Photon Owner's Comments, Issues, and Reviews

crussell52

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Settings->Call Settings->Internet Call Settings (bottom of list)

So I just stumbled upon a setting which enables Internet Calling while on WiFi.

I know Gingerbread has native support for this, but I'm pretty sure this option was not present in my recently exchanged Evo3D. It looks like Sprint/Moto has left the option in for the Photon 4G.

I don't know much about the feature (other than it bypasses use of plan minutes) so I have not actually tried it. Has anybody tried it, yet? Is it actually enabled on the Photon, or is it just a menu item that does nothing?

:: Off to find more about what an "SIP" is ::
 

Medic97

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Here is my Sudo-review coming from a rooted EVO.

First off to those saying this is just like the atrix. I spent this past week with the atrix b/c i was rooting it for a friend and setting it up for him. The way bloggers are describing this as a more polished version with kinks worked out, is a pretty fair assessment of the 2 phones. But the way i look at it one is on AT&T one is on sprint so thats a difference enough for me not to compare the 2 phones. Besides the photon does run a better since the Moto(blur-is fading out) is thicker on the atrix. Maybe I'm wrong but i don't see blur as much on the photon. I didn't nee to create a blur account and while some of the software is the same. I feel like its lighter on the photon like some are not here. (But that part is more speculation since i don't fully remember what it had). Also the photon is a world phone which i haven't had since my BB 8830 and i love having the capabilities back. Moving on...

Looks/feels: As i mentioned I love the feel and a day later i still love it. Makes me not want to put the phone down. The corners (However it may look, good or bad in your opinion) feel great when holding the phone either which way and especially in landscape when watching a movie it felt great not having the corners digging into my hand.

The kick stand is great love the fact that it can actually support the phone both ways in landscape when its opened. and automatically switches to landscape when you open it. the one issue iv had is charging the unit with the kickstand open. Yes there is a fix to the port being on the sides, just turn the phone over and the kickstand can support it. However what i found is that netflix won't switch with it. Could be b/c netflix doesn't officially support this phone yet. So we will wait and see what happens. About the ports, not sure why ppl are saying there are 2 HDMI ports on this thing. I only see one next to the charger port. As for why its 2 separate ports instead of one, like on some phones. I like that idea since if the hdmi port breaks you can still charge your phone. A plus i love on this phone is that the ports are on the top left making holding the phone while plugged in much easier compared to the atrix which has it on the same side lower down.

Software: This part depends interlay on personal preference so anyone who complains or laughs at someone else when they say they like/dislike something. Dude its arbitrary. On that note, I love the fact i can delete apps directly from the app drawer by long pressing on it and selecting uninstall. Saves me the hassle of finding it in the manage apps list. I like that you can create groups in your app drawer. And all in all the built in apps seem to work nicely with the phone. I still haven't been able to get this thing to lag or slow down in anyway. it is very smooth. Browser works fast and internet speed in general is better.

Sound quality has been great ppl hear me just fine and i hear them very well. Im on 4G at work all day and don't have any issues with it. In fact i feel like i get better service with the photon then i did with my OG Evo. Battery life: Using 4G and mobile hotspot -which I'm using now to make this post- I've gotten around 3 1/2- 4 hrs of battery time before it warned i only had 15% left. I could never do that with the Evo. Battery life has been just great. Took the phone off at 6am from the charger watched a movie and had the phone on 4G and still didn't need to plug in before 12pm. Charging is fast on they device also. The colors look nice on the screen honestly i don't look too deeply into this area. The movie i watched looked great and my pictures look great thats all that matter to me. So yes if you stare at the phone from 2 inches away you might see some pixilation. I say dude this is a phone not an HDTV get over it. I will say that the even though the glass is a fingerprint magnet, like most phones. This glass feels AMAZING to swype on. Its just so smooooooth, your finger slides with so much ease compared to my OG Evo. I love the way the edges are curved down give a great look to the phone. I haven't really tested pics or video yet since i only use the camera on the phone once in a while.

Since i can't think of anything else off hand.

Hope this helps someone.

-Medic97
 

milominderbinde

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On keyboard vs pre keyboard: I'm also coming from a pre. Getting used to the non-physical keyboard, but yes some of the keys need to be in the PRIMARY screen. No comma, dash, @ or a dedicated .com button is annoying. Need a keyboard app that makes those keys easier. Haven't looked yet.

Battery % display: Where the hell is it? I can't find it either.

Loving the phone so far though. Solid build and great reception. The transition to android is going to take awhile in my case. Been with Palm since 2002.

The Palm webOS Homebrewer's Guide to Android will help you make the transition:

? SwiftKey - Learns how you think and predicts your words saving keystrokes. $4. Free 30-day Trial.

4887d1292344409-getting-started-android-tips-tricks-battery-status-notification-widget.png
Battery Status (free, Upgraded $1) - Puts the real battery percentage in the Notification Bar.

The Motorola keyboard is...not so good. Try the SwiftKey for free for 30 days. You will never go back.
 

milominderbinde

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Also coming from the Pre, and having been playing with it since Saturday, these are my thoughts:

1) Missing the LED notification for incoming email and sms messages. I read on a couple threads that this may or may not be a bug, but I sure miss it!...

3) I don't know if this is app-specific or phone-specific, coming from the Pre, but the (.) key being next to the submit function on the keyboard and i'm consistently hitting the enter or next function when trying to hit the period...
From the Palm webOS Homebrewer's Guide to Android:

Notifications
...
The Executive Assistant app lets you set different repeating sounds and vibrations for missed calls, emails, and texts. See Notifications for more.

Key Apps
...
SwiftKey - Learns how you think and predicts your words saving keystrokes. $4. Free 30-day Trial.
 
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bkurt01

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From the Palm webOS Homebrewer's Guide to Android:

Notifications
...
The Executive Assistant app lets you set different repeating sounds and vibrations for missed calls, emails, and texts. See Notifications for more.

Key Apps
...
? SwiftKey - Learns how you think and predicts your words saving keystrokes. $4. Free 30-day Trial.

Thanks everybody for the great tips. After much digging, I discovered that: 1) a reboot of the phone made the LED notification active (at least for Text messages) and 2) The settings for the LED notification feature within K9 are not actually within the main settings, but within each mail account's individual settings (you can set different LED colors for the different accounts).

Now if I can find a charging cradle, I think I'm good in the 'hood!
 

Paperino

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A couple of more pro's and cons....


PRO-

The motorola car dock provided is awesome, as someone said. It changes the UI to one specific to driving and makes the functions you would want while driving easily accessible. Between the good fit, line out, and UI changes, it may be the best accessory I've seen for any phone.

Camera is garbage. Took too long to acquire focus and gave me the worst results I have seen in the last four phones I have owned (and that is all of them... Evo 4g, Epic and Nexus S).



CON

- My proximity sensor doesn't seem to work properly, so I keep dialing numbers when I am just trying to speak on the phone.


I have not dealt with the audio dropout since the first day, so I am happy about that.
 

milominderbinde

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...Camera is garbage. Took too long to acquire focus and gave me the worst results I have seen in the last four phones I have owned (and that is all of them... Evo 4g, Epic and Nexus S)...
Are you sure it is the camera and not the camera software? Have you tried any Android Market Camera apps?

From the Getting Started section on Applications:

Camera Apps
? Vignette ($4, free demo) has great features and is rightfully a top app.
? Action Snaps (free) can shot a burst of shots.
? Camera Zoom FX ($4) is a great camera with lots of free attachment.
? Fast Camera ($2) claims to be the fastest camera app.
? Adobe Photoshop Express (free) adds endless effects.
 

robpasell

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I got mine on Monday morning in the mail. I was an EVO 4G user. I was also a fan of Sense. It took a little getting used to, but I'm getting the hang of Blur. The battery life has been stellar. It is without a doubt the best screen I've seen on any smartphone. My one and only big complaint, is Moto doesn't appear to let me set up my GMail account under the email app (I have to use the GMail app). This leaves me using 2 different icons to access my accounts which is annoying. The WiFi radio seems a little weaker than my EVO. The cellular radios seem about the same as my EVO, I haven't been down to the valley to test 4G yet.
 

Puzzlegal

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I got mine on Monday morning in the mail. I was an EVO 4G user. I was also a fan of Sense. It took a little getting used to, but I'm getting the hang of Blur. The battery life has been stellar. It is without a doubt the best screen I've seen on any smartphone. My one and only big complaint, is Moto doesn't appear to let me set up my GMail account under the email app (I have to use the GMail app). This leaves me using 2 different icons to access my accounts which is annoying. The WiFi radio seems a little weaker than my EVO. The cellular radios seem about the same as my EVO, I haven't been down to the valley to test 4G yet.
K9 is free and will access your Gmail account and other accounts in one aplpication, and let you look at both in the same inbox.

After installing K9, be sure to reboot, as it doesn't seem to really work until you do that, even to finish setting up the accounts and stuff.
 

robpasell

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K9 is free and will access your Gmail account and other accounts in one aplpication, and let you look at both in the same inbox.

After installing K9, be sure to reboot, as it doesn't seem to really work until you do that, even to finish setting up the accounts and stuff.

I'll give it a try to see if I like it. However the email app on the EVO was nice as I prefer seperate Inbox views accessable through a drop down list.
 

Puzzlegal

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K9 gives you an inbox for each account as well as a combined inbox. It's a little fussy to set up, but you might like it.
 

wynand32

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Just wanted to add: I decided to listen to some music for the first time today, using Google Music Beta. Plugged in the earphones and was a bit distressed to hear a tiny bit of background humming. Bummer, I said. Then the music started playing, and I was very pleasantly surprised by the quality. Much louder and clearer than the Epic. Like, night and day difference. Almost as good to my ears as my Zune, which has OUTSTANDING audio quality.

Very impressed. Oh, and the hum isn't audible when you have music at any volume, so it's no big deal.

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
 

fintablayze

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Got the Photon today and I must say, I'm loving it! Haven't noticed the problem with the pentile screen, and this thing is buttery smooth. Happy camper! :cool:
 

MacBook

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I must say that after a couple of days with this phone That I absolutely love it!! I was a bit pissed off by the Pentile screen but honestly I dont even notice it anymore... The phone performance is so smooth and fast.. the build quality is top notch and far better than my Evo 3D! Im still getting used to the menu and the home key swap and not having sense 3.0 but every thing else about the Photon meets my standards:)
 

Paperino

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As I use the phone more, I have little bits and pieces to add...

I took my phone back today and exchanged it for another handset. Couple of things were not working.

a) The proximity sensor wouldn't shut the screen off whenever I put it close to my face, so I kept dialing numbers when speaking with someone on the phone.
b) I had the audio go out once on Friday (first day I got the phone). SInce then, it had worked pretty well, until I dropped audio for 3~10 seconds at a time, and completely dropped out once while speaking to my wife. That was the straw that broke the camel's back.

New phone is here chargins g and hopefully won't exhibit the same problems, but should it, I'll return the unit and wait it out. My Epic had a lot of faults, but it worked when I needed it.

One positive note, when the audio does work, it is the clearest I've heard from any Sprint phone I have ever owned.
 

Septiformus

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Ok, I've had it for a few days now, and here is my updated Review coming from a EVO 4G:

Pros:
-The call volume and clarity are superb. No dropped calls and I can hear the person on the other end better than any phone I've had since before the Motorola Q9C
-After letting the battery drain all the way down and charging it a few times, I'd say the battery life is BETTER than it was in my EVO.
-After a few days, my unlock screen has lost it's lag.
-I turned my display all the way up and the picture is CRISP outside in the sun, unlike my evo that would look dark if I had too much sunlight.
-The voice function (using a bluetooth headset) work TREMENDOUSLY better than they did on the EVO, along with giving me multiple yes/no options when I speak a command to make sure it read me correctly. I have yet to have it call the wrong person. Also, it fully supports the bluetooth headset's button shortcuts, as my EVO did not.

Cons:
-Data connections (3G and 4G) keep "hiccuping" and makes browsing extremely difficult.
When I put it side by side with my tablet (Evo View), the tablet has already loaded a page at 3G when the Photon is still buffering at 4G.
-The WiFi is bad as well. My computer (on wireless) is giving me 13.4 Mbps, while my phone, after multiple test, has yet to break over 8.6Mbps, and averages 6.3 Mbps.
-I have yet to find a native Timer such as HTC Sense had out-of-box
-The screen (perhaps how the icons are handled) seems smaller than it was on my EVO
-The Keyboard is definitely harder to type on
-No native Quick Key to turn off 3G, Have to go into settings, data management, data delivery to shut it off (for those who are about to ask "WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO?!" it's because in some areas I am in, especially large buildings, where I have lack of signal, this SIGNIFICANTLY extends the battery life. When I would do this on my EVO when I DO have signal, I could go a day and a half off a charge.)

More to come
 
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mapleleaf14#AC

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My one and only big complaint, is Moto doesn't appear to let me set up my GMail account under the email app (I have to use the GMail app).


Not sure what you mean...I was able to set up both my Gmail addresses up in the regular email app just like any other email, because I specifically didn't want to use the Gmail app.

Maybe try again as I had no problem setting it up that way.