HTC EVO 3D vs. Motorola Photon 4G: Choosing the Best Sprint Phone
by Anand Lal Shimpi on August 17, 2011 11:11 PM ESTWiMAX Performance
When I reviewed the original Sprint EVO 4G I came away unimpressed with the carrier's WiMAX deployment in Raleigh, NC. Speeds were inconsistent at best and peak performance wasn't that much better than what I could get on AT&T's HSPA network. A year later, consistency is still an issue. Speeds vary wildly from only a couple hundred Kbps all the way up to several Mbps, even while remaining stationary!
Just yesterday I encountered a several hour period of time (across multiple towers) where I couldn't get more than 200Kbps down on either device. These complaints may be limited to the Raleigh, NC area but it's still something worth investigating ahead of any purchase.
When the network is behaving properly however, WiMAX is worlds better than Sprint's EVDO. Around here I max out at 800Kbps on EVDO and average south of 500Kbps. WiMAX at least gets me north of 1Mbps and sometimes a lot higher.
The EVO 3D and Photon 4G vary drastically when it comes to performance on WiMAX. The EVO 3D uses a Sequans SQN1210 WiMAX solution while the Photon 4G uses a chip from Beceem (now Broadcom). In areas with good signal the EVO 3D generally delivers higher performance. I ran nearly 50 speed tests on both phones at the exact same time at the exact same location (even varying which hand I held each device in). The results are below:
Downstream there's a pretty big difference between the EVO and Photon. While the Photon 4G maxed out at around 5Mbps, the EVO 3D could hit 9Mbps on WiMAX - the fastest I've ever seen on a WiMAX device in Raleigh. Admittedly the 8 - 9Mbps numbers were rare, but the EVO did consistently better than the Photon when it had good signal strength.
Unfortunately the EVO 3D has a difficult time holding on to a weak WiMAX signal. I'm around 1.5 miles away from the nearest WiMAX tower but only the Photon can consistently hold onto its signal from here. Even driving over to my parents' house which is nearly at the half-way point between me and the tower isn't enough for the EVO 3D to stay connected consistently. There are a lot of trees in Raleigh and quite a few of them are between both houses and the tower. WiMAX has notoriously bad signal propagation characteristics as a result of its very high frequency (2.5GHz). All of that considered, the Photon still holds onto a WiMAX signal better than the EVO 3D - at least in my experience.
I don't have an activated EVO 4G on hand, but if things didn't get worse in the past year for WiMAX reception at my house I'd go as far as to say that the EVO 3D isn't as good as its predecessor when it comes to staying on WiMAX at the fringe.
Because of the EVO 3D's inability to remain on WiMAX consistently at my house I wasn't able to complete a single run of our WiMAX battery life test. The Photon completed the test without issue, but the EVO 4G would consistently drop off WiMAX and fall back to 3G. I briefly considered hiding the EVO 4G next to the WiMAX tower for the duration of the test but figured it'd be better not to risk the review sample getting stolen.
Again we find ourselves in a difficult position with these two phones. If you're in an area with great WiMAX coverage, the EVO 3D is the better performer. If you don't have great WiMAX reception where you plan on using your phone the most, the Photon 4G is clearly better.
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anactoraaron - Thursday, August 18, 2011 - link
With all of the new dual core phones hitting the shelves, there are a few 'budget' phones using 'yesterday's' high end tech. I would love to see a few reviews- or maybe just a 'android budget phone roundup' or something. I recently purchased a Samsung Exhibit 4G and love it! There's plenty of single core snapdragons and a hummingbird in the wild on the cheap and it would be great to put them against each other. Obviously you are limited to what you have (or are sent to review) but jus sayin.Reikon - Thursday, August 18, 2011 - link
I don't really get the point of getting a budget smartphone on a postpaid carrier. You might as well go prepaid, which has much cheaper monthly plans with phones comparable to budget postpaid phones.Impulses - Thursday, August 18, 2011 - link
Yeah, saving $100 or even $200 on a phone over the course of two years when you're paying $80+ a month for service just seems silly... Unless you pay for your phone but not service (families, companies, etc.), then I could see it. Or if you switch carriers a often, but I don't see how anyone manages that with the current ETFs.Impulses - Thursday, August 18, 2011 - link
Darn Anand, had I known you kept delaying the EVO 3D review to compare it directly with the Photon I would've stopped badgering you about the review... And possibly waited before buying the EVO 3D! Reading now...Impulses - Thursday, August 18, 2011 - link
I wasn't being sarcastic btw, I'm glad you combined the articles. Although, after all is said and done, I'm not sure I would've had an easier time deciding had i read your article before buying.Just looking at the battery results I can see why you would have trouble picking between the two... 3G browsing time is most important to me as we're unlikely to see 4G here in Puerto Rico anytime soon (they're testing but only in very limited areas), and I don't talk a lot on the phone... Still, the Photon has a large lead in the Wifi battery test.
It surprises me that there can be such drastic differences back and forth between the two, and even between the EVO and Sensation. Can the software stack play such a large role or is it network issues? The Photon's drop from Wifi to 3G is more than 2x but the GSM Sensation does so much better on 3G than the EVO, could that be a matter of HSPA+ speeds allowing it to finish loading and sleep sooner?
Personally I haven't been able to get more than 3.5-4.5 hours of screen-on time out of my EVO 3D, while doing nothing but web browsing, be it 3G or Wifi... Even when sitting one rom over from a router and an Airave. I'd love to be able to squeeze 6+ as your test suggests. Maybe it's a screen brightness issue, at home I read a lot in dimly lit rooms...
Impulses - Thursday, August 18, 2011 - link
I've noticed you're wearing glasses in some of your pictures btw, myopia? I have like -3.5 and I often take off my glasses to read on my phone when I'm sitting down (or to read in general)... Anyway, it seems that even tho I don't need glasses to read at a certain distance (i shouldn't, I'm not near sighted at all) I do need them to be able to appreciate the 3D screen at all.Was just wondering if you noticed that and/or may have an explanation... The 3D effect is barely noticeable without my glasses, soon as I put them on things just pop out, but I'm looking at the screen at a distance where I normally don't need glasses to read, seemed weird to me.
Also did you notice any jumpyness with the text input cursor? That and the build of Swype included on the phone both seem very buggy to me, but the text cursor thing happens even with the stock keyboard. I'll probably root it soon and try the latest Swype beta. It's kinda ridiculous that Swype can't update built-in installs themselves and have to squeeze their updates into full manufacturer OTAs.
Impulses - Thursday, August 18, 2011 - link
Err, the part about not being nearsighted there should've said farsighted.ilkhan - Thursday, August 18, 2011 - link
Page 1"Both are awkwardly large thanks to their 4.2" screen size"
Both are speced at 4.3" :)
Nor would I call my 4.3" EVO 4G awkwardly large.
Anand Lal Shimpi - Thursday, August 18, 2011 - link
Fixed :)For sure it's a personal preference thing. I do believe on Android the sweet spot is somewhere in the 4 - 4.3" range, but for someone coming from a Nexus One for example both of these could feel awkwardly large by comparison :)
Take care,
Anand
Mumrik - Thursday, August 18, 2011 - link
"they just haven't been all that interesting.Until now of course.
"
Anand, did you pull a Jeremy Clarkson on purpose?
:-D