Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE (Sprint)

• Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 2 reviews
• My rating: 0 stars

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• 8 stars

  Decent phone if you must have a physical keyboard

  by KGilfillan on April 8, 2013

  Pros: See pros in summary

  Cons: See cons in summary

  Summary: On to the device: Like all smartphones, this phone has its pros and cons. I finally went with this phone because of the physical keyboard, which is very roomy. My ...

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  Summary: On to the device: Like all smartphones, this phone has its pros and cons. I finally went with this phone because of the physical keyboard, which is very roomy. My only issue with the keyboard is that it can be a buggy, due to the software needing to select the Motorola keyboard (for physical keyboard) or Swype (my preferred on-screen keyboard). I try to keep the setting on Swype, since I do use it occasionally for quick messages and don't want to change my input every time, but sometimes this makes some important functions, such as capitalization, not work on the physical keyboard. :/ I did not have this issue on my Samsung Epic 4G.
  
  The hardware is very good on this phone; I don't feel like it's going to break at any moment like I did with my Samsung. However, I am still trying to get used to Motorola's oversimplification of Android ICS...I'm honestly not sure if this blame should be placed on Motorola or Android developers (I know this is supposed to be a 'cleaner' version of ICS), but when comparing the software on my phone to my dad's HTC One and my friend's Samsung Galaxy III, their versions make a lot more sense to me and allow more customization. I hate scrolling through my homescreens and the last one is solely devoted to homescreen options...which I haven't found a way to change.
  
  I also cannot set which screen I want to be my default homescreen; I've never been limited in this way before. I'm considering trying a different launcher. Another thing that really bothers me about this phone: the excess space beneath the screen that could easily fit capacitive keys for the "back", "home", and, "recent" keys. Instead, these buttons are crammed in at the bottom of the screen, which was really just a stupid decision. Why take up more screen real-estate when there's plenty of room beneath the screen? I'm also a bit disappointed in the washed-out pictures the 8mp camera takes, but I was well aware of that before I purchased this phone, so that doesn't affect my rating.
  
  Otherwise, this phone is fast and so far reliable...unlike my Samsung Epic (which I had replaced by another Epic when I first got it because of all its issues, turned out it was just a terrible phone). It's so nice to actually be able to use GPS and all the other features on my phone for once. I can talk on my phone now for longer than 5 minutes! The signal strength in general seems to be way better with this phone. The battery life is decent(once again, at least better than my Epic), but I still keep a charger on me at all times. While the device alone probably deserves closer to 3 stars, I'm giving it 4 because of the lack of options when it comes to smartphones with physical keyboards.
  
  Before you purchase, take more profit at: Sprintandroidphones.blogspot.com/p/photon-q-4g.html
  
  Hope I helps, enjoy!

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  2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 4 stars

  Perks not worth aggravation of Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE

  by spiderchik on February 25, 2013

  Pros: Full keyboard, large screen, dropped in water and still works with otterbox case protector.

  Cons: non removable battery cover, Software updates render phone useless, no SD card, keyboard key coating rubbed off in 3rd week, battery life goes way down after 1 month of use, heavy and large, runs on 3G, lte not available

  Summary: Had i been aware of the lack of SD card, non removable battery cover and issues with the software updating, i would have forgone the full keyboard and went with ...

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  Summary: Had i been aware of the lack of SD card, non removable battery cover and issues with the software updating, i would have forgone the full keyboard and went with a better functioning phone.
  Also, what is the point of having a 4G LTE phone when the LTE service is not available yet in my area. I almost can't wait until this phone dies so that i can be rid of it.
  Software updates 2 of 3 times have rendered the phone so useless that i had to take it to a sprint store to have a tech fix the issue.
  The keyboard keys started peeling and chipping off after only 3 weeks of usage..seems that if a phone's main feature is a full keyboard, more care would have been taken to see that the keys are durable.
  
  Updated on Feb 25, 2013

  In addition, the newest issue i'm experiencing is from the lack of SD card. I can't download all of the apps i want to use because there is no additional storage space for them.

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