Motorola PHOTON 4G available now at Sprint

posted by Alan F. / Jul 31, 2011, 9:56 AM

Motorola PHOTON 4G available now at Sprint

Motorola's latest high end Android handset is now available from Sprint's retail outlets. The Motorola PHOTON 4G, as we reported, could have been ordered a couple of days ago online, but for those who would rather head into a store to make the purchase in person, that option is now available to you. The PHOTON 4G is priced at $199.99 with a signed 2-year contract , $549.99 off contract, and is Motorola's first 4G enabled device for Sprint.

The specs scream out "high-end" starting with the 4.3 inch qHD display and the dual-core 1GHz Tegra 2 processor under the hood. Unlike the recently launched Motorola DROID 3, which offers 512MB of RAM, the PHOTON 4G has 1GB of RAM on board. As you would expect from a high-end device these days, the PHOTON 4G brings you not one, but two cameras. The one on the rear is 8MP while the front-facing camera is .3MP. Video can be captured at HD 720p. Android 2.3.4 is installed as is Netflix right out of the box. 16GB of internal memory can be raised to as high as 48GB using a 32GB microSD card. The diamond cut edges bring a distinctive look to the unit, and the WiMax connectivity puts the 4G in the name of the phone.

Where Motorola seems to be having problems combining dual-core TI OMAP4 processors and LTE connectivity for Verizon, the PHOTON 4G's mixture of Tegra 2 and WiMax seems to be working fine, happily for Sprint customers. Those customers of the nation's third largest mobile carrier who favor Motorola over HTC and Samsung, can head over to their local Sprint store today and be able to show off their new Motorola PHOTON 4G to co-workers tomorrow.

source: Sprint via AndroidCentral

The Motorola PHOTON 4G, the manufacturer's latest high-end device, is available today at Sprint stores

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PhoneArena Rating:

9.0

Read Full Review

User Rating:

7.1

Based on 19 Reviews

Display 4.3" 540 x 960 pixels

Camera 8 MP / 0.3 MP VGA front

Processor NVIDIA Tegra 2, Dual-core, 1000 MHz

Storage 16 GB + microSDHC

Battery 1700 mAh(9.10h 3G talk time)

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25 Comments

1. richardyarrell2011

Posts: 510; Member since: Mar 16, 2011

This is another great device that has been added to the dualcore lineup on sprint. Led by the Htc Evo 3d along with this Photon 4g and the upcoming Samsung Within 4g and Htc Hero 4g this will make the best lineup on ANY CARRIER. And not to mention the new iphone 5 coming in October what more can anyone ask for on the only UNLIMITED NETWORK in the land....

posted on Jul 31, 2011, 12:06 PM 1

2. SmiLeoGeo

Posts: 22; Member since: Jul 28, 2011

I agree rich...I love the fact that Sprint still has the unlimited data. Never have to worry about going over or being slowed down after I use a certain amount of data. I received my Photon on Friday and so far so good.

posted on Jul 31, 2011, 12:21 PM 1

3. catfinger unregistered

I love it so far...but it has randomly restarted on me 3 times now. Every time it was when I was running a lot of apps simultaneously, but it's frustrating nonetheless. Have you or anyone else experienced this?

posted on Jul 31, 2011, 2:25 PM 0

16. jtype unregistered

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Sprint-posts-wider-loss-in-Q2-as-subscribers-flock-to-other-carriers_id20722 327,000 people disagree. btw hero 4g is not dual core.

posted on Jul 31, 2011, 8:43 PM 0

20. TOdoubleD

Posts: 114; Member since: Mar 28, 2011

And 52 million do agree, what's your point? Every carrier loses and gains customers every quarter. They just pray that it ends in a positive net gain.

posted on Jul 31, 2011, 9:14 PM 0

24. jytype unregistered

sprint lost customers so your comment that every carrier gains and loses is wrong. its one or the other and sprint lost. lol @ 52 million agreeing. then how many people on att/tmobile and verizon disagree? my comment was directed at the sprint fanboy. unlimited data + best lineup = last place and continuing to lose customers. just like its my opinion that sprint is not the best carrier, its yarrells opinion that sprint has the best lineup or service. that is all

posted on Aug 01, 2011, 3:55 AM 0

19. tuminatr

Posts: 1169; Member since: Feb 23, 2009

i have this as my personal phone and the htc thunderbolt as my employer provided phone. I cant wait tel sprint has a LTE network because it is much better than wimax. it is true a new customer can only get unlimited data at sprint but it is almost worth the extra money to have LTE speed

posted on Jul 31, 2011, 9:06 PM 1

21. TOdoubleD

Posts: 114; Member since: Mar 28, 2011

It will be interesting to see if the Verizon LTE network can sustain the speeds it has now, once people are using it. Right now, it's getting light usage, not even 2 million users, compared to over 7 million users on the Spring 4g network. The bigger problem Sprint has with Wimax and may still exist with LTE, is the spectrum they have 4g on. It's terrible for building penetration. So even if the speeds are better, they could still have the connection issues.

posted on Jul 31, 2011, 9:25 PM 0

23. tuminatr

Posts: 1169; Member since: Feb 23, 2009

connectivity on LTE is much better than WIMAX here in saint paul,MN. I think it has to do with the difference in frequency the network operates. With Verizons LTE at 700Mhz and sprints WIMAX at 2.5Ghz LTE just works better probibly why sprint is dumping WIMAX for LTE. By the way this is not the first time sprint has done this there first PCS market was washington DC in 1995-1996 they had the first commercial GSM network in the USA, but CDMA turned out to be a better tech than GSM so they dumped it History does repeat

posted on Jul 31, 2011, 10:33 PM 0

25. kstagg

Posts: 7; Member since: Jul 04, 2011

I traded in my EVO 3D for this during my 30-day window. This was everything the next-gen EVO should have been: - Android 2.3.4 (Google Video Chat!) - 16 GB RAM (2x what EVOs offer) - included kickstand - no 3D (too much of a gimmick) - minimal vaporware (did I really need Green Hornet installed on my EVO 3D?) No. - Better display and viewing angles than EVO 3D - Better casing (no ugly 3d lenses - much more professional) - Gorilla glass - Don't like Blur? Install alternative launchers like ADW EX or Launcher Pro. Problem solved. Is the EVO 3D a good phone? Of course it is. Do I think the Photon is better, sure. Do yourselves a favor and check this phone out.

posted on Aug 01, 2011, 9:28 AM 0

4. Bamatiderolls unregistered

@Mine is working good so far

posted on Jul 31, 2011, 2:39 PM 0

5. xtomatie unregistered

I got mine today, its NICE - as big as a google nexus, as thick as the evo, the ONLY thing...you'll need to get a new home launcher (launcher pro, golauncher) etc etc, due to the fact that, like everyone says MotoBlur/new Motoblur does indeed suck, its very laggy, but other than that..the phone is amazing. I did a speed test on my evo vs moto on wifi, evo tops out at like 9-10mbs but the moto gives me my full 25mbs down =] I guess 2 cores are better than one somewhat !

posted on Jul 31, 2011, 2:54 PM 0

6. sniperace

Posts: 95; Member since: Aug 20, 2009

Great phone one small problem it only has 8 gigs of internal storage space. I'm hoping the Galaxy SII will have 32gigs.

posted on Jul 31, 2011, 3:11 PM 0

8. L3610n

Posts: 48; Member since: Jul 01, 2011

I thought it was supposed to have 16gb like the Atrix... =(

posted on Jul 31, 2011, 3:30 PM 0

12. ngo2dd

Posts: 896; Member since: Jul 08, 2011

It is 16 like the article said, read up first.

posted on Jul 31, 2011, 6:29 PM 0

7. L3610n

Posts: 48; Member since: Jul 01, 2011

Is it similar to the Atrix where there's no checkbox for "unknown sources" which prevents apps not from the market to be installed? I'm dying to know!!

posted on Jul 31, 2011, 3:29 PM 0

14. busa03 unregistered

The Atrix know has the "unknown sources" after the gingerbread update.

posted on Jul 31, 2011, 7:39 PM 0

9. xtomatie unregistered

L3610n - that was disabled by ATT, but the photon has the option to install apps from unknown sources!

posted on Jul 31, 2011, 3:32 PM 0

10. L3610n

Posts: 48; Member since: Jul 01, 2011

Oh thank god! Thank you!!

posted on Jul 31, 2011, 3:33 PM 0

11. JocularJ

Posts: 222; Member since: Apr 27, 2011

does anyone know if theres a way to get rid of or hide sprint id on this phone? thats really the only thing stopping me from paying full retail for it. i cant stand the 4 icons at the bottom and really dont want em there

posted on Jul 31, 2011, 3:58 PM 0

13. xtomatoe unregistered

I uninstalled it......sprint gives you the option to uninstall all their software, along with all their sprint crap, it was nice to see that everything was uninstallabblel.

posted on Jul 31, 2011, 7:07 PM 0

15. yungmel0

Posts: 39; Member since: Jun 18, 2011

Would you recommend getting this phone over the EVO 3D??

posted on Jul 31, 2011, 7:57 PM 0

17. ngo2dd

Posts: 896; Member since: Jul 08, 2011

It is really up to you. Both phone are pretty good. I like sense and HTC better so I got the Evo 3D. But they are both pretty similar. The Evo have a clear qHD display because it is not pentitle and the Photon is. So you just just have to play with it. Don't let the troll tell you which one is better because in the end it is up to your taste in phones.

posted on Jul 31, 2011, 8:54 PM 0

18. TOdoubleD

Posts: 114; Member since: Mar 28, 2011

Some people would, some people wouldn't. Check both out for yourself. And it depends on what you do with your phone. If you root and like trying different ROMs, the EVO 3D is definitely the way to go. Performance is pretty much the same, screen is better on the 3D. If you travel overseas the Photon is a good choice. Photon has more storage, if you need to download the entire app market, if not the storage is fine on the 3D, plus more apps are going to the sdcard and 32 gb card is more than enough.

posted on Jul 31, 2011, 9:00 PM 0

26. kstagg

Posts: 7; Member since: Jul 04, 2011

I traded in my EVO 3D for this. See my other post in here on the reasons why. EVO 3D is a good phone, but other than a conversation piece, didn't really have a reason to use 3D feature all that much.