First Impressions and Questions Thread

[tbhausen]

I've waited a while (since the Q9c) for new Motorola hardware on Sprint, and first impression is this thing doesn't disappoint. Build quality is exceptional. Feels solid in the hand--has great, luxurious looks. Buttons are really nice and tactile. I've only seen the battery indicator, but the screen can render some vivid color (reds and greens, at least). Pretty nice, deep blacks, too.

About memory card installation: The manual refers to removing the battery cover (back), then opening a memory card slot cover. I assume they mean the silver metal hood over the card. I just slid the card in no problem, right under the metal hood. We're not supposed to pry that thing open, are we?

More later...

 

[tbhausen]

Indicator LED is kind of "half amber, half red" at 70% charged... interesting.

 

[halfdriven]

About memory card installation: The manual refers to removing the battery cover (back), then opening a memory card slot cover. I assume they mean the silver metal hood over the card. I just slid the card in no problem, right under the metal hood. We're not supposed to pry that thing open, are we?

More later...

NOOOOO! they should be a small rubber flap that covers the car and sim to keep them from falling out.

 

[tbhausen]

I didn't pry it open Why does the manual refer to "opening" something? I'll bet someone does this...

There's a little black rubber pad which remains UNDER the memory card once installed, correct?

 

[halfdriven]

correct

 

[Glod]

My observations owning the phone for 2.5 hours and going through 1.5 of talk time already with the phone

Bad

• exchange email features are as limited as the stock android almost, i would suggest still to people the recently improved moxier email for exchange or *ugh* what i hate which is touchdown
• the way the icons and wallpaper and bloat was all set up put me into a OCD state to get things the way i like them, i am still not satisfied.
• the top and bottom of the screen are just a little bit dim making whites a little grey. you wont notice it until your stuck on a completely white screen
• the screen has excellent outside visibility but overall the screen is sub-par quality

Good

• Great call quality and signal!
• I like the way the in call graphics look
• I like how it automatically goes in and out of speakerphone if you pop open the kickstand
• I like the text messaging app
• it feels great in your hands, by weight and dimensions it should feel like a brick like my EVO and it doesn't!
• speaker phone quality is absolutely amazing quality
• sturdier in construction than EVO, strong battery cover and the charger port is visually stronger than the EVO which broke 3 times for me
• the camera app is nice, but i haven't compared photos from it with the evo yet
• I LOVE THE DESIGN OF THIS PHONE FOR THE SIZE!
• charges very quick

that's after 2.5 hours and 1.5 hours of talk time already logged!

need to test wimax sooner or later

 

[simcha]

Heh, thanks!

What do you mean when you say that the screen quality is bad exactly?

I have to say that I'm sick of not being able to actually read my screen outside with my Epic. So hearing that you can read the screen on the Photon outside is a definite plus for me.

Oh, and I'm very interested to hear what you think about how the Wimax works on the Photon. Speed? Consistent connection? etc.

 

[Glod]

Heh, thanks!

What do you mean when you say that the screen quality is bad exactly?

I have to say that I'm sick of not being able to actually read my screen outside with my Epic. So hearing that you can read the screen on the Photon outside is a definite plus for me.

i would say its easier to read outside than the epic but seems to have less colors even though it doesn't and it seems kinda pixel-ly-whatever-ish, you can notice what people are calling the dreaded pentile screen

 

[tbhausen]

Setting things up... liking the screen here.

 

[bronchial]

Just got my Photon today in the mail but noticed something right out of the box. According to the storage settings page the total internal storage is 8.92GB as opposed to the advertised 16GB.

I called Sprint and they checked their test unit and got the same result. The rep seemed pretty confused and came back after a long hold saying his supervisor informed him that the remaining 7.08GB was taken up by the Android OS and apps. That just seems like a lot of space just for Android. Can someone shed some light on this?

 

[busted bones]

Just got my Photon today in the mail but noticed something right out of the box. According to the storage settings page the total internal storage is 8.92GB as opposed to the advertised 16GB.

I called Sprint and they checked their test unit and got the same result. The rep seemed pretty confused and came back after a long hold saying his supervisor informed him that the remaining 7.08GB was taken up by the Android OS and apps. That just seems like a lot of space just for Android. Can someone shed some light on this?

Thats a massive amount of space taken up by the OS and bloatware. Does it say anything about amount of ROM storage available or does it just say memory is 9 GB?

Also if you delete the bloatware it allows you to remove how much space do you gain back?

 

[bronchial]

The phone says I have 2.69GB of available space for application storage and 8.92GB of total space for internal storage (8.90GB available)

 

[burgertime]

My observations owning the phone for 2.5 hours and going through 1.5 of talk time already with the phone

Bad

• exchange email features are as limited as the stock android almost, i would suggest still to people the recently improved moxier email for exchange or *ugh* what i hate which is touchdown
• the way the icons and wallpaper and bloat was all set up put me into a OCD state to get things the way i like them, i am still not satisfied.
• the top and bottom of the screen are just a little bit dim making whites a little grey. you wont notice it until your stuck on a completely white screen
• the screen has excellent outside visibility but overall the screen is sub-par quality

Good

• Great call quality and signal!
• I like the way the in call graphics look
• I like how it automatically goes in and out of speakerphone if you pop open the kickstand
• I like the text messaging app
• it feels great in your hands, by weight and dimensions it should feel like a brick like my EVO and it doesn't!
• speaker phone quality is absolutely amazing quality
• sturdier in construction than EVO, strong battery cover and the charger port is visually stronger than the EVO which broke 3 times for me
• the camera app is nice, but i haven't compared photos from it with the evo yet
• I LOVE THE DESIGN OF THIS PHONE FOR THE SIZE!
• charges very quick

that's after 2.5 hours and 1.5 hours of talk time already logged!

need to test wimax sooner or later

Couldn't agree more about the build and how the phone feels in your hand. It just feels very ergonomic, kind of hard to explain but yea compared to the EVO it just fits the hand so much better. Almost reminds me of an iPhone in hand.

The bad for me has gotta be the locking system...just seems kind of slow and drags when you go to unlock your phone. Not sure why but it does.

Also taking off the back for the battery is just difficult including putting it back on. It's kind of a PIA but I guess I won't be having to do that too much.

Also the stock keyboard on it is pretty freaking good. I'm used to Skype and hated almost every QWERTY keyboard I've tried including SwiftKey X. The stock keyboard just works much better for me.

 

[Godfather13]

Ok, Ive now spent about 4 hours messing with it. It was fully charged at 3pm when I took it off the charger. Ive played with it none stop opening every app, adding apps, etc. By 7pm my battery went yellow (30%). Im hoping this is due to it basically going non-stop.

This is my first 4G phone so Im not all to familiar with how it works and if/when you are supposed to disable it. I basically have both the 4G and 3G icons up top the whole time and sometimes they both are lit blue and moving and sometimes I see "zzz" over my 4G. And sometimes the 3G disappears completely and its only 4G. Im assuming all this is helping drain the battery. If I have access to wifi, should I just disable the 4G and run straight wifi?

I took a few pictures, and while the pics look fine and the shutter was much faster then my Hero, when I zoom in the pics get real grainy. I see there is a setting for pic resolution where you can select between widescreen, 8mp, 5mp, 3mp and 1mp. Could this be the issue? Or is it the pentile screen? I do however love the pic modes options of single, panorama and multi. Video works real nice too.

Another issue I cant figure out is how to change the fetch freq of my gmail account so the phone is checking every 10 min. Im able to change the fetch setting on my yahoo acct.

Netflix works awesome, so does you tube. This is something I could never do on my Hero. It would never be able to play a video with freezing up and lagging badly.

Overall, Im very happy. My hands starting to cramp since Im used to holding such a smaller phone. Im sure that will go away soon. I do finally see what everyone talks about being a screen issue with the phone having a pentile screen. Its def not as bright and clear as an Epic screen IMP, but its still very sharp and years ahead of my Hero.

 

[tiny2nz]

Hi, On the led lights ....does it still blink when charging (unlike other handsets) also does the notification light time out or keep going till you reset em ala nextel from 2001???
thanks your Awesome
tiny

 

[gum]

Just got my Photon today in the mail but noticed something right out of the box. According to the storage settings page the total internal storage is 8.92GB as opposed to the advertised 16GB.

I called Sprint and they checked their test unit and got the same result. The rep seemed pretty confused and came back after a long hold saying his supervisor informed him that the remaining 7.08GB was taken up by the Android OS and apps. That just seems like a lot of space just for Android. Can someone shed some light on this?

I bet it's the fact that it has a whole separate Linux OS image for running the webtop mode. Hope someone figures out how to get rid of that for those that don't plan on using it.

 

[drexappeal]

Ok, Ive now spent about 4 hours messing with it. It was fully charged at 3pm when I took it off the charger. Ive played with it none stop opening every app, adding apps, etc. By 7pm my battery went yellow (30%). Im hoping this is due to it basically going non-stop.

This is my first 4G phone so Im not all to familiar with how it works and if/when you are supposed to disable it. I basically have both the 4G and 3G icons up top the whole time and sometimes they both are lit blue and moving and sometimes I see "zzz" over my 4G. And sometimes the 3G disappears completely and its only 4G. Im assuming all this is helping drain the battery. If I have access to wifi, should I just disable the 4G and run straight wifi?

I took a few pictures, and while the pics look fine and the shutter was much faster then my Hero, when I zoom in the pics get real grainy. I see there is a setting for pic resolution where you can select between widescreen, 8mp, 5mp, 3mp and 1mp. Could this be the issue? Or is it the pentile screen? I do however love the pic modes options of single, panorama and multi. Video works real nice too.

Another issue I cant figure out is how to change the fetch freq of my gmail account so the phone is checking every 10 min. Im able to change the fetch setting on my yahoo acct.

Netflix works awesome, so does you tube. This is something I could never do on my Hero. It would never be able to play a video with freezing up and lagging badly.

Overall, Im very happy. My hands starting to cramp since Im used to holding such a smaller phone. Im sure that will go away soon. I do finally see what everyone talks about being a screen issue with the phone having a pentile screen. Its def not as bright and clear as an Epic screen IMP, but its still very sharp and years ahead of my Hero.

Oh man, some rules of thumb to keep in mind:

- Use 4G similar to how you would use wi-fi (turn off when not using).
- Turn off GPS if you don't need it (weather and location apps usually can take information from 3G - I didn't find this out until recently)
- Set display to 30%, not auto (unless you need it on auto)
- Turn off Auto Sync for apps that have the function (This is based on your needs. There are some that I have to have on and others I turn off, so use your judgement).

 

[burgertime]

Ok, Ive now spent about 4 hours messing with it. It was fully charged at 3pm when I took it off the charger. Ive played with it none stop opening every app, adding apps, etc. By 7pm my battery went yellow (30%). Im hoping this is due to it basically going non-stop.

This is my first 4G phone so Im not all to familiar with how it works and if/when you are supposed to disable it. I basically have both the 4G and 3G icons up top the whole time and sometimes they both are lit blue and moving and sometimes I see "zzz" over my 4G. And sometimes the 3G disappears completely and its only 4G. Im assuming all this is helping drain the battery. If I have access to wifi, should I just disable the 4G and run straight wifi?

I took a few pictures, and while the pics look fine and the shutter was much faster then my Hero, when I zoom in the pics get real grainy. I see there is a setting for pic resolution where you can select between widescreen, 8mp, 5mp, 3mp and 1mp. Could this be the issue? Or is it the pentile screen? I do however love the pic modes options of single, panorama and multi. Video works real nice too.

Another issue I cant figure out is how to change the fetch freq of my gmail account so the phone is checking every 10 min. Im able to change the fetch setting on my yahoo acct.

Netflix works awesome, so does you tube. This is something I could never do on my Hero. It would never be able to play a video with freezing up and lagging badly.

Overall, Im very happy. My hands starting to cramp since Im used to holding such a smaller phone. Im sure that will go away soon. I do finally see what everyone talks about being a screen issue with the phone having a pentile screen. Its def not as bright and clear as an Epic screen IMP, but its still very sharp and years ahead of my Hero.

I would keep 4g off at almost all times it was a huge drain on the Evo and it's probably the same with the photon. If you have WiFi on 4g will not work which is a pretty cool feature. So if it isn't connected it shouldn't be draining much battery...I think anyways. If it is on though it for sure drains.

 

[Glod]

you know what i realized (and i am still playing with this phone) but i just realized there isn't any damn light bleed around the frame like the EVO 4G has. Hell i have been used to light bleed also from the pre and hero.

it is real comforting to know that now i have a well constructed piece of ownage.

 

[Godfather13]

Oh man, some rules of thumb to keep in mind:

- Use 4G similar to how you would use wi-fi (turn off when not using).
- Turn off GPS if you don't need it (weather and location apps usually can take information from 3G - I didn't find this out until recently)
- Set display to 30%, not auto (unless you need it on auto)
- Turn off Auto Sync for apps that have the function (This is based on your needs. There are some that I have to have on and others I turn off, so use your judgement).

Where do I go to turn off auto sync?
Also, whats this "data saver" under battery and data mgr? Is it something I should have on?
Lastly, how good is the Motorola music app? I want something to put some of my itunes in. It should be ok no? Id rather not download another app if this one does ok.

 

[whatsitsname]

Crap, the phone only does landscape mode one way on videos. Can't watch video and charge without a dock or an angle micro usb cable. They need to fix this.

 

[Bandage]

Where do I go to turn off auto sync?
Also, whats this "data saver" under battery and data mgr? Is it something I should have on?
Lastly, how good is the Motorola music app? I want something to put some of my itunes in. It should be ok no? Id rather not download another app if this one does ok.

In your seetings...under Accounts Sync...or such. You can select the different options (google / facebook, etc) then select frequency from there.

 

[tbhausen]

The screen on this little beast is insanely, blindingly, retina-frying bright! It's TOO bright, even at its lowest setting... That's about the biggest negative I can find thus far. The audio (speakerphone and earpiece) is spectacular... exactly what I expected from Motorola.

Made myself a solid black wallpaper--looks real good.

HTH do I get this thing to realize Google Maps needs an update?

 

[McLogan]

Crap, the phone only does landscape mode one way on videos. Can't watch video and charge without a dock or an angle micro usb cable. They need to fix this.

Don't have my phone yet to try this, but They claim on page 15 of the manual that:
"If you need to plug an HDMI or micro USB cable into
your phone while it is resting on the kickstand, you can
also rotate the phone and rest it with the micro USB
and HDMI connectors on the top."

You might look to see if there are any other settings for the kickstand that might help.

PS, has anybody confirmed that you can go into the full webtop app withe the hdmi cable only, and without the doc yet? It was inferred int the manual, but I will believe it when someone actually does it.

 

[whatsitsname]

Don't have my phone yet to try this, but They claim on page 15 of the manual that:
"If you need to plug an HDMI or micro USB cable into
your phone while it is resting on the kickstand, you can
also rotate the phone and rest it with the micro USB
and HDMI connectors on the top."

You might look to see if there are any other settings for the kickstand that might help.

PS, has anybody confirmed that you can go into the full webtop app withe the hdmi cable only, and without the doc yet? It was inferred int the manual, but I will believe it when someone actually does it.

It does with music and file browsing just not videos which is what I use it most for.

Don't know about the webtop as I don't have an micro hdmi cable.