E4GT v. Photon v. Epic 4G v. Evo 3D

[kevincwelch]

I've been considering a switch to the Epic 4G Touch, but concerns about reception and call quality have made me look at the Photon a little more closely. So, I went to the local Sprint Store and tested the phones out and compared them to my Epic 4G.

Firstly, wow, that Epic 4G Touch is amazing in terms of screen size and color. Looks awesome. The Photon is sharp, but a little more washed out comparatively.

So, I know this was done in the Sprint store and there are usually repeaters there, but it was the only way I could test out the phones side by side.

My phone: Epic 4G with SyndicateROM Frozen 1.2 with the Twilight kernel. Up against the Photon, Evo 3D and the E4GT.

I ran tests with the speedtest.net app and monitored signal strength with Network Signal Info.

Here are the results. All tests with Speedtest.net app were through the Chicago, IL server. Signal strength was monitored for 30 seconds. Each 4G and 3G test was the average of 5 runs. (The Sprint rep got really annoyed with me.)

E4GT:
Range -76 dbm to -86 dbm
4G: 4.34 down/0.71 up
3G: 0.45 down/0.03 up

Photon:
Range: consistently -76 dbm
4G: 5.16 down/1.12 up
3G: 0.19 down/0.12 up

Evo 3D:
Range -73 dbm to -76 dbm
4G: 3.1 down/.937 up
3G: 0.896 down/.352 up

Epic 4G (EF02 modem):
Range: -76 to -86 dbm
4G: 4.396 down/.712 up
3G: 0.91 down/.46 up

Not sure how helpful that was. But, I concluded a number of things.
1. The E4GT is impressive in size, color, and operating speed
2. 3G just plain sucks
3. Photon had better 4G downloads and uploads on average and worse 3G speeds on average.

Again, done in the Sprint store...but it was the only time I could take a look at the three phones I was interested in...

 

[Brainerd]

If you are going to travel overseas with your phone, then get the Photon. It has a SIM card slot for GSM networks.

If you're not in a hurry, perhaps you may want to wait to see what the Nexus Prime looks like and if/when it comes to Sprint.

Other than that, RUN and get the Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch. It is the best phone on the market...bar none. The processor and graphics chip will blow anything away. The screen, while not qHD is gorgeous. The camera is outstanding. The videos blow my EVO 4G away. Next month my family and I are going on a vacation. I'm leaving the point and shoot and the camcorder at home. And lastly, the battery life seems to be much much better than my EVO 4G. 12 hours away from a charger IS possible!

 

[kimdushinski]

@kevincwelch I really wish I understand what you said as I am trying to choose between these same phones. LOL

 

[drizek]

I used to get 2mb downloads over 3G on my Palm Pre 18 months ago. Sprints network has taken a serious dive in quality.

The speeds I get with my Epic now are terrible.

 

[mpnalvin]

@Kim The numbers Kevin gives are as follows:
the "Range" number is the signal strength. Higher numbers are better, so -76 is better than -86. It's also good if a phone has a consistently strong signal. A signal in the -80s is OK. A signal in the -70s is good.
The 4G and 3G numbers are about how fast the phone can receive and transmit data. Higher numbers are better here too. Higher rates translate into faster web page loads, or downloading picture attachments to an email.
Hope that helps. If not, post back.

 

[ronald600]

I've been considering a switch to the Epic 4G Touch, but concerns about reception and call quality have made me look at the Photon a little more closely. So, I went to the local Sprint Store and tested the phones out and compared them to my Epic 4G.

Firstly, wow, that Epic 4G Touch is amazing in terms of screen size and color. Looks awesome. The Photon is sharp, but a little more washed out comparatively.

So, I know this was done in the Sprint store and there are usually repeaters there, but it was the only way I could test out the phones side by side.

My phone: Epic 4G with SyndicateROM Frozen 1.2 with the Twilight kernel. Up against the Photon, Evo 3D and the E4GT.

I ran tests with the speedtest.net app and monitored signal strength with Network Signal Info.

Here are the results. All tests with Speedtest.net app were through the Chicago, IL server. Signal strength was monitored for 30 seconds. Each 4G and 3G test was the average of 5 runs. (The Sprint rep got really annoyed with me.)

E4GT:
Range -76 dbm to -86 dbm
4G: 4.34 down/0.71 up
3G: 0.45 down/0.03 up

Photon:
Range: consistently -76 dbm
4G: 5.16 down/1.12 up
3G: 0.19 down/0.12 up

Evo 3D:
Range -73 dbm to -76 dbm
4G: 3.1 down/.937 up
3G: 0.896 down/.352 up

Epic 4G (EF02 modem):
Range: -76 to -86 dbm
4G: 4.396 down/.712 up
3G: 0.91 down/.46 up

Not sure how helpful that was. But, I concluded a number of things.
1. The E4GT is impressive in size, color, and operating speed
2. 3G just plain sucks
3. Photon had better 4G downloads and uploads on average and worse 3G speeds on average.

Again, done in the Sprint store...but it was the only time I could take a look at the three phones I was interested in...

So it appears as thou there is no reason to get rid of your Epic 4g
I wonder what the results would be if you get gingerbread running on the Epic 4G

 

[kevincwelch]

So it appears as thou there is no reason to get rid of your Epic 4g
I wonder what the results would be if you get gingerbread running on the Epic 4G

At least no network speed advantage...

However, I'm not running stock OS on my Epic, and as good as the ROMs are, they are still buggy. Also, I'd like a larger screen and a faster device. Those are the reasons at this point.

A real-world test would have been nice, but couldn't do it.