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Review: Motorola Photon 4G

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Aug 1, 2011, 9:40 PM by Eric M. Zeman

Motorola fields its first WiMax handset for Sprint in the Photon 4G, a new super slab that takes every feature to the nth degree. Motorola sends this Photon torpedo into the heart of the smartphone competition in hopes of blowing them all up. Does Motorola succeed?

Motorola debuts its first WiMax handset for Sprint in the Photon 4G, a Gingerbread-packing monoblock of sheer smartphone power. If HTC's WiMax handsets aren't turning you on, the Photon 4G should get you all hot and bothered. Here's why.

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About the author, Eric M. Zeman:

Eric has been covering the mobile telecommunications industry for 17 years at various print and online publications. He studied at Rutgers Newark and University of Kentucky, and has a degree in writing. He likes playing guitar, attending concerts, listening to music, and driving sports cars.

Phone Scoop spent some time with Motorola's two new Android handsets for the Sprint network. Here are our first impressions of these two beauts!

Sprint Reveals Motorola Photon 4G

Jun 9, 2011
At an event in NYC today, Sprint and Motorola announced the Photon 4G. Much like the Atrix, the Photon supports a laptop dock or HD multimedia dock - and Webtop app - that lets it run a Firefox browser like a desktop PC.

Motorola Talks Jelly Bean Updates for Its U.S. Devices

Oct 20, 2012
Motorola has updated the list of devices that will receive updated versions of Android and is revealing for the first time those slated to get Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. The Droid RAZR M, RAZR HD, and MAXX HD are all schedule to receive the Jelly Bean update before the end of the year.

Motorola Promises to Update Droid Bionic to Android 4.0

Sep 23, 2012
Motorola has indicated that the Android 4.0 update for the Droid Bionic that was scheduled to occur in during the third quarter of this year has been delayed until the fourth quarter. No details were provided as to why, but Motorola VP of product Punit Soni promised that the update will be delivered before the end of the year.

Sprint Pushing Maintenance Update to Moto Photon

Jul 11, 2012
Sprint today detailed changes headed to the Motorola Photon 4G by way of a maintenance update for its system software. The update makes it easier to import contacts from an SD card, improves music playback via streaming music services, boosts the performance of the mobile hotspot feature, and makes it easier to create and accept calendar meeting requests on the phone.

Motorola Photon 4G / Electrify

4.3" display 540 x 960 pixels
dual-core Nvidia Tegra2 processor
1,700 mAh battery
Memory Card Slot, Headphone Jack (3.5mm)

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Comments

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vphonzter

Aug 15, 2011, 1:15 PM

The flaws I saw

These are the flaws that I found in the first day of using the phone:

1. The USB/charging port & HDMI port are located on the left side of the phone, which make it impossible to stand the phone on the kickstand if any of the cables are plugged in. Also chances are that you will need to plug either of the two while you are using the kickstand. I cannot watch movies on my Netflix (during which I almost always need my charger) on the kickstand.

2. The battery backup I experienced was not amazing. Rather after charging the phone overnight, I had to put it back on for charging at around 1:30 pm. All I did was a little messaging and a couple of small calls.

I still am in the 30 days period so I am going to take my time and decide if it i...
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vphonzter

Also, I can notice a slight lag coming up when I unlock the screen and when I move between screens.
I would be glad if someone could help me compare this monzter with the Evo 3D, which has a similar processor and slightly better look with the Sense ...
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theking7830

Aug 2, 2011, 3:52 AM

Another wannabe EVO

Is anybody else out there getting tired of all these wannabe EVO 4G phones out there... this phone is excactly the same thing... common android lets do something different.....

Rich Brome

It's not exactly like the EVO. It has world roaming and a better display than the EVO.

Did you read the review? In our tests, it performs much better than the EVO on fundamentals like signal strength and battery life.

This phone has almost every...
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muchdrama

theking7830 said:
Is anybody else out there getting tired of all these wannabe EVO 4G phones out there... this phone is excactly the same thing... common android lets do something different.....

Okay, kids, I know i...
(continues)

jeffdws

like a disgruntled Evo owner who is self conscious that his phone is no longer top dog with Sprint.

Even if that's not the case, it's hard to understand the thought of "copying" the Evo...so it copies the Evo because it has a large screen, no keybo...
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rawvega

Aug 1, 2011, 10:44 PM

Would have been the perfect phone for me...

...if only Motorola would have had the foresight to include CDMA800 ESMR support in it! Oh well... 😢

iDont Care

rawvega said:
...if only Motorola would have had the foresight to include CDMA800 ESMR support in it! Oh well... 😢

By the time that's implemented, this phone will be obsolete and you'd be due for an upgrade any...
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