Photon 4G EOL'd in April - What's next?

SERO wireless

Well-known member
Jan 2, 2012
179
12
0
Visit site
The Photon 4G was a successful flagship phone for Sprint. It's scheduled for EOL next month. It seems unlikely that they would drop the Photon without a replacement but there hasn't been a peep - no FCC approvals, no leaks, nada. I'm guessing an ATRIX 2 update with LTE is somewhere, but it doesn't look like it will be ready before the Photon is retired. Does anyone know what's next?
 

beantown

Well-known member
Jan 18, 2011
63
4
0
Visit site
WOW, oh WOW...if indeed that is true, the Photon 4G didn't live a long life, granted it's a cousin to the Atrix which has been out for sometime, but WOW...in my honest opinion this was a great phone...
 

JustSomeDudeHere

Well-known member
Mar 17, 2011
65
4
0
Visit site
Wait so does that mean I won't be able to use 4G anymore? If so, when will this start?

You will still be able to use WiMax 4g if you have it now - WiMax will supposedly still be supported until 2015 - but they won't be expanding WiMax at all anymore ( so for those of us who can only get 4g right now by being outside, near a Sprint store, while standing on one foot, that won't get any better for the Photon)

Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk
 

Paul627g

AC Moderator All-Star
Moderator
Nov 25, 2010
15,963
2,752
0
Visit site
Turn to the dev community... Just like the Galaxy S line, they were supposed to be at their EOL back months ago and have received their official Gingerbread updates and now the dev community has come to the rescue with giving so many GB stranded devices a chance at CM9 (ICS).
 

Dreamliner330

Well-known member
Sep 3, 2011
1,026
42
48
Visit site
It's decisions like this that have me thinking of Verizon. 'Unlimited' is pointless when 4G doesn't work and 3G is ~300k...

Except for the PenTile screen, the Photon is the best phone on Sprint right now.

I just wish we could get the Droid RAZR MAXX on Sprint with a IPS display :p
 

SERO wireless

Well-known member
Jan 2, 2012
179
12
0
Visit site
While Sprint has changed their focus from business users to, uh, college students they still have a lot of customers who are business users. Blackberry isn't keeping up and Motorola has done a pretty good job of taking up the slack. It's unlikely that Sprint would abandon their business customers to add another gaming device to their lineup.
 

coolqf

Well-known member
Jun 29, 2010
412
8
0
Visit site
While Sprint has changed their focus from business users to, uh, college students they still have a lot of customers who are business users. Blackberry isn't keeping up and Motorola has done a pretty good job of taking up the slack. It's unlikely that Sprint would abandon their business customers to add another gaming device to their lineup.

Very well said. We'll see how things turn out. As of now the best non BB global phone will he an HTC with 768 of ram. On 2012, hardly high end for android.

I travel a lot so it looks like it makes more sense to try out att, tmobile, verizon.

Sent from my Photon
 

jstates916

Member
Jun 9, 2011
24
2
0
Visit site
It's decisions like this that have me thinking of Verizon. 'Unlimited' is pointless when 4G doesn't work and 3G is ~300k...

Except for the PenTile screen, the Photon is the best phone on Sprint right now.

I just wish we could get the Droid RAZR MAXX on Sprint with a IPS display :p
best phone on Sprint? Ate you kidding me the SGS2 bored this phone outta the water
 

JustSomeDudeHere

Well-known member
Mar 17, 2011
65
4
0
Visit site
Except for screen resolution, battery life, signal strength, call quality and speakerphone quality...

Yeah, the et4g is an amazing little tablet device, but with it's weak Samsung data and gps radios, that's all it is. The Photon's the best on Sprint in terms of actual functionality. I get data, phone, and gps signal when friends on the et4g are roaming data, dropping calls, and taking minutes to get a gps lock (if ever).
(Now, my superior data connection is still on Sprint's crappy network, but that's another issue)

Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk
 

coolqf

Well-known member
Jun 29, 2010
412
8
0
Visit site
If it's not LTE capable, then why are there numerous lines in the build.prop file with LTE settings for Verizon?

Think of Windows. It has a lot of drivers printers and Bluetooth. That doesn't mean that your phone comes with them inside :)

Sent from my Photon
 

Dreamliner330

Well-known member
Sep 3, 2011
1,026
42
48
Visit site
Boy would it be sweet if the photon 2 or photon replacement was a variant of the razr maxx!
I would love that sooo much. I really wish there was some sort of timeline on what Motorola is releasing on Sprint next. I may get the HTC One X...but would kick myself if a Moto is released a couple months later.
 

Trending Posts

Forum statistics

Threads
943,110
Messages
6,917,331
Members
3,158,824
Latest member
catherinediane