Help Official "Complaints about the Photon" (Rant/Discussion) Thread

[Citizen Coyote]

It's interesting I keep hearing this, both the radios and battery. I own both phones, and find the wifi is much weaker on the Photon, though cell signal strength is about the same. Also, the battery on my 3VO lasts much longer; by noon it's down to about 80%, while with the Photon I'll be lucky if it's still at 50%.

I've noticed my Photon does not read as strong a wifi signal as my Evo in the same location, but the speed seems fine so it doesn't bother me much. I have also noticed that in the evenings the wifi tends to "sleep" and can take a moment to reconnect when I wake the phone up. I suspect that's just part of the power management settings, though.

My phone is odd, my friends tell em it rings at least ten times before I pick up, thought it was my ringtone, but my other friend said the same thing, never had that issue with my evo 4g, any solutions or why it rings ten times?

This used to happen to me on occasion with my 4G; I think it's an artifact of Sprint's network, not necessarily the phone.

I also noticed there is no hold button on my phone if someone else calls, I can not put the other person on hold, just says mute, or add another call

I haven't answered a call-waiting call while on a call yet (just let it go to voicemail) so can't help there.

my phone gets as hot as the evo 3d did when playing a game for 20 minute straight

Not surprising. The Photon has some decent hardware, it's bound to get warm when a game pushes it. Unless your phone starts acting up, freezing, rebooting, etc., I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[whipped99]

I turned on my old Evo this morning to finally do a wipe in preparation for turning it in for credit. I was surprised to see a screen I once considered gorgeous instead looking slightly muted and muddy (not to mention everything looked oversized thanks to the lower resolution). I guess that's the effect of getting used to the Photon's display.

Exactly! I was updating some things on my wifes EVO and realized how much better the screen is on the Photon after being off the EVO for a couple of weeks. Photon screen has better brightness and contrast, and the colors look normal and not over or under saturated. Im glad ditched my EVO, Photon is much more satisfying especially as a PHONE not just an entertainment device.

 

[2strokenut]

I didn't mean to insult you guys, I apologize. Again, I'm pissed Moto would eff up this amazing phone with this screen. I'm still in awe of how many of you are praising it, dumbfounded might be a better word. I just got out of the sprint store to replace the speaker on my Evo and I had one of the techs show me his Photon and I could see it, clearly. This time I could pretty much see the diagonal pattern of the pentile almost everywhere. Am I going crazy??? Even the tech lamented the fact that it looks so pixelated. Back to back with my Evo on full brightness I didn't see much improvement with the Photon, at least with the Evo the pixels are somewhat hidden. I think many of you have never set your Evo on full brightness while out in the sun because it makes a world of difference.


But the whole point of my rant wasn't to bag on the photon just to check it out for yourself first. If you can live with it, awesome.

 

[clgwli]

I didn't mean to insult you guys, I apologize. Again, I'm pissed Moto would eff up this amazing phone with this screen. I'm still in awe of how many of you are praising it, dumbfounded might be a better word. I just got out of the sprint store to replace the speaker on my Evo and I had one of the techs show me his Photon and I could see it, clearly. This time I could pretty much see the diagonal pattern of the pentile almost everywhere. Am I going crazy??? Even the tech lamented the fact that it looks so pixelated. Back to back with my Evo on full brightness I didn't see much improvement with the Photon, at least with the Evo the pixels are somewhat hidden. I think many of you have never set your Evo on full brightness while out in the sun because it makes a world of difference.


But the whole point of my rant wasn't to bag on the photon just to check it out for yourself first. If you can live with it, awesome.

For someone who is claiming not to be insulting, saying how you are dumbfounded by us... well let's just say my idea of insulting and yours are worlds apart.

I keep my screen on the lowest possible and I barely see the pentile screen. If I turn it up to around 40% I do see it. It does, however look far more crisp side by side IMO to the EVO 3D - a whole lot less washed out. I have a severe dislike of Samsung so I won't even compare the two.

Be dumbfounded all you want, but I am thrilled with this phone. The call quality is top notch, the screen - while no where near as nice as my HD laptop or tablet - is very nice. It is perfection in the bright lights. I've had the phone for 3 weeks now and do not regret it at all. In fact I would do it all over again.

Particularly with the current $100 price tag... EVO3D can't beat it and I know the Samsung won't as well.

 

[drexappeal]

I didn't mean to insult you guys, I apologize. Again, I'm pissed Moto would eff up this amazing phone with this screen. I'm still in awe of how many of you are praising it, dumbfounded might be a better word. I just got out of the sprint store to replace the speaker on my Evo and I had one of the techs show me his Photon and I could see it, clearly. This time I could pretty much see the diagonal pattern of the pentile almost everywhere. Am I going crazy??? Even the tech lamented the fact that it looks so pixelated. Back to back with my Evo on full brightness I didn't see much improvement with the Photon, at least with the Evo the pixels are somewhat hidden. I think many of you have never set your Evo on full brightness while out in the sun because it makes a world of difference.


But the whole point of my rant wasn't to bag on the photon just to check it out for yourself first. If you can live with it, awesome.

Don't get me wrong at all. I do notice it, but it doesn't bother me at all. Just for comparison, the 3D on the 3VO bothered me WAY more. And keep in mind, I'm a former EVO owner and I absolutely LOVED that phone. But I was willing to deal with the pixelated "screen door" effect, just because the phone is SO much more responsive than my EVO ever was (even from the very beginning when I first purchased the EVO on launch day).

And on the contrary, I had set my EVO to full brightness from time to time. I'd actually put it on "Auto" whenever I was going outside, as well, but the battery life is way more valuable to me on the MoPho than it ever was for me on the EVO.

Bottom Line: Do I notice the screen door effect/pixelation? Yes. That's never been a question. Does it bother me enough to not have this phone and praise it over my EVO? Absolutely not!

 

[Sorian]

I am going to be heading to my local BB to take a look comparing it to the Moment and Evo.

 

[Member 385453]

But the whole point of my rant wasn't to bag on the photon just to check it out for yourself first. If you can live with it, awesome.

Are you telling me there is a screen on this phone? I thought I bought a cool paperweight.

 

[Mikenk]

What amazes me on these 'display rant' focused threads is:

- How some people feel that their eyes convey the reference standard that all displays should be measured against - a somewhat arrogant position IMHO. Whenever I get a new HD TV, I spend hours calibrating it using video reference tools to do so; the factory settings are hideous.

- Realistically, I have never seen a cell phone capable of being really set up properly for HD and I have never seen any cell phone screen that I consider the equal of other HD media. What I want a cell phone display to do is to have clear text, crisp graphic color display, and be viewable anywhere. BTW, my old eyes are perfectly capable of seeing pixelation if I choose to focus on it on any screen.

Personally, I believe the black settings on the Photon are too dark; i would love to play around a bit with the color settings but evidently that is not possible on any phone - another reason to quit agonizing over it.

Mike

 

[Citizen Coyote]

I just got out of the sprint store to replace the speaker on my Evo and I had one of the techs show me his Photon and I could see it, clearly. This time I could pretty much see the diagonal pattern of the pentile almost everywhere. Am I going crazy??? Even the tech lamented the fact that it looks so pixelated. Back to back with my Evo on full brightness I didn't see much improvement with the Photon, at least with the Evo the pixels are somewhat hidden. I think many of you have never set your Evo on full brightness while out in the sun because it makes a world of difference.

No, you're not crazy, some people can't unsee the pixels. Novox77, a mod in the Evo/Evo 3D forums, is of this camp. We happy Photon owners are generally of the opposite opinion, that's all.

I could use my Evo in full sun if I boosted the brightness to max (and did so for three days in a row last summer, shortly after I bought the phone). Even so, it's dim compared to the Photon under the same conditions. Point being, while you certainly can use an Evo in direct sun, the Photon performs significantly better in this situation, both in brightness and battery life.

 

[Flipper]

Exactly! I was updating some things on my wifes EVO and realized how much better the screen is on the Photon after being off the EVO for a couple of weeks. Photon screen has better brightness and contrast, and the colors look normal and not over or under saturated. Im glad ditched my EVO, Photon is much more satisfying especially as a PHONE not just an entertainment device.

Agree with both of you guys. I have nothing bad to say about my EVO; I thought it was a great phone and still do (considering that it's the third most sold phone after the iPhone, a lot of people feel the same way). But I am impressed with my Photon - it is nice to be able to finally see and view my screen in sunlight without having to cover my screen with my hand.

 

[whatsitsname]

If you want to test to see if the pentile screen will affect you just turn off the phone and then plug it in a charger. The onscreen battery meter will annoy the heck out of some people and not others. I see the dancing pixel effect when I look at it. If the screen goes off just tap the power button and the battery meter will come back on.

 

[Androidalltheway]

I am noticing I am missing voicemails, I got a voicemail alert at 5:30pm, the call came in at 8:20am, any ideas?

 

[drexappeal]

I am noticing I am missing voicemails, I got a voicemail alert at 5:30pm, the call came in at 8:20am, any ideas?

You know, that happened to me one time and didn't realize that that the voicemail app had to be re-provisioned with my phone.

This is what I did and it seemed to fix the issue ever since then:
1) Open Voicemail app
2) Click Menu>Settings>Personalize Voicemail
3) Pop-up window came up instructing that it would leave the app to dial voicemail.

After I clicked OK, small window popped up saying it was provisioning my voicemail with the voicemail app.

After I did that, hadn't had a problem ever since. Not sure if that's the same issue going on with your phone, but worth a shot if it fixes it for you.

 

[Frisco]

Great, not often mentioned point, drex.

 

[whipped99]

Agree with both of you guys. I have nothing bad to say about my EVO; I thought it was a great phone and still do (considering that it's the third most sold phone after the iPhone, a lot of people feel the same way). But I am impressed with my Photon - it is nice to be able to finally see and view my screen in sunlight without having to cover my screen with my hand.

Yes the EVO is still a great phone and pretty much set the standard of what a good Android phone should be like. Which was why I was set on getting the EVO 3D. However I feel that HTC went a step backwards in quality, and felt that Sense UI wasnt improved enough over EVO to upgrade to 3D. Add in the lackluster IMHO 3D screen and muddy/washed out colors and contrast/brightness the Photon was the next in line for upgrade. Both are great phones. The MoPho is arguably a better built phone with superior radio. Hell the phone even had 3 bars in what I like to call the Church's Chicken drive through Dead Zone. My EVO and Verizon BlackBerry 9650 would get nothing for reception. However today the Photon had 3 bars and data. I love the screen and IMHO it looks supurb when running high res content or using Go Launcher EX. Gorilla glass gives it durability and high quality feel. The overall phone design makes it much more comfortable to hold. The Photon is like a BMW M3 of Android phones, the EVO 3D is like a WRX STI. Both amazing cars but M3/Photon is more refined.

 

[mitchedo]

I went from a Motorola V60 flip phone I had forever (with a $10.95/month voice plan) to an HTC Touch Pro with data and text on a family plan. I never really liked the Touch Pro, and was absolutely HATING the thing for over a year now. The screen is too small, WinMo 6.1 absolutely blows rectum, the hardware was a POS, and TouchFlo 3D was horribly done and laggy. It really soured me on HTC.

I now have a Photon. I absolutely LOVE it. I can see where folks coming from Sense would be less than impressed at the lack of eye candy, but I just plain don't see what everyone's bagging on about the OS. It's plain and simple, without a lot of flashiness, but it's very functional. I like it.

The Photon screen is absolutely amazing. It's the right size, the right resolution, the right brightness, easily readable in direct sunlight.

The battery lasts as long as the battery on my Touch Pro, only I can actually USE the Photon for things other than sending texts and making calls.

The radio on the thing is very good as well. (The cell radio on my Touch Pro was good too.) Out here in the wide-open west, a strong cellular radio is of utmost importance.

...but then, I don't understand why people bag on minivans either. ...or drive Cadillac instead of a Chevy, or a Lexus instead of a Toyota. I'm very much a "get the job done right and don't worry so much about how it looks" sorta guy.

Of course, if I'd had an Evo for a year, I might not like the Photon either. Sense is very nice looking and seems to be pretty functional as well. I REALLY wanted its dual-core successor -- until they released it with that stupid 3D gimmick.

My 14-year-old son loves his new Photon too. The 15-year-old is still holding out for the Galaxy S2.

 

[drexappeal]

I went from a Motorola V60 flip phone I had forever (with a $10.95/month voice plan) to an HTC Touch Pro with data and text on a family plan. I never really liked the Touch Pro, and was absolutely HATING the thing for over a year now. The screen is too small, WinMo 6.1 absolutely blows rectum, the hardware was a POS, and TouchFlo 3D was horribly done and laggy. It really soured me on HTC.

I now have a Photon. I absolutely LOVE it. I can see where folks coming from Sense would be less than impressed at the lack of eye candy, but I just plain don't see what everyone's bagging on about the OS. It's plain and simple, without a lot of flashiness, but it's very functional. I like it.

The Photon screen is absolutely amazing. It's the right size, the right resolution, the right brightness, easily readable in direct sunlight.

The battery lasts as long as the battery on my Touch Pro, only I can actually USE the Photon for things other than sending texts and making calls.

The radio on the thing is very good as well. (The cell radio on my Touch Pro was good too.) Out here in the wide-open west, a strong cellular radio is of utmost importance.

...but then, I don't understand why people bag on minivans either. ...or drive Cadillac instead of a Chevy, or a Lexus instead of a Toyota. I'm very much a "get the job done right and don't worry so much about how it looks" sorta guy.

Of course, if I'd had an Evo for a year, I might not like the Photon either. Sense is very nice looking and seems to be pretty functional as well. I REALLY wanted its dual-core successor -- until they released it with that stupid 3D gimmick.

My 14-year-old son loves his new Photon too. The 15-year-old is still holding out for the Galaxy S2.

I was in the same boat as you, prior to the EVO release. I've been an absolute Android addict ever since. Because of my experiences with WinMo, I'll never trust Microsoft for cell phones ever again (even though the Windows Phone 7 is actually getting decent reviews). Nontheless, congrats on the move to Android. The best is yet to come as you start to really get comfortable with it and learn all the ins-and-outs of Android.

 

[Streptovsky]

Maybe it's just because my two previous phones were an HTC Droid Eris and an LG Optimus T, and the Photon is spoiling my stunted taste buds with its rich taste, but I don't have a single thing to complain about.

After installing the ADW Launcher, a theme, and a keyboard skin, the phone is perfect.


Here are some things I didn't like (but by no means made me hate the phone) about the stock launcher:

-Keyboard only had number alternate keys on alphabetic keyboard instead of full symbols (Fixed with keyboard skin)

-Phone didn't seem to like Juice Defender (not really a huge issue, since turning off the mobile data is as simple as a widget click anyway, I just liked the convenience of it being automatic)



That's it. Honestly I sat here for ten minutes trying to think of anything else that peeved me in the slightest way. Couldn't think of anything. I'm in love.

If anyone is interested, I'm using ADW Launcher + Mariux's Tron Legacy Red Glow Theme/Live Wallpaper/Red Glow Keyboard + Smart Keyboard

 

[drexappeal]

-Phone didn't seem to like Juice Defender (not really a huge issue, since turning off the mobile data is as simple as a widget click anyway, I just liked the convenience of it being automatic)

Really? Was that only when you were using the stock launcher or when you were using ADW. I've been running Juice Defender from day 1 and it's been running just as well as it did for me on my EVO. What was happening that seemed like the MoPho wasn't liking the app?

If anyone is interested, I'm using ADW Launcher + Mariux's Tron Legacy Red Glow Theme/Live Wallpaper/Red Glow Keyboard + Smart Keyboard

Can you post the market links for the themes? I may add more information on the Launcher Thread that'll include themes. Only reason I hadn't done that yet is because there are SO many different themes available for the top launchers (e.g. LPP, ADW, Go Launcher Ex, etc.).

 

[twospirits]

@Streptovsky
When I had the EVO 4G I used Thumbs keyboard and although the stock Photon one is fine, I might redownload Thumbs as well as Smart Keyboard and use that to compare.

TS

 

[Streptovsky]

Really? Was that only when you were using the stock launcher or when you were using ADW. I've been running Juice Defender from day 1 and it's been running just as well as it did for me on my EVO. What was happening that seemed like the MoPho wasn't liking the app?



Can you post the market links for the themes? I may add more information on the Launcher Thread that'll include themes. Only reason I hadn't done that yet is because there are SO many different themes available for the top launchers (e.g. LPP, ADW, Go Launcher Ex, etc.).

It was stuck on 'Data Off - User/Screen'. I think that was because I was manually toggling my data, but that was only because it wouldn't toggle it on/off itself. If I left my 4g on and turned JD on, it wouldn't shut the 4g off when I locked the phone.

BatteryLife (the Curvefish app) also isn't very compatible with the MoPho. It works, but unlike most phones where it shows the whole number (i.e. 55% or 98%) it only shows decimal numbers (90%, 60%, 40%). Kind of irritating, but not a huge deal.


And sure. Here.

ADW Launcher
ADW Theme Glow Legacy Red Pro - Mariux
Glow Legacy Live Wallpaper Red - Mariux
Smart Keyboard Pro
Glow Legacy Red Keyboard Skin - Mariux

The themes/skins give the phone a very evil tron feel to it, if you've ever watched Tron Legacy, which I suppose is the point. It ended up costing me about 5-8 dollars to fully customize the phone with it, but I think it was well worth it. I'll post screens if I can ever get the screencap working.

Mariux allows bill to account, but the maker of Smart Keyboard doesn't. If you like autocorrect, you'd need the pro version. The trial only autocorrects compound words.

 

[Ronnie]

So I called sprint yesterday and told them about all the problems ive been having with my photon and explained that I want to return it and go back to my EVO. I am out of the 30 day grace period but they let me do it anyways. I just didnt see that much if any upgrade from the photon over the EVO. I am an avid android user and I love phones but something seemed like it was missing. It dreally doesn't do anything that my EVO cant do. In fact I think the EVO is smoother and all around a better phone. I bought my photon outright so maybe I was just expecting more. My main gripe with the photon was i didn't get the signal I got with my EVO and the Bluetooth would have a mind of its own. So now I'm thinking about switching to an iPhone if it comes to Sprint or a blackberry. Someone please get these demons out of my head

 

[brushrop03]

Interesting. I'd have to say my cell reception is way better on the Photon. I have my Evo right here and just going through opening apps and what not, I can tell the Photon is much snappier.

Please don't go to the Iphone. Such boring phones. The Galaxy 2 should be out next week or the week after at the latest.

But honestly i'm considering taking it back also for other reasons...

 

[whatsitsname]

Err I don't know how you are outside 30 days when the phone hasn't even been release for 30 days.

 

[mak916]

Interesting. I'd have to say my cell reception is way better on the Photon. I have my Evo right here and just going through opening apps and what not, I can tell the Photon is much snappier.

Please don't go to the Iphone. Such boring phones. The Galaxy 2 should be out next week or the week after at the latest.

But honestly i'm considering taking it back also for other reasons...

I would like to hear why you are considering taking it back?