Just Received My Photon 4G!!!!

[shawheim_a]

And gtalk with video works out the box. Or whatever it came out of lol.

 

[spaulding]

Any chance you can comment a little more on reception? I know you mentioned in a prior post about the speaker being far better and it having as many bars as you had with your 3D but am hoping as you use it more if you can describe how the call quality compares with the 3D and other Sprint phones you've owned.

My overriding thought is to get the Photon over waiting for the SGII with the hope for better call quality in traditional areas my HTC Hero gets marginal signal/quality.

Thanks much, reading through these updates is like Christmas Day

 

[shawheim_a]

Any chance you can comment a little more on reception? I know you mentioned in a prior post about the speaker being far better and it having as many bars as you had with your 3D but am hoping as you use it more if you can describe how the call quality compares with the 3D and other Sprint phones you've owned.

My overriding thought is to get the Photon over waiting for the SGII with the hope for better call quality in traditional areas my HTC Hero gets marginal signal/quality.

Thanks much, reading through these updates is like Christmas Day

sorry man but i havent made but 5 calls on it. thats 4 out and 1 in. all of the calls sounded pretty good. i think the speaker on the 3D is a little low. the MP4G has great sound. as for reception, i havent lost signal all day. the bars have been steady from inside my workplace, which happens to be in the basement of a brick and cement building, to outside. hope this helps a little more.

Could you post a sample picture taken with the phone? Id like to see how it compares to the Evo 4g

here are some pics that i took with the Photon today when i was outside. i tried to take as many pics of different colors as i could and up close and far away from stuff too. LARGE PHOTOS AHEAD!!!!

overall i think the camera is damn good. everything is bright and crisp. hope these help. ill post a video i took here in a second!

Here's a sample video. make sure you click 720 HD!

Test HD video from the Motorola Photon 4G - YouTube

 

[drexappeal]

Here's a sample video. make sure you click 720 HD!

Test HD video from the Motorola Photon 4G - YouTube

You are the man. I love that zoom out feature, even though you can tell the footage gets a little pixelated when you zoom out. Just having that option is a plus though!

When it gets to nightime, can you see if you can do nighttime video? With the EVO, I used to shoot nighttime videos all the time because you could turn the LED on to stay constant. I haven't done it in a long time, especially because the videos didn't look that great, but still a great option to have.

As far as the video quality is concerned, I know one issue I had with the EVO was stuttering on the video footage. The Photon doesn't seem to have the same issue, which is great to see!

 

[jroc]

The photos look real nice. Hard to imagine the Droid 3's camera getting dinged in reviews since they from the same company. But the pics look better from the Photon.

I know it doesn't. I had explained in another thread that, there was a weird effect on the 3d I was using in the store, where it made me dizzy kinda like the hologram stickers from a cracker jack box. Nonetheless, that's irrelevant because I've made my decision on getting the photon for sure. I'm just trying to understand what you guys are seeing that I'm not with the pantie display because I still can't see it. Maybe copy the pics and draw circles around what ur referring to?

That made me literally laugh out loud...lol

You can try out Light flow (lite) I am not sure if it'll work for the proton, but there's no harm trying

Had to give a special thanks for this. I've been wanting something like this but I didnt wanna use Handcent and similar apps.

Thanks shawheim for the review. Congrats on the phone. Glad the transaction went ok.

 

[ahaxton]

I have to admit this phone looks much better in your pics than in the promo photos. The angular corners are de-emphasized in these shots which makes it look a lot better.

 

[drexappeal]

That made literally laugh out loud...lol

jroc, I totally wouldn't have noticed the typo if you didn't point it out! That's awesome. I Love Swype!

I have to admit this phone looks much better in your pics than in the promo photos. The angular corners are de-emphasized in these shots which makes it look a lot better.

I completely agree. I don't know what it is that makes it look so much better. Plus, the side-by-side comparisons w/ the EVO 4G and the 3D gave me a better perspective on the size of the phone and if it was really as streamlined a designed as the early reviews said.

 

[shawheim_a]

comparison shots between the Evo 4G, 3D, and Photon up next!

first up outside shots. and as you will see all the brightness levels are set to the same.

Now inside shots under fluorescent lighting.

lockscreens

Hope these are acceptable. i dont own a personal camera so i used my uncles Kodak 7mp camera. ENJOY!

 

[N3tt3chman]

amazing! i love it and dont even own it yet... hows the vibration is it more like the evo 4g or the new 3d evo? i always felt the evo 4g vibration was kind of weak...

 

[drexappeal]

comparison shots between the Evo 4G, 3D, and Photon up next!

first up outside shots. and as you will see all the brightness levels are set to the same.

Hope these are acceptable. i dont own a personal camera so i used my uncles Kodak 7mp camera. ENJOY!

Whether they're acceptable to anybody or not is completely irrelevant. You're the ONLY one that has provided any sort of comparison like this, so you get MUCH props for doing this. IMO, they are completely acceptable on that point alone.

Thanks so much! Since you are a former EVO owner, how do you personally feel about the pocketability/grip factor/ergonomics of the phone compared to the original EVO? Just as good? Better? Worse?

Thanks again.

 

[JackG058]

Allow me to add my thanks for the really helpful info you've shared. This has been very generous of you to spend so much time trying to quench our thirst for information. I think I'm drooling right now.

I've one question, which will be totally subjective for you. I know pictures, no matter how great the quality, cannot fully tell the screen story. So based upon your own visuals, how do you feel the screen stacks up against the EVO 3D and EVO4G? Screen quality is perhaps the one thing the SGS2 has that I seen constantly spoken so highly of, and I'm trying to decide between the Photon and SGS2. The earlier release date and Moto's rep for good CDMA radios is also pushing me towards the Photon.

 

[shawheim_a]

amazing! i love it and dont even own it yet... hows the vibration is it more like the evo 4g or the new 3d evo? i always felt the evo 4g vibration was kind of weak...

vibration is nice. in the sound settings you can change the vibration length and all that. but it vibrates pretty hard, harder than my Evo 4G and 3D.

 

[brownhornet]

Could just be me but the photon screen doesnt look as good as the 3D... or even the evo 4g.

 

[bigb82]

Hey Shawheim as everyone expressed, first and foremost, thank you for doing this. I have several questions of my own having had a EVO, Epic, and now Evo3D.

Can you firm if this phone has the ability to group your contacts from gmail, another words in the HTC phones you can put "friends, business, etc) as groups which than sync back and forth with your gmail contacts. This is important to me as I own a business.

I went and looked at the Moto Xprt at the store and I remember that it did not have the feature.

How would you say you like this phone in comparison to the EVO3D screen, call quality, battery life, features, etc? moto blur or sense? what you think? what widgets does it have? the more you can tell me the better, I appreciate it.

 

[N3tt3chman]

I would like to say THANK YOU!!! Your post has helped answer my questions about the Photon. I will definitely be buying this phone on the 28th...

 

[john_mastrix]

First of all, thank you for the post. Just out of curiosity, have you run any benchmarks on the photon yet? I assume it'll be around the same as the Droid x2.

You rule.

 

[lakeshoredr]

Could just be me but the photon screen doesnt look as good as the 3D... or even the evo 4g.

That's the first thing I noticed in the 3 phone comparison shots. The Photon screen seems to have a slight blur appearance compared to the evo and 3d.

 

[shawheim_a]

Allow me to add my thanks for the really helpful info you've shared. This has been very generous of you to spend so much time trying to quench our thirst for information. I think I'm drooling right now.

I've one question, which will be totally subjective for you. I know pictures, no matter how great the quality, cannot fully tell the screen story. So based upon your own visuals, how do you feel the screen stacks up against the EVO 3D and EVO4G? Screen quality is perhaps the one thing the SGS2 has that I seen constantly spoken so highly of, and I'm trying to decide between the Photon and SGS2. The earlier release date and Moto's rep for good CDMA radios is also pushing me towards the Photon.

i think the screen stacks up well. colors look good and vibrant to me. the pics i posted arent that great but thats because i have a suck ass camera. when you see the phone in person you will see what i mean.

Could just be me but the photon screen doesnt look as good as the 3D... or even the evo 4g.

everyone sees things differently. to you it might look bad and to someone else they could love it. like i stated above, when you see it in person there is a difference.

Hey Shawheim as everyone expressed, first and foremost, thank you for doing this. I have several questions of my own having had a EVO, Epic, and now Evo3D.

Can you firm if this phone has the ability to group your contacts from gmail, another words in the HTC phones you can put "friends, business, etc) as groups which than sync back and forth with your gmail contacts. This is important to me as I own a business.

I went and looked at the Moto Xprt at the store and I remember that it did not have the feature.

How would you say you like this phone in comparison to the EVO3D screen, call quality, battery life, features, etc? moto blur or sense? what you think? what widgets does it have? the more you can tell me the better, I appreciate it.

in the contacts there are the normal tabs at the top. there is a favorites tab and in there they put your faves and your frequently contacted people. your contacts list can be populated with any of the i think like 17 accounts you can set up with blur. i only have 4 set up and you can show or hide them in your contacts list. as to about the screen, i referred to that in the past 2 quotes. call quaility i have touched on a few times too, its good believe me feature wise, its ANDROID! what features doesnt it have! im not really a fan of blur or sense, but as of right now i would say i like blur over sense just because on the launchers at the bottom. the ginger blur is 4 icons verses the curve with 3 buttons. the widgets that blur has are the motorola widgets and the android widgets. the blur widgets are pretty plain looking, but when you tap and interact man are they pretty. the moto widgets are 4G scan now, 4G toggle, Bluetooth toggle, bookmarks,calendar, contact quick tasks, date and time, gallery, gps toggle, messages, music, news, picture frame plus, social networking, social status, sticky note, weather, wifi toggle and world clock. man thats a lot lol.

First of all, thank you for the post. Just out of curiosity, have you run any benchmarks on the photon yet? I assume it'll be around the same as the Droid x2.

You rule.

what benchmarks would you like me to run, ill gladly try them out.

 

[twospirits]

I agree with the comments you made, only in hand can one truly make their final decision as to the screen. Everyone see things differently. As for my self from what I've seen from the photos, the Photon looks better.
Awesome pics and thanks for answering the questions sent your way.

Edit:

if you can do any or all of the following test apps between the EVO 4G and the Photon I would appreciate it.

Linpack

Quadrant standard

thanks


TS

 

[l1fe]

Thanks for all the awesome information. I feel like a stalker tracking you from forum to forum to learn more about the P4G

If you're in a 4G coverage area, can you do a comparison of download speeds with your two EVO handsets?

 

[john_mastrix]

I used an OG Droid for about a year and a half prior to getting my EVO 3d. Personally, I kind of preferred motoblur to sense. I like minimalistic UI's. Kind of like using windows 2000 instead of xp.

From what I've seen the home screens seem quick and smooth. I like it.

 

[Rico college]

Wonderful job on the photos, bravo to you! and thank you very much.

 

[wiredanim]

Loving the details and that fact that you are sharing them man, keep it up.

I agree on the linpack and quadrant test. I'm really curious about the loud speaker how it stands up to the EVO and EVO 3D? I heard the one on the 3D was horrible. I use my phone for an alarm and have to get up. lol

THANKS AGAIN!!!!

 

[Monsterr]

This thread honestly convinced me on getting the Photon over the SG2!

I was mainly concerned about the camera and screen quality, but the pictures you posted were fantastic! I admit that the Samsung cameras do have more contrast in the picture, but the Motorola camera is not bad quality by any means!

 

[EarlyMon]

Please try the Vellamo benchmark. While produced by Qualcomm, it seems to do the most honest overall job of the free benchmarks out there (in terms of results that many can relate to or have seen published on popular benchmark oriented sites).

And many thanks for the tip top info!