HTC EVO 3D vs. Motorola Photon 4G: Choosing the Best Sprint Phone
by Anand Lal Shimpi on August 17, 2011 11:11 PM ESTBattery Life
Both the Photon and EVO 3D have ginormous batteries. The Photon has the lower power display (a major benefit of PenTile), at least contributing to its advantage in the WiFi battery life test.
The Photon only fell behind the EVO 3D in our 3G battery life test. In fact, battery life was better on WiMAX, leading me to believe that the Photon's EVDO stack may not be all that power optimized. If you're on WiFi or using the device to make calls, the Photon will last longer on a single charge. Although the EVO 3D couldn't complete our battery life test while on WiMAX, I'd expect the two phones to at least be competitive there.
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Anand Lal Shimpi - Thursday, August 18, 2011 - link
Sometimes you can't help but channel a little Clarkson :-PReikon - Thursday, August 18, 2011 - link
One reason that Wimax gets better battery life than 3g is that push doesn't seem to be instant on Wimax. From my tests on my EVO 3d, notifications take about 15 min on Wimax while they're basically instant on 3g.bingunginter - Thursday, August 18, 2011 - link
Galaxy S2 Has been out for several months and it is one of the most popular handset right now. Why is there no review for this phone ?A5 - Thursday, August 18, 2011 - link
Not available in the US from any of the carriers and AT doesn't import phones for review.sidarous - Thursday, August 18, 2011 - link
Both phones have been rooted, although it appears from some cursory web-browsing that rooting is slightly easier on the Photon.When my contract is up in a few months, I'll probably go with whichever one has a more active ROM community. That is, unless something bigger and better comes out :-)
Does anyone have thoughts on this? Do HTC or Motorola phones generally have more fun ROMs?
sidarous - Thursday, August 18, 2011 - link
Also, while it isn't a big deal right now, when signing a 2 year contract, it might be better to hold out for a device with NFC support, like the Galaxy S2 (the Sprint variant will either be the "Samsung Epic Touch 4G" or the "Samsung Within").Dug - Thursday, August 18, 2011 - link
Can using a different camera app help with the overblown pictures?SigmundEXactos - Thursday, August 18, 2011 - link
1. The Photon can take 32GB microSD cards (I have one in my phone).2. The Photon has two GLARING issues:
a) Sometimes the phone shuts off until you pull the battery or plug it in then turn it back on.
b) Sometimes inbound and outbound calls have no audio, until you turn the phone off then back on.
REALLY.
There is supposedly an update coming "soon" (there is already a Motorola signed update, but it's not been pushed OTA yet), see: https://supportforums.motorola.com/thread/55069?st...
I've heard the EVO 3D has some voice quality issues and/or reception issues.
They really need to start making PHONES first.
Don't get me wrong, those two issues aside I love my Photon, but I'll probably be swapping out before the 30day period unless the fix comes out.
techkraut - Thursday, August 18, 2011 - link
I disagree with your assertion that "Sprint customers almost always get the short end of the stick" and that there have not been any interesting handsets from Sprint since the Epic 4G. Sprint has had several other firsts since then and like them or not, they were certainly interesting. Among those firsts were the Sprint Kyocera Echo, the first handset to offer a dual android screen device that doubles as a small tablet. The Sprint Replenish offers a Blackberry-like form factor Android device that is one of few "green" devices on the market. I think that over the last 12 months, Sprint has maintained a very competetive and interesting device portfolio. With these two devices, Sprint continues that trend.EarthsDM - Thursday, August 18, 2011 - link
Anand, I was hoping that you would consider the Nexus S 4G. I assumed it would be one of the best phones available for Sprint's network, being a part of the Nexus program. One of my coworkers has the Nexus S non-4G and he loves his. That said, after my painful (and expensive) experience with an Epic 4G I won't consider owning another Samsung phone unless you review it. If I'd trusted your review of the Epic 4G (GPS doesn't work, other problems, not ready for prime time) instead of the Engadget review (great phone and expect regular updates, you can trust Samsung!) I wouldn't have saddled myself with such an awful device.There's nothing quite like being five feet away from an adult tiger, holding up your phone to start a video recording, and have that phone hard crash and being a minute-long reboot process. It got bad enough that I had to shell out for a used EVO 4G :'(