Motorola Photon 4G Rated 4.25 out 5 by Wireless and Mobile News' Review of Reviews
Reviewers of the Motorola Photon 4G raved about its power, great audio/video playing, excellent call quality, global voice/data roaming, touchscreen, media dock, HDMI mirroring to HDTV and fast data speeds. The Motorola Photon 4G received PC Editors' Choice awards from two editors.
The Motorola Photon 4G has many features to make business users happy, including data security and enterprise email. It can also be very entertaining with full 1080p video playing, streaming Netflix, Internet radio and FM radio.
Reviewers were not fond of the Motorblur UI or Sprint ID skinning, photo quality or clunky design. Overall though they noted that it offered the faster data speeds than the HTC EVO 3D . They really liked the kickstand to watch videos. The onscreen keyboard lacks a .com and @ key making typing on it more difficult.
The Motorola Photon 4 has a dual-core 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor and Android 2.3 Gingerbread. The Motorola Photon 4G is a world phone with GSM capabilities, a 4.3-inch qHD touchscreen, dual cameras and a kickstand. Other features include Enterprise security, HDMI connectivity, 16GB storage on board, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, hotspots, kickstand and a 1700mAh battery.
So who should buy this top of the line smartphone? International business travelers may need the ability to roam outside the Sprint network at (although it's expensive, you can add a SIM from another country it you are going to use it a lot) along with enterprise security. Early adopters will love the data speeds, media players and Netflix video viewing. Those who like to talk on the phone will like the great voice quality. The Motorola Photon 4G has definitely got a lot to offer.
The Motorola Photon 4G sells for $199 with a contract from Sprint. Amazon Wireless sells it at a discounted rate which today is $179, which may go lower later. Wirefly with a low-price guarantee. Sascha Segan at PCMag rated the Motorola Photon 4G 4.5 out of 5 giving it Editors' Choice for its 4G speed, world phone/data access, high-resolution touchscreen, top-notch media players and nettop dock. You didn't like that it does not have a laptop dock. He calls it one of the most powerful Android smartphones you can buy today. He thinks it's better than the Motorola Atrix and is an excellent voice phone with better data connections than the HTC Evo 3D. The SIM card slot is unlocked so that can put in a different SIM when you are out of the country. Benchmark tests were compatible with other dual core smartphones. the desktop dock will let you attach a monitor, mouse and keyboard to use it like a computer. Media Link lets you sync your music, photos and videos with your computer. He also called it a great multimedia phone with the ability to stream via HDMI movies on Netflix to an HDTV. The music player app is epic. He recommends it over the HTC EVO 3D and Nexus S 4G, but suggest the Samsung Epic 4G if you need a keyboard.
Nicole Lee at CNET rated the Motorola Photon 4G 4 out of 5 because it is a powerhouse, has Android 2.3 Gingerbread, dual-core processor, dual-mode compatibility, multimedia features, mobile hotspot, secure data encryption, kickstand and great performance. She didn't like people the design, Motoblur, Sprint ID or photo-quality. The 4.3-inch qHD display is vibrant with some pixelation issues. Overall performance was snappy but slowed by Motoblur with faster data speeds than the EVO 3D. The Photon 4G supports full HD 1080p video playback and plays Flash videos on the web. She liked the improved music player. Call quality was great. Speeds were impressive download speeds averaged around 8.72Mbps and upload speeds of around 1.27Mbps. Battery life was good. She called it one of the best smartphone options for Sprint.
Mark Spoonauer at LaptopMag rated the Motorola Photon 4G 4 of 5 and gave it Editors' Choice for business- friendly features, global roaming and media power. The touchscreen is bright and crisp. The touchscreen keyboard lacks a .com key and @ key. The Motoblur UI is called fine but not as sophisticated as HTC Sense. Benchmark tests were good while the Motorola Photon 4G excelled in graphics with excellent gaming performance. The universal inbox is good feature. International roaming form Sprint is expensive Data roaming is priced at $0.16 per kilobyte in GSM countries equaling $16.38 per MB. CDMA roaming is $2 per MB. Web browsing was fast. Outdoor photos were excellent while indoor photos suffered. 720p video recording was excellent. Call quality was good. HDMI mirroring worked smoothly. Video calling did not work well.