Like many of you, I have a Samsung Epic Slider, and I went to check out this phone. I have decided against it for now, mainly because of the price, and here is why:
SPEED
Yes, it is 1.5GHz, but with my custom ROM my Epic is still comfortably running 1.2GHz, so not a major upgrade. And then San Francisco still has WiMax and no LTE, so until this changes, my Epic is still getting faster over the air data.
SIZE & SCREEN
This was the most disappointing. Especially when it was next to the sleek Galaxy III. Yes, it is a slider, but still, my two year old Epic feels just as thick as the Photon Q. It felt just as heavy, and felt the same in my pocket. The major bonus here is that the screen is bigger. But, the part of the screen is taken up by the buttons. And finally, the resolution or just plain screen brilliance on my 2 year old Epic still feels superior.
BATTERY
The embedded battery kind of stinks. Especially because the battery is not huge. With my Epic, I saw the battery degrade over time. 2 months ago, for $8, I got a 1800 mAH battery. So now, I have a battery better than the Photon, and a spare to boot.
So, bottom line, I am not gonna drop $200 on a phone that is inferior or just as good as my Epic. Maybe after a huge price drop, and LTE is fired up around here, then I might. But I am more inclined to wait for a superior slider to come out, or to give up my need for a physical keyboard and get a "thin" phone that has an awesome battery and incredible screen like the Galaxy S3.