Double posting in two threads, but applies here as well
-----------------------------------------------------------
I had figured on July 31st before heading to the store that I'd be leaning toward returning it AROUND today and at least looking at the SGSII and deciding then. Today I know I'm sticking with Motorola and the Photon. It is just ROCK solid in build quality and the perfect size, weight and feel for me as hadware goes. After a month unprotected in pocket it doesn't have a scratch or smudge on it. The phone has never reset once and every call has gone through perfectly. The speaker is loudest I've ever heard. The call clarity is the best I've experienced on any phone. The signal reception is the strongest I've ever had on any phone. The camera is decent and I've gotten some good shots from it. The video is especially strong, even if "only" 720. Love the HDMI out and the ability to hook up to my big living room TV for "mirror phone" mode to watch movies or gaming. One daughter woudln't be able to give up Riptide GP easily and the 6-year old thinks Angry Birds on a HD bigscreen is too cool for words. Also love the ability to download movies on the phone and then play them easily on the living room tv. I'm sure you can do this on many phones with an HDMI out, but it's nice and easy. Oh..also add the GSM worldphone capability is a hardware plus.
As far as software goes I've grown used to the UI and it's really not as bad a some say. The first thing I did was delete anything bloated, dump all widgets and run off a plain black screen for battery life. I guess this makes it as plain vanilla as possible, but it also means the UI would be the same if I did something similar on Samsung or HTC. LOVE the widget clock mode that becomes available when you take out the kickstand. Perfect for the nightstand and the alarm on the Photon is great. My wife says it's the most pestering/annoying alarm I've had on a phone
Other "toys" or pluses for the MoPho: The car dock and HD station absolutely rock and coudln't imagine life without them now. I took a long trip (18 hours in the car) with the car dock and it just changed the whole experience. We had my phone in the cradle kept to 100% power and running Sprint navigation, music AND web browsing at the same time the whole trip and still INCREASED power till full and stayed there. Played with default music app, Sirus/XM, MOG, Netflix, Spotify, LastFM and Pandora and all worked well through car dock. Added bonus was the ability to run my wife's Pre- on the extra USB and charge her to 100% and keep it there as well WHILE running all the stuff on mine. The car dock totally changes the "in car" experience.
The HD Station is sitting on my desk whenever I need an extra computer. I bought a cheap wireless keyboard/mouse for it and it plugs into an extra monitor I have here. The browsing experience is equal to a netbook, but with a full sized keyboard, monitor and display. You won't be doing massive photoshop projects or intense gaming, but it's fine for web browsing, email and light documents which is fine for me. It's also nice to charge the phone in the dock and not have to worry about balancing the kickstand upside down.
Intangibles that are only a guess: Motorola build quality will mean more longevity over a Samsung phone, Motorola will update more timely than Samsung and especially now with the Google purchase.
So...sticking with the MoPho
The Photon, however, easily powers through a day and a half with light gaming, SMS, etc (I can personally attest to this.)
)
