Motorola Photon 4G ($ 199.99) Sprint is super-duper, top-of-the-line phone. It can even function as a nettop PC in a pinch. The photon is one of the most powerful Android phones, you can buy today, and a shining example of what a smartphone in 2011. It's a no-brainer for the choice of our editors.
Physical quality and call
With its optional desktop dock, the Photon as 4G ATRIX revolutionary Motorola ($ 199, 4 stars) for AT & T, except that it's better. ATRIX and as it is a large (2.6 by 0.0-by-five-0 .5 inches, 5.6 ounces) candybar style phone, there is no physical keyboard. The body is mostly soft-touch black plastic and feels solid. Shiny chrome and beveled edges give the phone a little look like a jewel, and the large 4.3 inch screen, 960 by-540-pixel touch screen is bright and clear. Volume buttons and camera on the right side of the phone is strangely grooved and slightly rough to make them easier to grasp.
Physical quality and call
With its optional desktop dock, the Photon as 4G ATRIX revolutionary Motorola ($ 199, 4 stars) for AT & T, except that it's better. ATRIX and as it is a large (2.6 by 0.0-by-five-0 .5 inches, 5.6 ounces) candybar style phone, there is no physical keyboard. The body is mostly soft-touch black plastic and feels solid. Shiny chrome and beveled edges give the phone a little look like a jewel, and the large 4.3 inch screen, 960 by-540-pixel touch screen is bright and clear. Volume buttons and camera on the right side of the phone is strangely grooved and slightly rough to make them easier to grasp.
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| Photon 4G Motorola (Sprint) |
A great phone voice, I'm much better 3G and 4G reception of photons with rival Sprint HTC EVO 3D ($ 199, 3 stars). The cochlea is strong enough, and the voices are clear. There are many on your side, a reflection of your own voice in your ear that prevents you from crying. The speakerphone is loud enough for outdoor use. Transmissions sounded pretty good when there was a lot of background noise they were a little wobbly, though. Photon connect effortlessly Aliph Jawbone AD Bluetooth headset ($ 129 4.5 stars) has activated its precise Nuance-powered voice calls. Autonomy 8 hours and 20 minutes of 3G talk time was very good.
Photon connect to Sprint's CDMA and 3G networks, 4G WiMAX and Wi-Fi and HSPA, the 14.4 worldwide high-speed networks. The phone comes with a SIM card, which can now pass through foreign networks at high rates, but as with all Sprint phones in the world, the SIM card is locked, so you can use the cheaper local SIM card, if you want . You can use the Photon and wired high-speed modem and a Wi-Fi hotspots for up to eight devices, with the right service plan.
Android application and experience
Android running 2.3.4 as well as extensions Motorola and Sprint, Photon was built around 1 GHz, Nvidia Tegra processor 2. Benchmark ran neck and neck with a modern dual-core processor to other Sprint phones like HTC and Motorola Droid own 3D EVO 3 ($ 199, 3 stars), and Verizon. In particular, the 3D EVO speed advantage of 1.2 GHz is not given a lot of momentum benchmarks, Photon win the EVO is SunSpider and Web Browser, Mark and benchmark system AnTuTu. (EVO uppermost NenaMark Vellamo benchmark graphs and read a reference book.) And although Motorola crash animations in the same goopy tear down the droid 3 performance, Photon feel much more cheerful, perhaps 2 Tegra chipset is a better deal interface user as Droid 3: TI OMAP 4430 is.
The coolest software here transforms the photon into a desktop PC. Drop the phone for $ 129 desktop dock, which comes with three USB ports and HDMI video, attach it to a monitor, mouse and keyboard, and POW: Photon boots in "Webtop" mode, which is just - os Linux OS running on Android in a window and a copy emulated full screen in Firefox 4.0.1 with Flash.
Webtop I found it easier to work on the photon and the Atrix, probably due to the new version of Firefox. (Firefox Webtop calibrating a bit faster than the built-in Android's browser, too.) Who surfed the web, saw some letters videos, play angry birds, and wrote a letter to Google Docs. Although it could play music in the background, videos stored on the pixelated photon Webtop mode, to get the best video quality, I had to stop kicking and your dedicated HDMI video Webtop for reading.
Photon connect to Sprint's CDMA and 3G networks, 4G WiMAX and Wi-Fi and HSPA, the 14.4 worldwide high-speed networks. The phone comes with a SIM card, which can now pass through foreign networks at high rates, but as with all Sprint phones in the world, the SIM card is locked, so you can use the cheaper local SIM card, if you want . You can use the Photon and wired high-speed modem and a Wi-Fi hotspots for up to eight devices, with the right service plan.
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| Photon 4G Motorola (Sprint) |
Android application and experience
Android running 2.3.4 as well as extensions Motorola and Sprint, Photon was built around 1 GHz, Nvidia Tegra processor 2. Benchmark ran neck and neck with a modern dual-core processor to other Sprint phones like HTC and Motorola Droid own 3D EVO 3 ($ 199, 3 stars), and Verizon. In particular, the 3D EVO speed advantage of 1.2 GHz is not given a lot of momentum benchmarks, Photon win the EVO is SunSpider and Web Browser, Mark and benchmark system AnTuTu. (EVO uppermost NenaMark Vellamo benchmark graphs and read a reference book.) And although Motorola crash animations in the same goopy tear down the droid 3 performance, Photon feel much more cheerful, perhaps 2 Tegra chipset is a better deal interface user as Droid 3: TI OMAP 4430 is.
The coolest software here transforms the photon into a desktop PC. Drop the phone for $ 129 desktop dock, which comes with three USB ports and HDMI video, attach it to a monitor, mouse and keyboard, and POW: Photon boots in "Webtop" mode, which is just - os Linux OS running on Android in a window and a copy emulated full screen in Firefox 4.0.1 with Flash.
Webtop I found it easier to work on the photon and the Atrix, probably due to the new version of Firefox. (Firefox Webtop calibrating a bit faster than the built-in Android's browser, too.) Who surfed the web, saw some letters videos, play angry birds, and wrote a letter to Google Docs. Although it could play music in the background, videos stored on the pixelated photon Webtop mode, to get the best video quality, I had to stop kicking and your dedicated HDMI video Webtop for reading.
