Motorola PHOTON 4G specs review

The Motorola PHOTON 4G is shaping up to be Sprint's alternative to the Motorola ATRIX 4G, yet it comes with an extra trick or two up its sleeve. Offering plenty of processing power and display real estate, the Tegra 2-powered device will definitely overshadow almost any other handset in the carrier's portfolio and will sit lined up right next to another highly acclaimed smartphone - the HTC EVO 3D. How can we be so sure? Let us go over the PHOTON 4G's specs and see what makes us think that way.

Design

Luckily, soon after its introduction, we had the opportunity to get our hands on the Motorola PHOTON 4G, albeit only for a short while, so we do have and idea of what using the smartphone actually feels like. While playing with the device, we were more than satisfied with the way it rested in our hand – sturdy and easy to grasp despite the fact that it packed a spacious 4.3-inch qHD display. We hope you would agree that high-end internals do not matter that much if a smartphone is not comfortable to use, so we are happy to say that the PHOTON 4G looks like a winner in the ergonomics category so far.

The cut off corners of the smartphone are another nice touch that we liked and it seems like their purpose is to make the device feel more comfortable to hold while playing video games or watching videos on its bright and vivid display. Or, if you prefer, you can simply pop out its kickstand and let the PHOTON 4G rest on the table while you watch a flick, listen to your favorite tunes through the phone's built-in stereo speakers, or check out YouTube's latest selection of lolcats.




If you are a fan of premium materials like brushed aluminum, for example, we will have to disappoint you as there is none of that seen on the PHOTON 4G, but nevertheless, the handset's body has a nice soft-touch finish added to its matte plastic body so it feels rather pleasant to the touch.

With its weight of 5.57 ounces (or 158 grams), we do agree that the Motorola PHOTON 4G is a bit on the heavy side. Being half an inch thick means that it is also slightly thicker than other smartphones in its category like the Samsung Galaxy S II or the HTC Sensation 4G, for example, but we are more or less fine with that as long as the device is easy to handle. We should also mention that behind its back cover hides a beefy 1700 mAh battery rated for the impressive 10 hours of talk time.

Now that we know the Motorola PHOTON 4G should not leave you with a bad impression the first time you get a hold of it, it is time to take a peek under its hood and see what goodies hide in there.

Hardware

This wouldn't be the first time when we mention that the Motorola PHOTON 4G is pretty similar to the Motorola ATRIX 4G in terms of hardware. Both devices share the same NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core chipset clocked at 1 GHz and have a whopping 1GB of high-performance RAM at their disposal. Having all this processing horsepower means that running demanding 3D games coming straight from the Tegra Zone and playing back 1080p HD videos would be tasks that the PHOTON 4G should excel at.

Another feature that both devices share is the impressive 540 by 960 display resolution, which is slowly turning into a must-have requirement in order to acquire the title of a true high-end smartphone. However, something that keeps bothering us is that there is still no word whether the PHOTON 4G will adopt the pentile matrix pixel arrangement seen in the ATRIX 4G and expected in the Motorola DROID 3 or will use a standard RGB pattern. In a nutshell, a pentile matrix display tries to trick the eye into perceiving a high resolution image by having its subpixels arranged in a special way. Unfortunately, this does not work for everyone as some users can still spot the difference. At the end of the day, the actual display resolution of the Motorola PHOTON 4G might turn out to be noticeably lower than advertised.

The PHOTON 4G would not deserve to be called a top-tier device without decent multimedia capabilities, but it looks like the handset has all the necessary hardware in stock. Besides playing back Full HD video, the smartphone can record 1080p footage as well thanks to its 8-megapixel autofocus camera backed up by a dual-LED flash. That being said, the Motorola PHOTON 4G should be capable of replacing your main digital camera when you do not have it nearby. All those captured moments can then be stored onto the handset's built-in 16 gigabytes of storage or on a microSD card of up to 32 gigabytes in size. It is also worth mentioning that by using its micro HDMI output connector, photos and videos stored on the Motorola PHOTON 4G can be shared with friends and family on an HDTV.

Thanks to its WiMAX radio, we do not expect to see anything less of blazing-fast Internet speeds from the Motorola PHOTON 4G. However, with the chances of Sprint switching to LTE in the near future getting higher and higher, we are wondering whether the smartphone would not become outdated sooner than expected. Should that make you think twice about getting one once it launches? Well, not really because WiMAX will most probably still be around until the end of 2013.

Those of you who like to travel abroad will like the fact that the PHOTON 4G is a world phone meaning that it supports GSM connectivity along with Sprint's CDMA network. Just pop in a SIM card while you are on a vacation or on a business meeting overseas and you should be good to go.

Software

The Motorola PHOTON 4G will ship with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, which is more than expected from a smartphone of its caliber. That means that you will be getting the most up-to-date Android experience possible, or at least until Ice Cream Sandwich starts rolling out. On top of that, the user interface will be treated to a certain degree of customization, and even though we are not really crazy about custom UIs, the changes are expected to be mostly superficial without trying to reinvent any aspect of the phone's functionality from the ground up. As far as modding the software on the smartphone goes, developers might be disappointed to hear that the PHOTON 4G will come with a locked bootloader, at least upon release, yet it might help crossing your fingers and hoping to get an unlocking tool in the future.

Conclusion

The Motorola PHOTON 4G is expected to launch later this summer, and from what we have on paper it seems like it is going to be one very capable high-end smartphone. Having a dual-core Tegra 2 chipset mixed together with WiMAX connectivity sounds like a very promising combination indeed. On top of all, the 4.3-inch qHD display will make consuming media on the go more than a pleasure so we might be dealing with a real winner right here. If you have not done so, feel free to check our Motorola PHOTON 4G Hands-on, or if you feel like browsing through our catalog of devices, you can also check out the queue of upcoming Sprint phones.