming Samsung Nexus Prime. The Nexus Prime supposedly features a 4.65-inch display and will likely see release in the next month or so.

The Samsung Stratosphere is expected to retail at $149.99 with 2-year contract. Are you interested in picking one up?