The Photon 4G Pre-Order Info Thread

[burgertime]

Figured I would start a thread about pre-ordering the Photon. Called Radio Shack this morning and they said they hadn't even heard of the Photon lolz. So has anyone heard anything about when we can pre-order?

 

[amimemeami]

I called the local sprint store, they just got training on them yesterday, and confirmed the release date, but they did not have any info on when and if you can pre-order them. They said that it would probably be a week before they knew more.

Now, I have to decide between the EVO 3D and the Photon. Things where so much easier when there was no real competition. Either way it will be a bit of an upgrade from my LG lotus

 

[drexappeal]

Wirefly supposedly has a pre-order, but I didn't see it on the website
Wirefly.com Launches Pre-Sale of MOTOROLA PHOTON 4G from Sprint

 

[Godfather13]

If you have done business with Sprint before they should have your email on file. Usually they will send you an eblast letting you know when their latest/greatest phone is available for pre-sale. At least they did that for the Evos. Also check their site and their facebook/twitter accts and you should get the info as soon as its released.

 

[drexappeal]

Looks like it's 179.99 through wirefly
MOTOROLA PHOTON 4G for Sprint - Wirefly.com

 

[drexappeal]

159 at walmart!
http://www.sprintusers.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Motorola-Photon-4g-pr-order.jpg

New contract only. Upgrade is more expensive than Wirefly.

 

[burgertime]

Wow, I hate when they run the promotions that pull in the new customers instead of taking of the current ones.

 

[drexappeal]

I called the local sprint store, they just got training on them yesterday, and confirmed the release date, but they did not have any info on when and if you can pre-order them. They said that it would probably be a week before they knew more.

Now, I have to decide between the EVO 3D and the Photon. Things where so much easier when there was no real competition. Either way it will be a bit of an upgrade from my LG lotus

Have you gone into the store to try the EVO 3D yet? I suggest you do that, prior to making a decision.

What you're getting with the Photon 4G is pretty straight forward because some of the bells and whistles are already on other phones. Main thing you'd have to decide on is form factor and if the 3D is too much new tech to pass up for you.

I personally hated the 3D when I tried it. As much as I've been a diehard HTC fan for so many years, I've decided to go with the Photon because it is geared towards business.

 

[drexappeal]

Let's Talk handles Walmart's online orders also, but they have the same $159 deal for new customers
Motorola Photon

 

[vegasr]

I'm definitely looking forward to getting the Photon. I'm tempted on ordering early, Thursday the 28th thru Sprint (Premier Gold Member) but would hate the possibility of not getting it overnighted, thus having to wait till atleast the following Monday for delievery.
Do you think the Sprint Stores will have them ready for sale on Sunday the 31st?

 

[Jceinc]

No pre-order here. I need to play with this one first and make sure the pentile screen doesn't look as bad as I've heard

 

[vegasr]

I agree as I'd always want to check a new phone out before getting (think evo3d), but my Evo 4G has been recommisioned to someone else so using my old Treo Pro until this new comes out. Plus I figure if I didn't like the Photon for some crazy reason, I have the 30 day guarantee from Sprint I can fall back on and look into a different new one.

 

[drexappeal]

Wow, I hate when they run the promotions that pull in the new customers instead of taking of the current ones.

The wirefly upgrade deal is still good at 179. Only reason I'm not planning on that right now is because I'd get a good amount of rewards points from best buy and I'm a silver member now, so that means I can hold the points until I'm ready to use then.

 

[mwarez]

I have the EVO 3D and I am considering returning it to get the Photon. Main reasons being the camera (2D) sucks on the EVO 3D, not really interested in the 3D part of the phone, screen is just OK on the EVO 3D and the speaker on it totally sucks. Anyone know if the screen or speakerphone is any better on the Photon? Camera is 8MP so I assume it's better than the EVO's. Plus the Photon has an active kickstand which I like and 16 GB of storage. Anyone know how teh Tegra 2 pairs up against the EVO's processor?

 

[drexappeal]

I have the EVO 3D and I am considering returning it to get the Photon. Main reasons being the camera (2D) sucks on the EVO 3D, not really interested in the 3D part of the phone, screen is just OK on the EVO 3D and the speaker on it totally sucks. Anyone know if the screen or speakerphone is any better on the Photon? Camera is 8MP so I assume it's better than the EVO's. Plus the Photon has an active kickstand which I like and 16 GB of storage. Anyone know how teh Tegra 2 pairs up against the EVO's processor?

From what I've heard, since it's built to attract business consumers, the speakerphone is exceptionally good. I'm not sure about the camera, but if it's on par with my EVO 4G, I'll be happy and there have been a lot of people that complained about the EVO 4G camera.

If we're talking about the 3VO, then I've heard playback on the 3VO is better w/ the 1.2ghz dual-core snapdragon. If we're talking about the EVO 4G playback, I can't see any reason why the Tegra 2 wouldn't blow the single core snapdragon out of the water.

 

[pholuv]

Anyone else pre-order one of these?

I'm a dev so I can't wait to get crackin' on the sweet, sweet unlocked bootloader!

$179 at Amazon: Amazon.com: Motorola Photon 4G Android Phone (Sprint): Cell Phones & Accessories

Wirefly has a discount too but I had a bad experience with them before.

 

[twospirits]

While there are quite a few places stating lower prices for the Photon 4G, most are geared toward the new line customer. For existing customers wanting to upgrade, usually there is no other recourse than to haggle with the CSR.

But being that existing customers will most likely not use the older phone (since you are getting the new one to replace it), you can probably lower the cost of the new phone by trading in your previous one.

I wrote a review on trade in programs (shown below) and although it's written last year when I was upgrading to the EVO 4G, it still stand true today. I would suggest reading it and looking into the programs and who knows you may get a very sweet discount for your new Photon 4G.

Review: Trade-In Cell Phone Programs

Edit: Just realized that with the Walmart trade in the Walmart Price of $247 goes down to $146 woohoo

TS out

 

[Androidalltheway]

I have the EVO 3D and I am considering returning it to get the Photon. Main reasons being the camera (2D) sucks on the EVO 3D, not really interested in the 3D part of the phone, screen is just OK on the EVO 3D and the speaker on it totally sucks. Anyone know if the screen or speakerphone is any better on the Photon? Camera is 8MP so I assume it's better than the EVO's. Plus the Photon has an active kickstand which I like and 16 GB of storage. Anyone know how teh Tegra 2 pairs up against the EVO's processor?

Hows your call quality?

mine is horrible, which is why I a considering the photon 4g

 

[drewsg]

I have the EVO 3D and I am considering returning it to get the Photon. Main reasons being the camera (2D) sucks on the EVO 3D, not really interested in the 3D part of the phone, screen is just OK on the EVO 3D and the speaker on it totally sucks. Anyone know if the screen or speakerphone is any better on the Photon? Camera is 8MP so I assume it's better than the EVO's. Plus the Photon has an active kickstand which I like and 16 GB of storage. Anyone know how teh Tegra 2 pairs up against the EVO's processor?

Tegra2 and dualcore Snapdragon match up pretty well. I don't think theres one that clearly better than the other. The positive for the Tegra2 is that a lot more games are optimized for it. So if gaming is your thing, it's definitely an advantage.

 

[drexappeal]

Anyone else pre-order one of these?

I'm a dev so I can't wait to get crackin' on the sweet, sweet unlocked bootloader!

$179 at Amazon: Amazon.com: Motorola Photon 4G Android Phone (Sprint): Cell Phones & Accessories

Wirefly has a discount too but I had a bad experience with them before.

I was on the verge of doing a pre-order through Amazon, but you can't pay with American Express points. Damn. Plus, for some reason, you have to add a new plan, even though you're upgrading. It's odd.

 

[Rico college]

Tegra2 and dualcore Snapdragon match up pretty well. I don't think theres one that clearly better than the other. The positive for the Tegra2 is that a lot more games are optimized for it. So if gaming is your thing, it's definitely an advantage.

I did an little write up in another thread but I have researched it further. The Tegra 2 is a nice processor but it is at the end of it's life cycle and is clearly over matched by the new snapdragons. Even games that run on Tegra are now shown to run even better on the dragons. There are reports out now stating the chips in the 3vo are under clocked for power saving reasons.

That being said, it is no slouch either.

 

[drexappeal]

I did an little write up in another thread but I have researched it further. The Tegra 2 is a nice processor but it is at the end of it's life cycle and is clearly over matched by the new snapdragons. Even games that run on Tegra are now shown to run even better on the dragons. There are reports out now stating the chips in the 3vo are under clocked for power saving reasons.

That being said, it is no slouch either.

Here's my thing though. Even though the 3VO is being shown as underclocked, if we're talking straight out of the box, how does the Tegra 2 match up.

From what I've seen, it's pretty even, right? Granted, a lot of the people on the forums root their phones, but I haven't even rooted my EVO after 1 year and it was fast enough for me, even when it was dragging due to some cache issues I wasn't aware of until I hard reset my phone.

If the Tegra 2 works faster than my EVO 4G out of the box, that's all that I need.

 

[Godfather13]

Can someone explain to me what underclocked and overclocked means in laymans terms?

 

[vegasr]

Can someone explain to me what underclocked and overclocked means in laymans terms?

So if the processor speed is at 1GHz, underclocking it would mean changing it to run at say 800MHz and overclocking it would mean changing it to run at say 1.2GHz.
Underclocking would allow it to not use as much power and use less battery, thus u would having longer battery usage before needing to charge it but slowing things down a bit. Overclocking would make it run faster, more pep to it but use more power and run a bit hotter, thus using more battery and such.
You try and find a good balance between the speed and battery life and keep the heat in mind too. For most users, the stock settings are more than adequate.

Hope this helps.

 

[drexappeal]

Getting back to preorders, does anybody work at best buy or know someone at best buy that can share when or if they'll be doing a preorder?