Why should I upgrade to a Motorola Photon 4G?

Those were the words uttered by another fan of my outstanding demos. Ok, so not really. She wasn't even a Sprint customer. She's a staff member of my Chiropractic's office. She's one of the awesome people that fell in love with some amazing demos of the HTC EVO 3D. Truth be told it was damn hard to put down the 3D goodness of the "3VO". I mean seriously, how do you top that?



It seems that Motorola wasn't trying to top anyone when they made this device. They just made an incredible solid device all it's own. Sure, it has a kickstand like the HTC EVO 4G but that's a great feature that many people manufacturers are adding these days (Verizon & T-Mo phones have them too, respectively)

So without further ado I will give a quick run down of what I really like and unfortunately what I don't like too. Got to be honest, right?

Things I liked:
I like the qHd resolution and screen size. I love the 8 mp camera with dual led flash. I like how fast the shots come out without too much play on the dedicated camera button.

Full Digital Zoom

Regular Shot

Outdoor Regular Light Shot

Indoor Flash Shot

Outdoor 1/2 Digital Zoom Regular Light Shot

I like the ability to remove many of the stock apps. I like the pre-loaded Rich Location App (sort of an alternative to Google Places).


I like the stock Music and Email Apps. The stock Music App works and looks incredible with cover art and even found my saved playlists that I inserted from my HTC EVO 3D 8gb microSD card. The built in Files App displayed it all in an easy "Windows 7 PC" like manner.

If you choose to play your saved mp3s with the Motorola Photon 4G it will make recommendations for internet radio or music purchases via Amazon Mp3 app based on your music library. Audio quality was great and loud through headphones plugged in to the 3.5mm jack, and the external speakerphone got very loud without breaking up on my phone calls. The audio even has it's own EQ settings! I really like that feature bc I use my phone as an impromptu mp3 player in my rides.

The signal quality is great over 3G but REALLY shines over 4G. I got some pretty awesome download and upload speeds over the course of my weekend errands. The 1650 mAh battery was tested to the edge and performed every step of the way. I had an average of 20 to 22 hours with heavy use over the weekend which is just about on par with my EVO 3D experience.


Desktop Mode works with the device plugged in or not. (Either side of the device can be supported by the kickstand bc it's built so well) The device is so sleek and built so well.

I hate to make such comparisons but they are both equally impressive in their own respects from two top dog manufacturers. It really falls on who your loyalty remains with HTC Sense or the new revised Motorola UI (Anti-Blur?).

Things I do NOT like?

I been hearing many people saying this and it's totally true but I don't like the built in Motorola Widgets. I won't factor on individual bc to be honest they ALL suck. They are ugly, simple, and some don't even work as good as its predecessors. The Alarms & Timers Icon at the top is a battery with a check mark? WHY? Makes no sense. The battery icon is simple. The 4G indicators and signal indicators turn blue which is nice yada yada yada. I don't like the Gallery App to be honest either. I can see they wanted to match up the scheme with the music app but I don't like the layout and ease of accessing my pictures.


Why is the Micro USB Charger cord so short? I been noticing this on more and more new devices. It's bad enough that laptop USBs don't power them enough but then I need to figure out a way to get the cord on my desk somehow too? This needs to change. ASAP. Compare all your old chargers and tell me I'm wrong. Do it.

All in all it's a solid device and definitely worth an upgrade if you want some impressive accessories and some impressive speeds on hardware and radio signals. I haven't had it a full week so anything can change between now and Friday but hey I feel good about it and it's just what Sprint needs to continue churning out hot devices this summer. If you have an upgrade and looking to get into something a little different and fast then go for it.