EVO 4G to Nexus S 4G to Photon 4G...dropping in to say hi.

[Dreamliner330]

I just picked up a Photon 4G . I replaced my EVO with a Nexus S 4G and was extremely disappointed (details here). :'(

I purchased a Photon for less than my Nexus S .

I'm not seeing a lot in terms of development/custom roms...my main reasoning for rooting & custom roms is under/overclocking, wifi tethering, notification bar toggles, etc...but I'm not interested in losing features to root/rom (i.e. 4G break).

Any tips on using this phone to its best potential?

 

[Sean-Troy]

I'm rooted didn't loose anything but I gained everything you want

 

[Photon4glover]

I just picked up a Photon 4G . I replaced my EVO with a Nexus S 4G and was extremely disappointed (details here). :'(

I purchased a Photon for less than my Nexus S .

I'm not seeing a lot in terms of development/custom roms...my main reasoning for rooting & custom roms is under/overclocking, wifi tethering, notification bar toggles, etc...but I'm not interested in losing features to root/rom (i.e. 4G break).

Any tips on using this phone to its best potential?

Yes have fun and you can't slow it down it is a beast! Download Tegra Zone to take advantage of dual core

Sent from my MoPho on The Sprint Network

 

[jnl813]

I just picked up a Photon 4G . I replaced my EVO with a Nexus S 4G and was extremely disappointed (details here). :'(

I purchased a Photon for less than my Nexus S .

I'm not seeing a lot in terms of development/custom roms...my main reasoning for rooting & custom roms is under/overclocking, wifi tethering, notification bar toggles, etc...but I'm not interested in losing features to root/rom (i.e. 4G break).

Any tips on using this phone to its best potential?

Coming both from the evo and the nexus what is your opinion on the camera on the motorola

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

 

[Neon01]

I liked your review of the Nexus S, do you have any intention of doing a similar assessment of the Photon? Most importantly, did it fix any of your connection/data speed issues? I'm curious if that's phone limited or just the network.

I just switched from an Epic 4G to an Epic 4G Touch (Galaxy S II) last Friday, and I have some qualms with the phone. I don't agree with your assessment of IPS-LCD displays being better than AMOLED, but I do think your assessment of the Nexus S was fair and impartial. I'm curious what you think of the Photon because I'm considering switching to it.

The 4.5" size of the E4GT is a little large for me (though I love how thin it is), and the resolution is just too low for it's size. I'm also experiencing really terrible data rates on this phone that I never noticed with my older phones. Then again, it could be because I'm really using more data now that the phone is large enough to realistically browse the web with.

The Photon seems great on paper - only slightly behind the E4GT in a few performance metrics, the perfect size (4.3"), supposedly great reception and call quality, and it has the nice qHD resolution. I think I could live with the pentile display since my old Epic 4G had it with the original AMOLED and I didn't think it was a dealbreaker then. On the other hand, I definitely think I'd miss the perfect blacks of the AMOLED. I read a lot of books with the Kindle app, and the ultra high contrast of AMOLED is just perfection for reading with white text on a inky black background. Also, I realize that the CPU is only a little slower than the E4GT, but it didn't seem nearly as snappy navigating around on the "desktop" when I was in the sprint store. Maybe that was just all the sprint store phone bloat, who knows. For the same amount of money ($200), it's hard to pass over the flagship E4GT and go for the photon.

So it's either keep the E4GT, switch for a Photon, or just return the E4GT and wait for the Nexus Prime. The Prime seems like it's a true "grail" phone if i assume the resolution is the main issue with the E4GT, but the possible 4.65" size concerns me - it seems that true one-handed use might be very impaired at that point.

 

[LeaninBack916]

Great review on the Nexus S 4g. I loved that phone except for the huge radio issue which ultimately made me sell it and get the Photon.

I love this phone, except for the ROM community being so stagnant. On the Nexus S, I was trying out all kinds of ROMs, and man there were some great ones but that radio issue and reliability for calls/data/tethering was just trash. If they had that same phone with a beastly radio I would probably go back to it. The dual core, solid build of the Motorola is great though, and the screen looks great to me, the Nexus S was a bit more sexy but really the radio issue was just too much to bear. Lack of LED was annoying but not a deal breaker.

Good review again though!

 

[redtooth]

Great review on the Nexus S 4g. I loved that phone except for the huge radio issue which ultimately made me sell it and get the Photon.

I love this phone, except for the ROM community being so stagnant. On the Nexus S, I was trying out all kinds of ROMs, and man there were some great ones but that radio issue and reliability for calls/data/tethering was just trash. If they had that same phone with a beastly radio I would probably go back to it. The dual core, solid build of the Motorola is great though, and the screen looks great to me, the Nexus S was a bit more sexy but really the radio issue was just too much to bear. Lack of LED was annoying but not a deal breaker.

Good review again though!

I felt the same way. If the nexus s 4G would have had a better radio it would have been a great phone. But now i am totally happy with my photon.

Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk

 

[Dreamliner330]

I liked your review of the Nexus S, do you have any intention of doing a similar assessment of the Photon? Most importantly, did it fix any of your connection/data speed issues? I'm curious if that's phone limited or just the network.

I plan on doing a similar review...it will be a few weeks...I have to 'learn' the phone to properly assess it.

I can say for certain, radio strength/call quality/call volume and speaker volume improvements were immediate and drastic.

I just switched from an Epic 4G to an Epic 4G Touch (Galaxy S II) last Friday, and I have some qualms with the phone. I don't agree with your assessment of IPS-LCD displays being better than AMOLED, but I do think your assessment of the Nexus S was fair and impartial. I'm curious what you think of the Photon because I'm considering switching to it.

When writing that review, It was before the E4GT was out. IPS-LCD is much clearer than SAMOLED (Epic 4G, Nexus S), its not so much opinion as it is fact. After looking at the E4GT in person, its more of a wash. I thought the E4GT had a beautiful screen (SAMOLED+), but the low resolution really showed... enormous buttons, icons, etc...

The Photon seems great on paper - only slightly behind the E4GT in a few performance metrics, the perfect size (4.3"), supposedly great reception and call quality, and it has the nice qHD resolution. I think I could live with the pentile display since my old Epic 4G had it with the original AMOLED and I didn't think it was a dealbreaker then. On the other hand, I definitely think I'd miss the perfect blacks of the AMOLED. I read a lot of books with the Kindle app, and the ultra high contrast of AMOLED is just perfection for reading with white text on a inky black background. Also, I realize that the CPU is only a little slower than the E4GT, but it didn't seem nearly as snappy navigating around on the "desktop" when I was in the sprint store. Maybe that was just all the sprint store phone bloat, who knows. For the same amount of money ($200), it's hard to pass over the flagship E4GT and go for the photon.

The screen quality is better on the E4GT, I don't like PenTile...but I like it better than the Nexus S AMOLED. You will never see a difference between Tegra 2 & Exynos outside of benchmarks.

I value CALL QUALITY & RECEPTION. It appears the Photon really shines in that area.

So it's either keep the E4GT, switch for a Photon, or just return the E4GT and wait for the Nexus Prime. The Prime seems like it's a true "grail" phone if i assume the resolution is the main issue with the E4GT, but the possible 4.65" size concerns me - it seems that true one-handed use might be very impaired at that point.

I thought the E4GT was too big too...after getting in the store and seeing it...its not that bad, totally usable.

I was able to upgrade to my Photon without any out of pocket expense (Sold EVO on CL, bought Nexus on CL, Bought Photon on eBay, sold Nexus on CL)) and still keep my upgrade eligibility.

If I still had the EVO and looked at my choices (Nexus S, Photon, E4GT) I would have kept the EVO and waited for Nexus Prime specs (Sammy cell radio...won't hold my breath), iPhone or other Android phones before upgrading.

Great review on the Nexus S 4g. I loved that phone except for the huge radio issue which ultimately made me sell it and get the Photon.

Yep, I wish I knew how bad it really was before I bought it...I don't know how people deal with it.

I love this phone, except for the ROM community being so stagnant.

I'm a bit surprised and how lackluster it's been, but realistically, I'm starting to get tired of needing to read through forum threads for hours and hours to get a rom setup and working.

All I want is a phone that works as it would be expected to. I wish the Photon had a better interface (I actually didn't mind Sense) and LCD screen. I wish the E4GT would have better/stronger radios and a higher resolution screen. I'm sure one day the perfect phone will come...but who knows when.

Coming both from the evo and the nexus what is your opinion on the camera on the motorola

I'm not a real big 'phone' picture guy. I've never seen a good phone picture (I regularly shoot with my SLR, so my expectation is high). I think the Photon's camera interface is a bit clumsy (like A LOT of their customization) and find it hard to get a clear shot, I was actually pretty impressed with the clarity of the Nexus (Much better than the EVO)...though, it seriously lacked basic features. I'll know more when I play with it a bit more, perhaps Camera Zoom FX will make it better.