Galaxy S II or Photon

[mastrcruse]

I ended up getting the galaxy. I love it ago far. Compared to my gf.s photon it runs about one bar lower in bad reception areas. The screen is much nicer and the battery life seems to be okay. I've been downloading apps, surfing the web, texting, calling since 7a this morning and I still have 85% battery. I'm going to test it out for the next week and see ifI wasn't to keep. Probably will.

 

[Cobravision]

Theres a big difference when someone sends you a phone in the mail for free and when you spend $400-$600 for it.

Actually, I think the people who don't pay for the phone are more impartial than the ones who do. Once you sink $200-$500 on what you thought was the best phone, you're probably going to get defensive if everyone tells you different. The mood in the Evo 3D and Photon forums right now is very deep resentment and denial.

 

[willysp]

Actually, I think the people who don't pay for the phone are more impartial than the ones who do. Once you sink $200-$500 on what you thought was the best phone, you're probably going to get defensive if everyone tells you different. The mood in the Evo 3D and Photon forums right now is very deep resentment and denial.

Impartial reviewers are quite rare - the people who get them for free seem to review Every new phone as the Best Ever!

And resentment and denial is a bit of an overstatement, i think What I see in those forums today is no different in any forum when a new competitive phone is released:
- 1/3 Fanboys who act like their perceived superiority of their current phone is directly tied to their self-esteem and say "only my current phone is any good",
- 1/3 Haters "anyone who doesn't love the new phone is an idiot or blind",
- 1/3 who offer reasonable opinions and aren't offended if others have differing opinions.

For me - I had a EVO 4g, then EVO 3D, then Photon, and am considering the SGS2. All of the last 3 I mentioned are quite nice leading phones.

 

[willysp]

Even if you do travel globally, I do about 20% of my time, get a cheap Nokia dumb phone and the E4GT. I don't use data when travelling other than wifi at the hotel... Which you can connect to anyway.

Nothing wrong with that approach - many of my colleagues do that since their phone gives them no other option. Me though, I hate carrying 2 phones especially if overseas for an extended time. I carried 2 for a year in China, and was always swapping back and forth during the day for calls versus emails. Having recently spent 6 months in India, I really liked putting a local SIM card in my Touch Pro 2 and still having all my contacts, emails, pics, etc in the same phone.

That's one of the main reasons I switched from EVO 3D to Photon.

 

[willysp]

I'm out of the US right now, so can't see the Sprint version. I've seen the non-US versions and was wowed by the thinness. What kind of protective cases is Sprint offering, and how much does that reduce the perceived thinness?

The bare Samsung is much thinner than my bare Photon - but since a same-brand/style case will add the same thickness and about the same weight to both phones, I wonder how much a case will reduce the perceived difference in thickness and weight?

 

[dguidry12]

Ok everyone on here pretty much knows I'm straight up and honest no fan to anything ..the Photon is an awesome phone ..the build quality and antennas or radios are top notch ..the processor speed is nit much different then the galaxy I'm real life application ..also the audio loud speaker is second to none ..I currently have both phones and the Sammy does have reception and 3g issues ..the thing it wins over the photon is camera, screen, and battery life. .case closed

 

[dguidry12]

I'm out of the US right now, so can't see the Sprint version. I've seen the non-US versions and was wowed by the thinness. What kind of protective cases is Sprint offering, and how much does that reduce the perceived thinness?

Thinner but not much thinner as you have stated.. be honest I have both phones right now

The bare Samsung is much thinner than my bare Photon - but since a same-brand/style case will add the same thickness and about the same weight to both phones, I wonder how much a case will reduce the perceived difference in thickness and weight?

 

[willysp]

Thinner but not much thinner as you have stated.. be honest I have both phones right now

Thanks for the reply. I didn't mention that the non-US versions I saw were all dead demos (the fake static screen). The lack of weight probably affected my perception of thickness.

I also wonder about the 'bump' at the bottom - seems like that would make it hard for Seidio (my fav case) to make their 2-piece slip-on Surface case.

 

[willysp]

Ok everyone on here pretty much knows I'm straight up and honest no fan to anything ..the Photon is an awesome phone ..the build quality and antennas or radios are top notch ..the processor speed is nit much different then the galaxy I'm real life application ..also the audio loud speaker is second to none ..I currently have both phones and the Sammy does have reception and 3g issues ..the thing it wins over the photon is camera, screen, and battery life. .case closed

I'm like you - not a fanboy. No phone / car / product is perfect ... I always see pros and cons to anything I evaluate, and don't get emotionally invested in my decisions.

WRT the screen - can you say more? I was skeptical about the Photon's screen from reading reviews, but was very pleasantly surprised in the store. Do you like the Samsung colors, brightness better? What about the lower resolution combined with a larger screen - any pixelation / blockiness?

TIA

 

[techgeek32#WN]

If your work takes you outside of the country the Photon with its global GSM sim capabilities is the way to go. Other than that I'd say both are excellent devices, don't think you can go wrong either way. I currently own a Photon but I'm switching to the Galaxy SII Epic Touch 4g for the Amoled Plus Screen. My friends tell me I'm insane but as a graphic designer and a photographer I notice the pentile matrix on the Photon's screen and it drives me batty. They don't notice it, but I do. As mentioned before call quality on my Photon has been outstanding, fantastic battery life, really the entire experience has been great. The only reason I'm switching is just the screen which may or may not be an issue for you.

As always best advice would be to go check the two out in the sprint store and see which one you think will work best for you.

You might want to actually play with one first. I returned mine because thePhoton display is brighter than the ET, plus with the larger screen and lower resolution there were times when the text looked fuzzy on the ET. There are other issues as well, but I am so glad that I kept the Photon. Much better signal strength, call quality and better email functionality (no select all to delete on the ET).

 

[techgeek32#WN]

I do. I have used both side by side and the ET has terrible signal strength and much worse call quality than the Photon at least where I live. I usually would have one to two bars on the ET when I had full bars on the Photon. The speaker on the ET is loud, but not clear. The speakerphone on the Photon is useable while the ET is questionable. The ET is definitely better with sound than the Nexus Sand EVO 3D though.

 

[techgeek32#WN]

I have both. Tell me how the ET has a better calendar and more business apps.

 

[whatsitsname]

I do. I have used both side by side and the ET has terrible signal strength and much worse call quality than the Photon at least where I live. I usually would have one to two bars on the ET when I had full bars on the Photon. The speaker on the ET is loud, but not clear. The speakerphone on the Photon is useable while the ET is questionable. The ET is definitely better with sound than the Nexus Sand EVO 3D though.

This guy is 100% on point with the comparison.