HTC EVO 3D vs. Motorola Photon 4G: Choosing the Best Sprint Phone
by Anand Lal Shimpi on August 17, 2011 11:11 PM ESTSoftware
Both the Photon 4G and EVO 3D run Gingerbread, although the Photon sports a slightly newer version (2.3.4 vs 2.3.3). The newer point release on Photon simply implements bug fixes, but don't take that to mean that the Photon should be a more stable phone. In my experience with the two, the Photon was more likely to crash although neither phone appeared to be particularly unstable.
The EVO 3D ships with HTC's Sense 3.0 UI and associated apps. We've covered Sense 3.0 extensively in previous articles, but our general feeling is that it's mostly a useful addition to Android. While I wish all phones would deliver a stock Android experience and let you simply add functionality on your own, Sense 3.0 isn't a pain to use.
Motorola's skin on the Photon isn't nearly as polished looking or functional as Sense 3.0 but it's not obnoxious either. Both UIs have good keyboards. Motorola's browser executes javascript faster than HTC's, while HTC's allows for smoother scrolling. Again with the tradeoffs.
Overall my preference here is the EVO 3D but I could live with either.
The Photon does have one feature the EVO 3D can't match: Motorola's Webtop App. Motorola first introduced us to its Webtop app on the Atrix, but its implementation on the Photon remains mostly unchanged. With the Photon 4G docked or connected to an external display via HDMI you have the option of firing up the Webtop app - a self contained Linux environment with a full version of Firefox 4.0.1. You can either use the Photon itself as a keyboard/mouse or you can tether input devices via Bluetooth. If you've got the multimedia dock there are three USB ports you can use instead. The idea is that can leave your netbook at home and use your phone, dock and portable keyboard as your PC on the go.
Motorola's Webtop App via HDMI on a TV
The Webtop experience is neat but only for light usage. We're still far from being able to duplicate a PC browsing experience on a smartphone but it's good to see manufacturers toying with the idea. In a couple of years it may just be reality.
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Palmer 3 - Monday, August 22, 2011 - link
How certain are you that the parallax barrier is always in place?When I look at a 3D picture there is a graininess to the image. If I close one eye I can see the "black" vertical lines that were intended for the other eye. When looking at a non 3D image and I close one eye I do not see these black lines. I would assume if the barrier was present the lines would still appear since you cannot see though the barrier.
Dan-Spradling - Wednesday, September 7, 2011 - link
Ok, I'm a long time Sprint customer and I been holding out for the I-Phone to come to Sprint but I hear that's just rumor for now so I decided to try an Android phone to upgrade from a Blackberry Tour. After days of reading customer reviews everywhere on the internet (including Amazon) I decided to take a chance and all I can say is WOW, this phone is light years better than my Blackberry. It's very fast, the touch screen is very responsive, screen resolution is excellent in my opinion, camera and video recorder is nice, phone sound quality and reception is great, I could go on and on!Cons: I noticed the battery is not as long lasting as my old Blackberry but its not bad. Also I still can not find a way to stop the a song when its played on the music player. Only thing you can do to stop it is hit the pause button, perhaps something I am doing wrong. One final thing they should include a full manual with the purchase not just a starter guide. I had to go online to download the 155 page manual.
Overall this is an excellent phone!!! I am very pleased with the purchase. I was a loyal Blackberry user but RIM refuses to come out with better phones so... bye bye Blackberry. There is no going back now.
See Motorola Photon 4G Best Deal at: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005C5QLVK/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=othersitecomment-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=B005C5QLVK
guitarpete987 - Tuesday, January 17, 2012 - link
I've tried both, and the decision maker for me was believe it or not the music app. I love the way the Photon music app is designed, how it works well with my home upnp setup and the functionality it has to make "Genius" style random playlists from your collection, which seems to do an even better job than apples method.