Samsung Stratosphere II and LG Spectrum 2 hit Verizon's systems, first Stratosphere to receive update

Today's a big day for the Samsung Stratosphere on Verizon, as its successor has appeared in Big Red's internal Equipment Guide while the original slider is due to a rather hefty update. First, the new phone. Some images sent to Droid-Life show that the new Stratosphere, which is listed as the "Samsung Stratosphere II - i415," has hit the aforementioned system. The shot offers a fuzzy peek at what the new slider will look like and also lists the phone as having a 4-inch Super AMOLED display. Also now inside Verizon's Equipment Guide is the LG Spectrum 2 VS930. There's no photo or spec information available for that device, but previous leaks have shown that it's likely to be Verizon's version of the Optimus LTE II.

Meanwhile, Verizon has revealed that the current Stratosphere is going to be receiving a nice update. Support documents on Verizon's site show that the Stratosphere will be getting updated to software version i405.FF1, which weighs in at 53.8MB. The update contains a number of goodies, including Face Unlock, Visual Voicemail enhancements and touchscreen response improvements. As usual, we've got the full changelog available at the bottom of this post.

So when might Verizon folk get their mitts on all of this new stuff? Right now that's all a bit of a mystery. There's been no word yet on when the Stratosphere II or Spectrum 2 might launch, but at least they're now one step closer to doing so with an appearance in Verizon's Equipment Guide. As for the original Stratosphere, Verizon hasn't mentioned when the FF1 update could begin rolling out, but typically an update's push doesn't take too long to start after the corresponding support docs have been posted. If you're rocking a Stratosphere and want to see if the update has made its way to your neck of the woods, you can try going into Menu > Settings > About Phone > System updates. Are there any of you out there currently using a Stratosphere?

FACE UNLOCK

Secure face recognition to unlock the device.

INCOMING CALL

User accepts or declines calls by swiping in either direction.

ORGANIZED APP TRAY

Now you have the ability to sort your apps from A-Z.

PHOTO EDITOR

Edit Pictures: color enhancements & fun effects.

IMAGE CAPTURE DURING VIDEO RECORDING

Tap the camera button and take 1MP still image during an HD video recording.

Additional features and improvements with this update:

• Added multiple enhancements in Visual Voice Mail (VVM) application, such as:
  • Logout option.
  • Note option.
  • For Private message - added reply and call back options.
• Enhanced Security with a Google Security Patch.
• Improved audio with turn-by-turn navigation.
• Assign a personalized ringtone to each of your contacts.
• Improvements made to screen wake up while on a voice call, in speakerphone mode, and after the display goes into sleep mode.
• Improvements in touch screen response.
• Google Gtalk is now available to conduct video chats.
• Enhanced connectivity to WiFi access points.
• Support Call back number for Text & Multimedia Messages.
• Multimedia messages now playback audio entirely.

Via Droid-Life (1), (2), Verizon