Samsung might have postponed this week's Nexus Prime announcement, but Verizon Wireless announced it will start selling another Samsung smartphone with 4G LTE support on Oct. 13 for $150. The enterprise-focused Samsung Stratosphere runs Android 2.3 on a 1GHz Samsung Hummingbird, and is equipped with a four-inch Super AMOLED display, a QWERTY sliding keyboard, and dual cameras, says the carrier.

Attendees of the CTIA show, being held Oct. 11-13 in San Diego, were expecting to see Samsung and Google unveil the Samsung Nexus Prime — the first phone to offer Google's new "Ice Cream Sandwich" Android build.

On Oct. 7, however, Samsung and Google announced they were postponing the Oct. 11 event since it was not "the appropriate time" — an apparent reference to Apple founder Steve Jobs' passing. This did not stop more alleged Nexus Prime specs to pop up on the web, however.

Samsung Stratosphere

Meanwhile, at least one new Samsung device will hit the streets this week. Verizon Wireless announced it will begin selling the Samsung Stratosphere Galaxy smartphone Oct. 13 for $50, after a $50 mail-in rebate and two-year data contract. The Android 2.3 ("Gingerbread") Stratosphere is Samsung's first 4G LTE (Long-Term Evolution) handset with a sliding QWERTY keyboard, and the company's first Galaxy S phone with a slider as well.

The Stratosphere won't be mistaken for its Samsung Galaxy S II brethren, but Verizon customers can't get the Galaxy S II anyway. While that 4G LTE device family features 1.2GHz or faster dual-core chips, the Stratosphere is powered by a single-core, 1GHz Samsung Hummingbird processor.

The Stratosphere also offers a modest five-megapixel rear-facing camera, paired with a 1.3-megapixel front camera to enable video chat. The phone supports 720p HD playback, but only 480p recording, compared with 1080p capture and playback for the S II's eight-megapixel camera.

On the plus side, the Stratosphere is equipped with a four-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen, and offers a five-row QWERTY keyboard. Other hardware features are said to include 802.11 a/b/g/n with mobile hotspot support, as well as Bluetooth 3.0.

Verizon is promoting the Stratosphere as an enterprise phone. The phone supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, as well as and Cisco AnyConnect 2.1 SSL VPN, which allows workers to tunnel into their corporate networks while on the go.

The Stratosphere also features encryption to let IT managers remotely wipe the phone's data in case the device gets lost. In addition, it offers support for Sybase Afaria, which provides corporate data management tools for IT administrators to enforce their IT policies.

Availability

The Samsung Stratosphere will be available Oct. 13 for $50 after a $50 mail-in rebate and two-year data contract, says Verizon Wireless. Customers need to purchase a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan beginning at $40 for monthly access, as well as a smartphone data package starting at $30 a month for 2GB of data. More information should appear Oct. 13 at Verizon Wireless' website.

Clint Boulton is a writer for eWEEK.

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