Galaxy Stellar, a Poor Man's Smartphone --- by Fitwxc fireinbox2012-11-28 08:43:18

Galaxy Stellar, a Poor Man's Smartphone

（全文为Fitwxc原创。转自他的博客 King of Tweaks。）

It has all the major virtues of the flagship Galaxy S III, but cost much less. This is the cheapest unlocked smartphone for PagePlus etc., and currently the best choice. Listed at $345, but can be found on craigslist or ebay for as low as $85 brand new, because Verizon is giving this phone for free with a 2-year contract. The following photo compares it to the Fascinate (the former best choice).

What's missing?

·                     Large OLED screen. The Stellar has a small 4" LCD screen instead. Too me this is actually good. The screen looks very good, even under direct sunlight. Very gentle to my eyes when I use it as bed time story.

·                     1080p camera w/ flash. The Stellar has a 3MB camera that can do 640x480x30p video only, no flash. Good enough for me for what I need a phone camera for. I have my GF-2 for serious photos and video.

·                     1500MHz CPU. The Stellar still has a dual-core CPU clocked at 1200MHz. Again, well good enough for me and actually a good thing (drain less battery).

What's still included?

·                     Dual-core CPU, just slightly slower, 1200 vs. 1500 MHz.

·                     The same 2100mAh large battery. Most smartphones comes with a 1500mAh.

·                     The same Android OS 4.0.4. The software is very similar to G3's, e.g., tools for rooting and voice/data configuration are almost the same.

·                     Multiple color notification LED. Glad to see Samsung is no longer copying the bad things from Apple. Notification works while plugged into wall, a feature missing in Moto and HTC phones.

·                     Front camera for video calling or self portrait.

·                     SIM slot (for LTE). But so far I have not been able to use it on T-Mobile and AT&T (some people have success with G3).

Above is not a full list, just what I think worthy of mentioning. Here is a full comparison between these two phones:

The following photo shows its large battery compared to the one in Fascinate. The Stellar is slightly heavier, 4.7 vs. 4.2, and thicker but shorter as you can see.

 

What's especially good?

·                     The best VO3G phone so far! No echo, no delay, loud and clear! I don't have a G3, so I don't know how it compares to that one.

·                     Can be activated on PagePlus. However, you have to manually configure the phone to make voice and 3g data to work. You don't have to have a Verizon LTE SIM card, but it is good to insert any SIM card you have, even a deactivated one, otherwise the 3g icon never appear even though it is connected and working fine. FoxFi works fine.

·                     Several language input methods included, such as Chinese PinYin!

·                     Text look bold and dark, very easy to my eyes.

The bottom line: cannot find a better phone at this price for PagePlus, not even close, especially if you want a brand new one.

Two photos taken by this phone (more in the Phlips SHE3580 article), love the colors - something Samsung had never done right: