[Cubfan]

For me, the Evo 3d had problems I couldn't live with, and I'm not talking the 3D, which was actually kinda fun for about 2 days until I ran out of asprin. Here are a few things that caused me to return it:

1. The light behind the buttons at the bottom were bright lasers that shot holes through my eyeballs.
2. Like the Evo before it, the Bluetooth was wonky. If you left wifi turned on, it would cause interferance and would disconnect my car... driving into a strong wifi signal would cause it to disconnect. No fix for the same trouble with my older Evo.
3. Worse reception and call quality than the Evo... no, not just worse, terrible.
4. I missed the kickstand more than just a little.
5. Video quality was just as bad as the Evo... no improvement.
6. The Sense 3.0 bloat drove me crazy. Explain to me the point of that silly carousel.
7. Where's my HDMI port? I just bought the damned cable. Don't want to buy a stupid dongle.

The Photon addresses all of these and adds more things I love:

1. The auto-brightness works as it should. The Evos were always too bright in the dark, and I look at my phone a lot as my wife sleeps.
2. I like the notifications, how you can delete them individually.
3. I can remove/swap the SD card without rebooting.
4. I get the stock Honeycomb/CM7 wink-out effect back (which I really love).
5. The glass doesn't feel like the fingerprint magnet that other phones are.
6. Panorama mode on camera is cool. Photo quality seems a tad better than the Evos, especially in low light where the Evo was an epic failure.
7. Did I mention how awesome the car dock is?
8. Charges extremely fast.

Now, to be fair, there are some things I don't like about the Photon. If you can live with them, you may need to upgrade or switch. Not a problem for me, but the jury is still out. They may annoy the crap out of me eventually:

1. The back of the phone is nearly impossible to remove and put back on. Not kidding.
2. The kickstand is hard to deploy, and I constantly played with my Evo kickstand. Maybe the creators saw that and decided to cure me of this annoying habit. My wife thanks them.
3. The white menus seem to affect the display of menus in applications. Black half-way down, then white the rest. This really needs to be fixed. C'mon... give us the totally black Stock/CM7 menus.
4. The display. First you may not like it or even hate it. Give it time. Grew on me big-time.
5. Blur. 'Nuff said... took me about 20 minutes to dump it for GoLauncher EX. Suggest you do the same and quit saying that it sucks. Just dump it already like you did with Sense. You did, didn't you?
6. Haven't found a flashlight app yet, though I haven't looked very hard.
7. The front camera sucks, but who uses that?

Now, I know there are some who will say I'm nuts, blind, and employed by Motorola. Some of my friends and family might agree with the first two. But I can assure you, I've never been a Moto-lover. This phone just feels solid in ways that the Evo 3D never came close to (for me, anyway).

As I said, I'm still in my 30 days, so I may return and go back to my old Evo that I still have and wait for the next train to leave the station. However, I doubt it. This phone has me sold (so far).

[boggs3010#ac]

My favorite thing so far is the BLAZING fast 4g speeds. I have and love my 3d. But I used the store 3d and my Photon, both on 4g. And ran Speed test. The photon 9.1 Mbps and the 3d 5.1mbps. Test were ran at the same time side by side.

And the phone call quality ( when working correctly) is crystal clear. On the 3d people ask me if I am in a tunnel.

[mapleleaf14#ac]

I agree, especially the stupid carousel effect...every time I needed to go to a specific app, there it went spinning outta control!!

Plus I am glad to be rid of that damn rattling, cheap feeling camera button & 2d/3d switch on the 3D!

I just never really felt like I liked my Evo 3D the entire time I had it, and that rattling really made the phone feel & sound cheap. It also had some weird quirks and I just never felt confident with my purchase of it.

Never was a fan of the camera pod on the back of the 3D either...goofy looking!

I already love the Photon more than I could have ever loved the 3D.

The radios in the Photon are no doubt better than the Evo and, at least in my experience, the rear camera is much better. I mean, it's not one of my Nikon dslr's or anything, but for a phone it seems to be the best I've used since I left the iPhone and came back to Android (Epic, Evo, and Evo 3D in that order.) It definitely seems to have a better processor than the 3D IMO too.

[JayWill]

Nice summary man. Personal reviews like these, that include pros and cons based on the viewpoint of the user, are always more valuable to me than the stock reviews from tech and news gadget sites (no offense AC!).

[BigIke06]

Great review thanks for the insight. The choice is now easy lol

For me, the Evo 3d had problems I couldn't live with, and I'm not talking the 3D, which was actually kinda fun for about 2 days until I ran out of asprin. Here are a few things that caused me to return it:

1. The light behind the buttons at the bottom were bright lasers that shot holes through my eyeballs.
2. Like the Evo before it, the Bluetooth was wonky. If you left wifi turned on, it would cause interferance and would disconnect my car... driving into a strong wifi signal would cause it to disconnect. No fix for the same trouble with my older Evo.
3. Worse reception and call quality than the Evo... no, not just worse, terrible.
4. I missed the kickstand more than just a little.
5. Video quality was just as bad as the Evo... no improvement.
6. The Sense 3.0 bloat drove me crazy. Explain to me the point of that silly carousel.
7. Where's my HDMI port? I just bought the damned cable. Don't want to buy a stupid dongle.

The Photon addresses all of these and adds more things I love:

1. The auto-brightness works as it should. The Evos were always too bright in the dark, and I look at my phone a lot as my wife sleeps.
2. I like the notifications, how you can delete them individually.
3. I can remove/swap the SD card without rebooting.
4. I get the stock Honeycomb/CM7 wink-out effect back (which I really love).
5. The glass doesn't feel like the fingerprint magnet that other phones are.
6. Panorama mode on camera is cool. Photo quality seems a tad better than the Evos, especially in low light where the Evo was an epic failure.
7. Did I mention how awesome the car dock is?
8. Charges extremely fast.

Now, to be fair, there are some things I don't like about the Photon. If you can live with them, you may need to upgrade or switch. Not a problem for me, but the jury is still out. They may annoy the crap out of me eventually:

1. The back of the phone is nearly impossible to remove and put back on. Not kidding.
2. The kickstand is hard to deploy, and I constantly played with my Evo kickstand. Maybe the creators saw that and decided to cure me of this annoying habit. My wife thanks them.
3. The white menus seem to affect the display of menus in applications. Black half-way down, then white the rest. This really needs to be fixed. C'mon... give us the totally black Stock/CM7 menus.
4. The display. First you may not like it or even hate it. Give it time. Grew on me big-time.
5. Blur. 'Nuff said... took me about 20 minutes to dump it for GoLauncher EX. Suggest you do the same and quit saying that it sucks. Just dump it already like you did with Sense. You did, didn't you?
6. Haven't found a flashlight app yet, though I haven't looked very hard.
7. The front camera sucks, but who uses that?

Now, I know there are some who will say I'm nuts, blind, and employed by Motorola. Some of my friends and family might agree with the first two. But I can assure you, I've never been a Moto-lover. This phone just feels solid in ways that the Evo 3D never came close to (for me, anyway).

As I said, I'm still in my 30 days, so I may return and go back to my old Evo that I still have and wait for the next train to leave the station. However, I doubt it. This phone has me sold (so far).

[Cubfan]

Oh, forgot to mention a biggie... On the 3d, if you save an app to SD, when you reboot, it loses the app icon if you saved it to a home screen. Not sure how a bug like that made it through testing.

And I agree that I am glad to be rid of the rattling in my pocket from the loose camera button.

[mapleleaf14#ac]

I actually lost the icons of the apps I put on my card on the Photon too, but with 16gb, I just moved them back to the phone. With my 32gb card for everything else, I'll have plenty of room on the phone for apps.

[garciaop]

Is it really that. Hard to pull the Cover to exchange the battery?

[wynand32]

I agree with pretty much everything except:

1. The auto-brightness is NOT working correctly for me. Or, at least, not the way I expect coming from an Epic. I expect it to dim when I enter a dark room and brighten when I enter a bright room. It only seems to do so (sometimes) when I unlock it, not just from the transition. The related in-pocket protection deal also doesn't work, for what it's worth.

2. I thought the screen was great from the first, and still do. And its absolutely OUTSTANDING outside in direct sunlight. I can read the thing clearly, here in SoCal, at noon. First time ever with a phone.

[wynand32]

Is it really that. Hard to pull the Cover to exchange the battery?

It's really easy, actually, if you have a crowbar.

[Cubfan]

Is it really that. Hard to pull the Cover to exchange the battery?

Ever open a coconut? Much easier.

Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk

[luvbug]

1. It isn't an Evo 4G, 3D, or Shift.
2. I can hear the person on the other end of the Call. It has a signal (No drop calls)
3. International now.
I have nothing against HTC Evo brands just good to be different. Love my old 4G Evo not so much 3D. The phone is real fast also.
I like saying I have Photon Phone sounds cool.

[TheM8rix]

For me, the Evo 3d had problems I couldn't live with, and I'm not talking the 3D, which was actually kinda fun for about 2 days until I ran out of asprin. Here are a few things that caused me to return it:

1. The light behind the buttons at the bottom were bright lasers that shot holes through my eyeballs.
2. Like the Evo before it, the Bluetooth was wonky. If you left wifi turned on, it would cause interferance and would disconnect my car... driving into a strong wifi signal would cause it to disconnect. No fix for the same trouble with my older Evo.
3. Worse reception and call quality than the Evo... no, not just worse, terrible.
4. I missed the kickstand more than just a little.
5. Video quality was just as bad as the Evo... no improvement.
6. The Sense 3.0 bloat drove me crazy. Explain to me the point of that silly carousel.
7. Where's my HDMI port? I just bought the damned cable. Don't want to buy a stupid dongle.

The Photon addresses all of these and adds more things I love:

1. The auto-brightness works as it should. The Evos were always too bright in the dark, and I look at my phone a lot as my wife sleeps.
2. I like the notifications, how you can delete them individually.
3. I can remove/swap the SD card without rebooting.
4. I get the stock Honeycomb/CM7 wink-out effect back (which I really love).
5. The glass doesn't feel like the fingerprint magnet that other phones are.
6. Panorama mode on camera is cool. Photo quality seems a tad better than the Evos, especially in low light where the Evo was an epic failure.
7. Did I mention how awesome the car dock is?
8. Charges extremely fast.

Now, to be fair, there are some things I don't like about the Photon. If you can live with them, you may need to upgrade or switch. Not a problem for me, but the jury is still out. They may annoy the crap out of me eventually:

1. The back of the phone is nearly impossible to remove and put back on. Not kidding.
2. The kickstand is hard to deploy, and I constantly played with my Evo kickstand. Maybe the creators saw that and decided to cure me of this annoying habit. My wife thanks them.
3. The white menus seem to affect the display of menus in applications. Black half-way down, then white the rest. This really needs to be fixed. C'mon... give us the totally black Stock/CM7 menus.
4. The display. First you may not like it or even hate it. Give it time. Grew on me big-time.
5. Blur. 'Nuff said... took me about 20 minutes to dump it for GoLauncher EX. Suggest you do the same and quit saying that it sucks. Just dump it already like you did with Sense. You did, didn't you?
6. Haven't found a flashlight app yet, though I haven't looked very hard.
7. The front camera sucks, but who uses that?

Now, I know there are some who will say I'm nuts, blind, and employed by Motorola. Some of my friends and family might agree with the first two. But I can assure you, I've never been a Moto-lover. This phone just feels solid in ways that the Evo 3D never came close to (for me, anyway).

As I said, I'm still in my 30 days, so I may return and go back to my old Evo that I still have and wait for the next train to leave the station. However, I doubt it. This phone has me sold (so far).

Hi. I noticed you said you were having some trouble with your kickstand being difficult to open. One common error people are making with the kickstand, is that they're opening it at the end, rather than from the groove in the center of the kickstand...where the speaker is. Super flips!

I haven't had any difficulty with the back of the phone....but if you haven't any fingernails...then I could see why it would be hard to get it started. I get it started, then kind of peel it like an orange. Works pretty well for me.

[Cubfan]

Hi. I noticed you said you were having some trouble with your kickstand being difficult to open. One common error people are making with the kickstand, is that they're opening it at the end, rather than from the groove in the center of the kickstand...where the speaker is. Super flips!

Brilliant! This works for me. Knock on of the cons off my list.

[johnner1999]

hows is the speaker on the Photon, can you use it as a desktop 'radio'? Example the iPhone 4 plays loud and clear... evo 3d didn't for me... typically Moto built a rock solid speaker in the past but???

I know its a small issue but both me and the wife use it this way a good amount.

[Cubfan]

Speaker is the best yet. Even better than my iPad, in my opinion. Had to turn down my ringtones to keep from shaking the walls.

[ManimalBlue]

Me too. I almost jump out of my skin with the ringer all the way up.
I play netflix for my son at mcdonalds and we have to turn the volume down as not to bug the other people.

Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk

[RBrown9180]

Speaker is loud for sure. Much louder then my epic was. I too find myself turning the volume down.

[aaron130]

Good review! I too am so glad I dumped the 3D. It just wasn't what I expected it to be. To be honest if u had an original Evo it didn't seem like much of a jump! As for a flashlight app I found a pretty good one. It's called Tiny Flashlight + LED. Check it out!

[dguidry12]

Coming from the evo. 3d i must say that this phone blows the evo away in every category ..glad i followed my first mind and took the evo back in time ..its simply no comparison

[jacobrdavis]

hows is the speaker on the Photon, can you use it as a desktop 'radio'? Example the iPhone 4 plays loud and clear... evo 3d didn't for me... typically Moto built a rock solid speaker in the past but???

I know its a small issue but both me and the wife use it this way a good amount.

The speaker is really good. And unlike some other phones I've used, it just as loud when you're looking at the screen as it is if you turn it over and have the speaker facing you which is nice.

[primal5]

I'm using quicker for settings and flashlight app

Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk

[tx_dbs_tx]

I also like my Photon better than the EVO 3D. I have two EVO 4 G's and one EVO 3D. This is my very first Motorola smartphone. I'm a die-hard HTC fan. Here's my findings.

1. First and foremost,the Photon's signal strength is SUPERIOR to any HTC EVO! At my home my regular EVO's get poor flakey signal and have constant data disconnects on 3G and 4G. My EVO 3D is the worst! Now with my Photon I get a solid and consistent 3G AND 4G signal with no disconnects! Let me also state that I have a steel roof on my home! (I live near Galveston island and we are prone to hurricanes, hence the metal roof) Now that's incredible! This was the biggest reason for my purchase of the Motorola Photon and I couldn't be happier now. (I read up on the Photon before buying it) Motorola is known for having top notch radios and the Photon is no exception. If you have poor signal where you live, give the Photon a try and you will be suprised.

2. The second biggest advantage the Photon has over all the HTC EVO's is the LCD screen consumes much less battery. Battery life of the Photon is a big improvement over all of the HTC EVO's and this is mostly due to the effeciency of the Photon's PenTile LCD display technology (that's the reason behind the technology... improved battery life). I'm VERY happy with my Photon's battery life and I don't worry about needing a charger with me at all times like I do with my EVO's.

3. For those of you who like AOSP ROMs like Cyanogen, Deck's, etc, the Photon has a very clean and smooth AOSP Gingerbread OS. Motorola has left it pretty clean and straight forward with no invasive OS overlay like Sense UI. It's a very zippy device with no lag. It also has some very cool features.

4. The speaker volumes as well as sound and call quality of the internal and external speakers on the Photon is GREAT! Far superior to all of the EVO's. Fact not myth.

5.Kickstand! The Photon's kickstand works horizontally and vertically. Awesome! I like having a kickstand!

6.The Photon's Nvidia Tegra 2 1.0 ghz dual core processor out-performs the Snapdragon 1.2ghz dual core processors. Plus I'm a gamer and really like Nvidia graphics cards.WIN WIN

7.Last but not least: BUILD QUALITY IS SUPERB! No light leakage whatsoever from beneath the display. All buttons are sturdy with no rattling and have a good feel when pressed. The volume and camera keys have a nice texture and are easy to identify in the dark. The weight is perfect to me. The size feels great in the hand. The back battery cover is sturdy with a rubberized finish and isn't as flimsy as the EVO's (although a little more dificult to remove). The bezel around the gorilla glass display has a black chrome appearance and looks nice. The overall cosmetic design of the Photon looks and feels great.

I have not done any testing with the camera, wi-fi, bluetooth, etc so I can't speak about those things at this time. I have to assume those features will not dissapoint either.

[mgiven]

Did everyone see the Wirefly Schmackdown video comparing the two? Very comprehensive.



They call it a draw, but the EVO only pulled close in the end because of the gimmic 3D photos and video and the scrolling UI. Every category that I actually care about was a Photon win.

[dwaynewilliams#WN]

Motorola makes quality devices. I'm excited to go to the Sprint store and play with one. I had a Droid X before I left Verizon for Sprint and it was a really awesome device.