Is this really the best phone signal strength wise?

[rapidturtle]

Looking to upgrade from my Moment, and I am really interested the the photon.
I live in a rural area, and signal strength is an issue at times, in some areas. I saw a video review of this phone on youtube, and the guy was saying that the Photon, and Motorola phones in general, are the best phones for signal strength. Have any of you that are using the Photon, finding that you get a better signal vs other phones that you have used?
If it is better, this would pretty much seal the deal for me. I was also looking at the Evo 3D, EVO, and Nexus S phones. I know there are supposed to be some cool Samsung phones coming out, but I would have a hard time buying another Samsung phone after dealing with this damn Moment.
Thanks for any input.

 

[Mikenk]

Looking to upgrade from my Moment, and I am really interested the the photon.
I live in a rural area, and signal strength is an issue at times, in some areas. I saw a video review of this phone on youtube, and the guy was saying that the Photon, and Motorola phones in general, are the best phones for signal strength. Have any of you that are using the Photon, finding that you get a better signal vs other phones that you have used?
If it is better, this would pretty much seal the deal for me. I was also looking at the Evo 3D, EVO, and Nexus S phones. I know there are supposed to be some cool Samsung phones coming out, but I would have a hard time buying another Samsung phone after dealing with this damn Moment.
Thanks for any input.

I really like this phone overall; the display, the loudness, the battery life, the usability all are great for my needs. Realistically, i was expecting more from the signal strength perspective based on early reviews. I also live in a fringe area and this phone is better than my other past phones: Palm, touch pro, and TP2 - but only marginally. I have wildly varying signal strength; 1 to 5 bars. I have had a few incidents of voice breakup on calls, but no totally dropped calls. Knock on wood.

Mike

 

[Ronny71]

Looking to upgrade from my Moment, and I am really interested the the photon.
I live in a rural area, and signal strength is an issue at times, in some areas. I saw a video review of this phone on youtube, and the guy was saying that the Photon, and Motorola phones in general, are the best phones for signal strength. Have any of you that are using the Photon, finding that you get a better signal vs other phones that you have used?
If it is better, this would pretty much seal the deal for me. I was also looking at the Evo 3D, EVO, and Nexus S phones. I know there are supposed to be some cool Samsung phones coming out, but I would have a hard time buying another Samsung phone after dealing with this damn Moment.
Thanks for any input.

I had the EVO 4G and upgraded to the Photon...was gettin 1 bar and dropped calls from the EVO in my apartment...was great in my Town House...but when I moved to the apartment a lot of dropped calls and 1 bar readings...Photon was better than the EVO...2-3 bars in the apartment...phone calls were clearer and no drops...Now after the OTA upgrade A FEW DAYS AGO... 4-5 bars...phone calls are excellent...Motorolas are known for their great radios and this just proves it to me...You'll like the Photon...But if you don't you got thirty days to switch...If you wait till October the Nexus Prime is on the way...

 

[mitchedo]

I visit a cabin near Lava Hot Springs, Idaho. We get no Sprint signal, so I assume we're on the very edge of a distant Verizon tower.

This year I've only been up once. In previous years, my Touch Pro got spotty reception in the cabin, my Photon is about the same -- certainly no better. However, the Samsung Instincts in the family seemed to fare a bit worse this year as well, so maybe it was just something to do with the atmospheric conditions.

My parents can't get any reception in the cabin on their Rumor Touch phones on Sprint. My sister and her kids are out of luck with any of their T-mobile phones. My old Motorola V60 on Verizon never got any signal in the cabin, and barely got any reception outside.

At home, if the strength bars are to be believed, my Photon far exceeds the Touch Pro. ...but that may well be just a difference in the bar visualization. We get a pretty good signal at home.

Sorry, no Evos to compare with.

That's what the 30 day trial is all about.

 

[rapidturtle]

Sounds pretty promising. I also like the loudness factor of this phone. I have missed many calls not hearing the ringer on other phones.
I will wait a few more weeks though. I am a little gun shy after getting stuck with the Moment. I know I have the 30 days, but the Moment seemed pretty good for the first month or so, but turned into a true pita.

 

[mph82]

In for the signal strength. I take my phoen to work with me. When I was with USCC I was always on 1 bar maybe.. or droppin service. With the photon on sprint I am usually pullin 2 or 3 bars out of 5. There are also a few dead spots I have had with USCC for as long as I can remember and sprint has been awesome thru these areas as well... I get great reception with the phone. That is worth alot to me.

 

[clgwli]

Can't say if it is the best or not, but it is definitely better than my DH's EVO4G. Not just the bars that are showing but the actual signal in db is better.

 

[DMC-12]

I live in a old brick flat in Chicago... and my signal has always sucked on T-Mo and was 'meh' take it or leave it on Sprint (with my Hero and other phones = half bars).

With my Photon... I always get full bars now. So I am very happy.

 

[Skrillex]

Looking to upgrade from my Moment, and I am really interested the the photon.
I live in a rural area, and signal strength is an issue at times, in some areas. I saw a video review of this phone on youtube, and the guy was saying that the Photon, and Motorola phones in general, are the best phones for signal strength. Have any of you that are using the Photon, finding that you get a better signal vs other phones that you have used?
If it is better, this would pretty much seal the deal for me. I was also looking at the Evo 3D, EVO, and Nexus S phones. I know there are supposed to be some cool Samsung phones coming out, but I would have a hard time buying another Samsung phone after dealing with this damn Moment.
Thanks for any input.

First of all, let me say how sorry I am that you needlessly suffer from the Samsung Moment. It was my first android and it is a total turd. I went from the Moment to the Nexus S 4G. The simple answer to your question is "yes". The Photon has superior signal acquisition and radio drivers.

 

[floorguy]

Sounds pretty promising. I also like the loudness factor of this phone. I have missed many calls not hearing the ringer on other phones.
I will wait a few more weeks though. I am a little gun shy after getting stuck with the Moment. I know I have the 30 days, but the Moment seemed pretty good for the first month or so, but turned into a true pita.

that moment sucked from the day i walked out the store.....it was just dumb....aside from the fact that it showed me in RUSSIA on the gps for most of the day...( i took it back)


if you are coming from the moment, you will be WTH didnt i switch earlier...

I had a hero, the moment for a day, back to hero, Samsung epic (shoulda done EVO but with the bad support on the hero i was scared) and this phone far and away is just ridiculas good.....

 

[alnova1]

First of all, let me say how sorry I am that you needlessly suffer from the Samsung Moment. It was my first android and it is a total turd. I went from the Moment to the Nexus S 4G. The simple answer to your question is "yes". The Photon has superior signal acquisition and radio drivers.

I have been doing a few test comparing signal strength between my Nexus S and the Photon and have found real no difference. In fact this pic is in my house where I never get a great signal and the Nexus is always better. Having said that I think the call quality sounds better on the photon and I love how loud the speakers are...I can actually hear my phone ring!

 

[Skrillex]

I have been doing a few test comparing signal strength between my Nexus S and the Photon and have found real no difference. In fact this pic is in my house where I never get a great signal and the Nexus is always better. Having said that I think the call quality sounds better on the photon and I love how loud the speakers are...I can actually hear my phone ring!

I posted something about this somewhere else on the forum but basically it is a combination of radio hardware and radio driver hardware and signal acquisition which make the Photon way better than the Nexus S 4 G in this area. It is the ability to make the most of a weak signal on a regular basis. It you do speed test with these 2 phones the Photon will slaughter the NS4G. Also holding 2 cells a foot apart which both run on the same frequency will cause distortions (could be the reason the NS4G has higher dBm in you pics). The bottom line is that the best I ever clocked a NS4G at is 6000 kbps, I have seen the Photon hit around 11500 kbps regularly.

 

[rapidturtle]

LOL, I know I will be happier with any phone I upgrade to vs the moment. Sounds like all phones have some type of issues.(Moment just had to damn many) I just have to figure out which issues I can live with. The fact that this phone seems like it should pull in a better signal is a huge plus for me. I really appreciate everyone's input on that.
From what I have read on here, it seems like most of the photon's issues have been fixed by a recent patch?(dropped voice durring calls, slow 3G, etc...) One issue that someone had posted was the photon couldn't be plugged in and used as an alarm clock? I do like to charge overnight on my nightstand and use the alarm to wake up in the morning. Anyone experience this?

 

[alnova1]

I posted something about this somewhere else on the forum but basically it is a combination of radio hardware and radio driver hardware and signal acquisition which make the Photon way better than the Nexus S 4 G in this area. It is the ability to make the most of a weak signal on a regular basis. It you do speed test with these 2 phones the Photon will slaughter the NS4G. Also holding 2 cells a foot apart which both run on the same frequency will cause distortions (could be the reason the NS4G has higher dBm in you pics). The bottom line is that the best I ever clocked a NS4G at is 6000 kbps, I have seen the Photon hit around 11500 kbps regularly.

Well lets put it another way...I played golf in a rural part of N.C. today and the photon started roaming and the nexus didn't . I use my phone as a golf gps so I'm still in my 30 day period with the photon and wanted to try it out but also had my NS4G with me also..were they still to close together? The bottom line is in my area is that we do not have 4G and they speed test I have run for data are virtually the same. Look I'm not bashing the Photon because I like it but I'm just giving you my experiences. Call quality is great...I like the camera but i just haven't noticed much of a difference in my area as far as signal or data speeds.

 

[floorguy]

yea you can set an alarm and it goes off.....

where did you hear that??

 

[clgwli]

LOL, I know I will be happier with any phone I upgrade to vs the moment. Sounds like all phones have some type of issues.(Moment just had to damn many) I just have to figure out which issues I can live with. The fact that this phone seems like it should pull in a better signal is a huge plus for me. I really appreciate everyone's input on that.
From what I have read on here, it seems like most of the photon's issues have been fixed by a recent patch?(dropped voice durring calls, slow 3G, etc...) One issue that someone had posted was the photon couldn't be plugged in and used as an alarm clock? I do like to charge overnight on my nightstand and use the alarm to wake up in the morning. Anyone experience this?

I have an alarm set on my phone and it goes off every day plugged in or not. Only time it won't work (obviously) is if I have the phone completely turned off. Not sure why someone said you can't.

 

[rapidturtle]

Pretty sure I read about someone having the alarm glitch in a review on cnet or maybe bestbuy.

 

[skep]

alarm worked fine for me being plugged in

 

[drexappeal]

LOL, I know I will be happier with any phone I upgrade to vs the moment. Sounds like all phones have some type of issues.(Moment just had to damn many) I just have to figure out which issues I can live with. The fact that this phone seems like it should pull in a better signal is a huge plus for me. I really appreciate everyone's input on that.
From what I have read on here, it seems like most of the photon's issues have been fixed by a recent patch?(dropped voice durring calls, slow 3G, etc...) One issue that someone had posted was the photon couldn't be plugged in and used as an alarm clock? I do like to charge overnight on my nightstand and use the alarm to wake up in the morning. Anyone experience this?

yea you can set an alarm and it goes off.....

where did you hear that??

I have an alarm set on my phone and it goes off every day plugged in or not. Only time it won't work (obviously) is if I have the phone completely turned off. Not sure why someone said you can't.

alarm worked fine for me being plugged in

Pretty sure I read about someone having the alarm glitch in a review on cnet or maybe bestbuy.

rapidturtle, I think you might have "mis-read" a comment about the alarm not working while plugged in. It might have been in reference to where the charging port is located. Early on, people were under the impression that you couldn't charge the phone with the kickstand out, but it was quickly found that Motorola designed the kickstand to work both ways in landscape mode, so that you could charge the phone while also using as an alarm clock.

The only other reason you might have gotten that impression is that the "active kickstand" doesn't work exactly the same using an aftermarket launcher because you have to actually press the home button, prior to it actually pulling up the desk clock.

Other than that, I have no clue who would've said that the alarm doesn't work while plugged in because this morning it worked just fine for me, while plugged in (when I forgot to unplug my phone before going to sleep).

 

[Dreamliner]

Im debating between the Photon and GSII. I'm not a huge fan of the Photon screen, but the amazing call & speaker quality may be enough to pull me over...

 

[Skrillex]

Well lets put it another way...I played golf in a rural part of N.C. today and the photon started roaming and the nexus didn't . I use my phone as a golf gps so I'm still in my 30 day period with the photon and wanted to try it out but also had my NS4G with me also..were they still to close together? The bottom line is in my area is that we do not have 4G and they speed test I have run for data are virtually the same. Look I'm not bashing the Photon because I like it but I'm just giving you my experiences. Call quality is great...I like the camera but i just haven't noticed much of a difference in my area as far as signal or data speeds.

Mayne YOUR particular Nexus S is somehow faster than YOUR Photon in YOUR area. But I believe just the opposite in my personal experience. Perhaps your Photon has a slight defect? All i can say is that performance is not simply dBm signal and the Photon has lots of people raving about data speed in many forums where just the opposite is true for the Nexus S. That being said if I could combine the sound output of the Photon with the screen of the Nexus S and the data speeds of the Photon with the form factor of the Nexus S I would be in love!