I've had the Photon for about two days now, enough to have delved deep into it and found things I love and things that annoy me. I upgraded from the OG Evo, a phone I dearly love (it was my first Android phone - never forget your first!) but had been experiencing all sorts of quirks and bugs in the past few months. So, the following is from the perspective of an Evo/Sense fan:
LOVE
1. The speed. Although I noticed it does hiccup once in a while (usually after I've been on a install/remove tear for widgets, themes, launchers, etc.) a reboot fixes that. Overall the phone is lightning quick and smooth.
2. The email app. Far superior to that of Sense, it's much easier to use and seems more capable. The Evo's app is clean, but takes extra steps to do little things like delete multiple messages. I have not tried the Exchange features, primarily because I don't like checking my work email away from work.
3. Call quality. My first Evo had decent call quality and speaker, but the replacement had a mediocre earpiece. Both would sometimes hiccup during calls and I'd miss half a word. The Photon locks in and is very clear, and I've experienced little to no hiccups, even with weak signals on both ends.
4. The music app. Oh my god, it's so nice to have a functional stock music app. Also, it sounds great through headphones. No hiss, no distortion, or anything (not that the Evo suffered from that, either). I didn't use my Evo as a music player much for want of a good music player, but I might finally swap from my trusty first gen iTouch for my PMP needs.
5. The screen. Love how bright it can get, and how visible in sunlight it is. I actually was able to use my Evo in full sun as well, but the Photon is even better. If you spend any time outside, you'll appreciate this. The screen is also overall very bright but can also dim down significantly so you're not blinding yourself at night.
6. Too many others to mention!
HATE
1. The stock dock. Why, Moto, why did you put that nasty white bar behind the dock? Would it have killed you to allow us to make it transparent at least?
2. Moto widgets. I tried to like the social app and widgets, I really did. But they're garbage. I couldn't find an easy way to look at my whole Facebook stream, only "recent updates" and those would vanish once you looked at them. Eventually I gave up and just installed the Facebook app. Also, the flat white theme of not-Blur just makes me sad, although I am currently using the calendar widget and the 4G toggle (because I can't find anything else that works). The clock is terrible, too.
3. Camera options. The camera itself doesn't seem too bad, but the options leave much to be desired. The Evo was never known for its great camera, but I was able to get some quality shots thanks to being able to tweak white balance, ISO, and the like. The Photon's camera app leaves me feeling a little cold. Also, why isn't the camcorder 1080p?
4. Charging cable. Why is it so dang short? My Evo's cable is a foot longer!
5. Elimination of some stock Android apps. Where's my Google News/Weather app, aka Weather Genie? I did find it on XDA, but it should not have been removed in the first place. Also, doesn't Android come with more stock wallpapers?
6. The cramped keyboard. The keys are much smaller than on the Evo, which makes typing harder. I use the Swype keyboard, which makes things a little easier, but the keys are still smaller and harder to hit for when you need to type.
NOT LOVED, BUT NO HATE
1. The Pentile screen. Although I usually don't notice it, sometimes the pentile effect does rear its ugly head. Viewing Engagdet's website, for one: the blue links look terrible. Also, sometimes things that should be dark purple come across as black, leading to a loss of some detail.
2. The default black on white menus. Not a problem, unless you're not using the stock launcher. Then the white/grey "filler" used for menus that are not full screen contrast sharply with the white on black menus a lot of apps/launchers seem to use. I thought it was a defect at first until I realized its present in the stock menu appearance as well.
Overall, once I stopped trying to make my Photon look like my old Evo and just embrace a new look and layout, I really started to dig the phone. I'm still not 100% certain I'll keep it, but it's rapidly growing on me. Car dock is the next thing to try out, and from what I hear it's awesome. That may be what finally pushes me from watching the calendar for my 30 days to not caring how time is passing.