I don't know what to do now with my upgrade. Help please?

[simcha]

MoPho owners, Please help me. I'm due for my upgrade on 9/1 and it's appraching fast. Now that the update has fixed the "dropped call" issue on this phone, I'm seriously considering the MoPho again. However...

I've been reading that Google bought Motorola? If this is true then there should be an advantage for Motorola phone owners in that they should get updates first, right? Also, could this mean that the boatloaders will become unlocked? Would Motorola phones become pure Android/Google phones? What could this all mean for the MoPho?

If the MoPho isn't selling well and this trend continues, will the MoPho have enough stream to get a decent developer community? Also, will it continue to get timely updates?

Now I've been reading about a possible Nexus Prime that might be developed and might come to Sprint. The alleged specs look great. It's supposed to be pure Google/Android phone that is completely unlocked. It might be produced by Samsung. I'm completely burned out on Samsung and I've had nothing but bad experiences with Samsung phones including my current Epic. Could Motorola be producing the Nexus Prime now that Google owns it? If so, should I wait until October/November to upgrade so I can see if the Nexus Prime is beast for me?

I won't even consider the iPhone5. It's not even 4g capable. What is this? 2007?

And the new big Galaxies seem like smashing phones but I'm completely burned on Samsung. I really hate my Epic (which is a pimped out Galaxy).

What should I do? Any advice?

 

[Super Noob]

Don't buy the phone because of 4G unless you have great 4G reception in your area. I upgraded my Evo 4G to the Photon and I still don't get ANY 4G reception.

 

[simcha]

Thanks, but this is about so much more than 4g. Longevity, hardware, software, and support matter so much more to me as specified in my op, I hope.

 

[whatsitsname]

Longevity? Wimax is a dying format.

 

[Draiko]

Longevity? Wimax is a dying format.

It was always meant as an interim technology. New network tech usually only lasts 4-7 years before the next generation comes out. Look at the US carrier network tech history. WiMax was supposed to hit in late 2008 but was delayed due to Clearwire getting greedy and the recession. The followup to WiMax was planned for a 2013-2015 rollout. Since both WiMax and LTE are OFDM tech, the hardware is largely the same. Sprint can still use their WiMax antenna arrays for LTE and LTE advanced. WiMax phones, however, can't but most people who have WiMax phones right now will upgrade in 2013 anyway.

 

[simcha]

Longevity? Wimax is a dying format.

Ugh! Ok, we all seem to know this. But seriously...

Does this mean I should dump my phone and Sprint to go to another carrier that has LTE?

What is your advice? Hmmmm? Should I take a pass on the Photon because it's already obsolete and uses a dying 4g format?

Really, I'm probably staying with Sprint. I've been with Sprint over 12 years.

So does anyone have something to say that might be useful in helping me to make my decision about getting a new phone on the Sprint network that might possibly be a Photon? Thanks

 

[whatsitsname]

Ugh! Ok, we all seem to know this. But seriously...

Does this mean I should dump my phone and Sprint to go to another carrier that has LTE?

What is your advice? Hmmmm? Should I take a pass on the Photon because it's already obsolete and uses a dying 4g format?

Really, I'm probably staying with Sprint. I've been with Sprint over 12 years.

So does anyone have something to say that might be useful in helping me to make my decision about getting a new phone on the Sprint network that might possibly be a Photon? Thanks

Wow. Just because you don't like the answer there is no need to get upset. Lol.

 

[mitchedo]

It's a terrific phone. Just get one and be happy with it. It was $99 at Best Buy on an upgrade last time I checked.

If you don't like it within 30 days, then return it. If you like it, keep it. If you hate it after 6 months, the early termination fee is only $200.

I waited and waited and waited and waited and waited for the SGS2. 3 weeks ago, I snagged a Photon for $150 and I couldn't be happier. If you keep waiting for the be-all, end-all phone, you'll never be satisifed.

That said, my phone had its first ever crash to reboot today. Odd that it happened so soon after the "upgrade" rolled out that was supposed to fix problems I didn't have. It's still a whole lot better than the POS Touch Pro I hated for the nearly 3 years I had it. ...should've upgraded to the Evo when it came out, but the dual cores were "just around the corner", so I didn't.

Just out of curiosity, why do you hate your Epic? My oldest son is still holding out for the SGS2.

 

[whatsitsname]

The etf will be $350 come September 9. Whoever wants to purchase a smartphone from sprint should do it before then.

 

[simcha]

@mitchedo, Thanks. Your response and experience helps me to get closer to a decision.

To answer your question, I hate my Epic because it's never really worked well. The screen is killer. I thought I'd like the physical keyboard but I'm finding that I use it very rarely. I'm on my second Epic. The first one stopped responding to touch after 6 months of owning it. The screen started to flicker uncontrollably. This was after the first Froyo OTA update messed up my phone. Before the update entering text into fields on a browser was bad but after the update it was absolutely painful. It's still not great on my second Epic. On my second Epic the micro usb port is messed up. It became loose. Now Sprint won't do anything for me. I'm done with the shoddy hardware and software from Samsung. This Epic feels cheap and flimsy.

@whatsitsname, I wasn't upset. It's just that the responses I got had nothing to do with my questions. And where did you see that the etf is going up to $350? That would suck.

 

[Super Noob]

Wow. Just because you don't like the answer there is no need to get upset. Lol.

I know, specially considering he acted as if 4G was important in the first post.

I won't even consider the iPhone5. It's not even 4g capable. What is this? 2007?

And the new big Galaxies seem like s

 

[edlex]

Truth is if everyone who bought a photon and had no issues wrote in here it would dwarf the complaints. We are the fringe and typically the problem resolution fringe at that. I've had my stock photon for 10 days now and have truly had ZERO issues as described in numerous posts. Try the phone for a week. If you don't like it exchange or return and wait for something else. I came from a og evo and I love the photon. The battery life alone is incredibly impressive not to mention all the other hardware. Google owning moto can only mean first in line treatment with regards to updates. I'm happy...for a year at least...

 

[whatsitsname]

@whatsitsname, I wasn't upset. It's just that the responses I got had nothing to do with my questions. And where did you see that the etf is going up to $350? That would suck.

The $350 etf report is from sprintusers.

Honestly your post/thread doesn't make sense. You have eliminated the iPhone, galaxy s2, and Nexus 3 if made by Samsung as choices. Your only choice left is the Photon or the Evo 3d, which I would guess you don't care for since you make no mention of it. So your only choice is the Photon.

Consider Sprint lucky to have some choices this year. Last year they only have 2 high end phones worth talking about.

 

[Skrillex]

There has been a lot of talk about Google literally just dumping the Motorola brand all together. The purchase was for the 17,000 patents that Motorola holds as to keep Android safe from lawsuits. I personally don't see Google killing Motorola off and hope it never happens but don't expect Motorola to become the favorite step child.

 

[Flipper]

... the last few years and how it will advance in the next few years, do you really think you're going to be using the same phone you buy now two or three years from now? Like the sentiment echoed by most people on this thread, the Photon's a great phone and most users, including myself, have no regrets whatsoever with our decision.

As for the technology being "dated", that's just how technology works. Although WiMax technology will be dwarfed by LTE in a few years, my understanding is that Sprint will still be supporting it for years down to come. And by the time they ever decide to put WiMax out to rest, most of us will likely have moved on to other phones by then, maybe ones that support GSM/CDMA/LTE. For example, just in the last three years, I'm on my fourth Android phone. I started with the Hero, moved to the Moment, and then to the EVO. And it's hard to believe how much technology has progressed just in those few short years.

As for whether or not you should buy the Photon, I personally think it's a great phone. And even though I've installed numerous ROMs and kernels on every Android phone I've owned thus far, I'm actually pleased with this phone's performance right out-of-the-box. One other thing that I'm learning about Motorola too. Compared to Samsung, they appear to be responsive to the addressing any issues pertaining to their phones, which is similar to HTC's approach (take a look at the Motorola Owner's Forum). Although I don't know what you're experience has been with your Epic, when I had the Moment, I felt like it had NO support from Samsung and was put on the market with too many bugs and issues that Samsung was not willing to admit and/or address.

So, go out and buy the Photon and enjoy it. It's a great phone and I don't think you'll have any regrets. I sure don't.

 

[simcha]

Thanks everyone. I'll let all of you know what I do. I'm leaning heavily toward the Photon now.

My post was a disjointed mess. It's just that there are so many disjointed factors in a decision to buy a phone these days. So many sources, rumors, specs, etc. I think I forgot that this was supposed to be fun.

 

[tlaz]

Simcha

As others have said, no smartphone is perfect. There are always tradeoffs. But I am also generally very pleased with the Photon. It will be a good 1-2 year phone for you. If you're already in the Android universe, the battery life, radio signal and overall snappiness will likely be a plus for you. I think the stock phone is pretty damn good, and doesn't really require much customization. It comes with some good widgets and does most anything you need it to. And the screen is very bright. A lot brighter than most of the other phones I've tried.

Come join us here, and if you don't like the MoPho, you can always complain to us!

 

[BanterandRant]

16 years of of owning cell phones (my first was a Motorola bag phone! Sold by NYNEX mobil communications pre-Verizon), and I've only had one over 18 months.... (and that was a Palm Pre),

...when this Photon is a year old, There will be some "new hot-ness" (a Google/Motorola creation, no doubt, now that Google is buying Motorola - heck, maybe Google buys Sprint next to control everything!) But, I digress....

Point is, get what you like. If there is nothing you like you don't HAVE to use your upgrade - before I got the Photon, I had been sitting on a upgrade for over a year,

No matter what, though... everything is obsolete the day after you buy it, anyway.

Thanks, but this is about so much more than 4g. Longevity, hardware, software, and support matter so much more to me as specified in my op, I hope.

 

[simcha]

Point is, get what you like. If there is nothing you like you don't HAVE to use your upgrade - before I got the Photon, I had been sitting on a upgrade for over a year,

No matter what, though... everything is obsolete the day after you buy it, anyway.

Thanks, your entire post was true. Everything is obsolete most likely a month before you buy it with how fast things are going these days.

And no, I don't have to use my upgrade. I REALLY WANT to use my upgrade because I'm so miserable with my Epic. I can't wait to dump this phone. Yes, no phone is perfect. Yes, others love their Epics. And I've gotten two lemons and I'm not going to bet on getting a cherry for the next round. I'm done with Samsung and the Epic.

The question for me is how do I pick so that I don't have to go through the agony I've gone through with my Epic? I don't want to suffer through more mess, late updates that crash my phone, and delay after delay after delay for OTA updates. I'm tired of issues that never get resolved.

So, I'm going to get rid of this nightmare called "Epic" on 9/1, or thereabouts, and plunge into something, most likely the Photon, atm, to end it. So by Friday, most likely, I'll be joining you guys in Photonland.

 

[jazzdroid]

Hi Simcha,

My upgrade is also upcoming on 9/1 and I too am almost sure about getting the Photon. I checked one out at a Best Buy a couple of weeks ago...not sure if you did the same. It might help your decision. I'm coming from a Pre- that's still working over-clocked and all. I also thought about waiting to check out the Samsung Epic Touch coming out but after my wife's bad experiences with the Moment and the posts I've read of delayed or non-existent updates I think I'll pass...super amoled + screen, 1.2ghz dual core and all. I suppose if you've had iPhone envy, which I don't (but I did envy the apps support of both ios and android coming from palm) you can hold out for the Sprint version due out in October. There seems to be no verification that the alleged Nexus Prime will come to Sprint as soon as you say also. Some people seem to think 2012.

The selling points on the MoPho for me from what I've seen in the many reviews of the phone are: the radio (call quality and signal are important to me), the fact that I can use it overseas (at least for voice calls with a sim card), the speaker seems superb as well as the sound on video recording, the speed and the battery life.

2 days to go! Good luck and enjoy whatever you get.

 

[drexappeal]

Hi Simcha,

My upgrade is also upcoming on 9/1 and I too am almost sure about getting the Photon. I checked one out at a Best Buy a couple of weeks ago...not sure if you did the same. It might help your decision. I'm coming from a Pre- that's still working over-clocked and all. I also thought about waiting to check out the Samsung Epic Touch coming out but after my wife's bad experiences with the Moment and the posts I've read of delayed or non-existent updates I think I'll pass...super amoled + screen, 1.2ghz dual core and all. I suppose if you've had iPhone envy, which I don't (but I did envy the apps support of both ios and android coming from palm) you can hold out for the Sprint version due out in October. There seems to be no verification that the alleged Nexus Prime will come to Sprint as soon as you say also. Some people seem to think 2012.

The selling points on the MoPho for me from what I've seen in the many reviews of the phone are: the radio (call quality and signal are important to me), the fact that I can use it overseas (at least for voice calls with a sim card), the speaker seems superb as well as the sound on video recording, the speed and the battery life.

2 days to go! Good luck and enjoy whatever you get.

Last I heard, SGS2 (e.g. Sprint Samsung Epic Touch 4G) is rumored for release on the same weekend as the Droid Bionic (September 9 is what has been reported) Sprint Galaxy S II Shows Up in New Official Image.

The Nexus Prime (also rumored to still be made by Samsung) is being rumored for Verizon because Verizon supposedly will not have the SGS2 available.

I personally will not purchase another Samsung phone, until they display more diligent support to their mobile devices as Motorola and HTC have for the past couple years.

But, for those that are "on the fence" about getting the Photon and want to do a true comparison, you'll be able to do that by September 9.

 

[simcha]

Jazzdroid,

LOL, I've never had iPhone envy either. LOL! I don't like that I can't get into the back of the phone and mess around with the battery, a sim card, or a micro sd card. Besides that, they are just different, and not in a way that I like. To each his/her own.

Anyway, I've played with a Photon 4g at the local Sprint store. They had one hooked up to a bluetooth keyboard and a dock. These were hooked into an HDTV. Both the sales associate and I were amazed that we could make it so that netflix played movies from the Photon on the HDTV through the dock! OK, so it wasn't HD quality and the streaming had something to be desired, but it worked. And playing around with the keyboard surfing the internet made me feel like I was on a desktop computer.

Also, I liked the way it feels in my hand. I like the screen and its brightness, especially for viewing outside. The one thing I like about my Epic is that I can see what's going on on the screen outside. Also the keyboard (virtual) on the Photon was the best virtual keyboard I've seen.

I'm not an international user, but it's nice to know it's there just in case I actually go to France next year (kicking around the idea) and want to use it there.

I like the kickstand. I like how solid the back of the phone holds the back plate. I know some find this to be a pain but I really like that it's secure.

The Photon seemed to have none of the lag that my Epic has.

I do watch video on my Epic and I will say that I was concerned that the Photon in the store didn't play the sample Youtube HD video I tried. It simply wouldn't start. It played everything else but HD. I don't know if it was that particular Photon or all Photons that do that.

I even played with the 3vo. I liked some of it but the screen really wasn't friendly to me. I got dizzy and sick to my stomach when it was in 3D mode. And if I can't use it in 3D mode, I see no reason to get a 3D phone.

I played with a Nexus S 4g and I liked it. The sales associate had one and he loves his. But I really want a good radio and I keep reading about how great the Photon's radio is. Also the Nexus S 4g is made by Samsung. Boo!!!

And I won't even consider the SGII because it's yet another Samsung phone. Boo!!!

So, most likely I won't make it to the store until Friday, if I get there by then. So I'll let you all know how it turns out for me. I'm smiling again. Thanks.

 

[Citizen Coyote]

Thanks everyone. I'll let all of you know what I do. I'm leaning heavily toward the Photon now.

My post was a disjointed mess. It's just that there are so many disjointed factors in a decision to buy a phone these days. So many sources, rumors, specs, etc. I think I forgot that this was supposed to be fun.

That sounds like me at the beginning of July. My beloved Evo had started to go haywire, and I had my upgrade ready to go. So I started looking at what phones were available, what was coming, what was rumored, etc. I looked at the Nexus S 4G, the Evo 3D, sticking with the Evo, or holding out for the Photon or the SG2 (or even the Prime). I reached an info saturation point around the time of the Photon's release and decided to just sit back for a week or two and see how things fell out for the Photon.

And now here I am, a happy Photon owner for the past two weeks. I'll probably go look at the SG2 out of curiosity if nothing else, but I doubt I'll trade in my Photon for it. My fiance has an Epic as well, and she hates it (sadly she's holding out for a Sprint iPhone, despite my best efforts to convince her to stick with Android). The Froyo update was a nightmare for her, and I fully understand your frustration with Samsung.

 

[mgiven]

I had figured on July 31st before heading to the store that I'd be leaning toward returning it AROUND today and at least looking at the SGSII and deciding then. Today I know I'm sticking with Motorola and the Photon. It is just ROCK solid in build quality and the perfect size, weight and feel for me as hadware goes. After a month unprotected in pocket it doesn't have a scratch or smudge on it. The phone has never reset once and every call has gone through perfectly. The speaker is loudest I've ever heard. The call clarity is the best I've experienced on any phone. The signal reception is the strongest I've ever had on any phone. The camera is decent and I've gotten some good shots from it. The video is especially strong, even if "only" 720. Love the HDMI out and the ability to hook up to my big living room TV for "mirror phone" mode to watch movies or gaming. One daughter woudln't be able to give up Riptide GP easily and the 6-year old thinks Angry Birds on a HD bigscreen is too cool for words. Also love the ability to download movies on the phone and then play them easily on the living room tv. I'm sure you can do this on many phones with an HDMI out, but it's nice and easy. Oh..also add the GSM worldphone capability is a hardware plus.

As far as software goes I've grown used to the UI and it's really not as bad a some say. The first thing I did was delete anything bloated, dump all widgets and run off a plain black screen for battery life. I guess this makes it as plain vanilla as possible, but it also means the UI would be the same if I did something similar on Samsung or HTC. LOVE the widget clock mode that becomes available when you take out the kickstand. Perfect for the nightstand and the alarm on the Photon is great. My wife says it's the most pestering/annoying alarm I've had on a phone

Other "toys" or pluses for the MoPho: The car dock and HD station absolutely rock and coudln't imagine life without them now. I took a long trip (18 hours in the car) with the car dock and it just changed the whole experience. We had my phone in the cradle kept to 100% power and running Sprint navigation, music AND web browsing at the same time the whole trip and still INCREASED power till full and stayed there. Played with default music app, Sirus/XM, MOG, Netflix, Spotify, LastFM and Pandora and all worked well through car dock. Added bonus was the ability to run my wife's Pre- on the extra USB and charge her to 100% and keep it there as well WHILE running all the stuff on mine. The car dock totally changes the "in car" experience.

The HD Station is sitting on my desk whenever I need an extra computer. I bought a cheap wireless keyboard/mouse for it and it plugs into an extra monitor I have here. The browsing experience is equal to a netbook, but with a full sized keyboard, monitor and display. You won't be doing massive photoshop projects or intense gaming, but it's fine for web browsing, email and light documents which is fine for me. It's also nice to charge the phone in the dock and not have to worry about balancing the kickstand upside down.

Intangibles that are only a guess: Motorola build quality will mean more longevity over a Samsung phone, Motorola will update more timely than Samsung and especially now with the Google purchase.

So...sticking with the MoPho

 

[Flipper]

Great post. Although I don't have any of the accessories you have (yet), I do agree with your overall assessment about the phone too. Which says a lot, considering that I previously was a LOYAL HTC guy....

As for a Samsung phone - NEVER AGAIN. Especially after reading all the other posts on this thread.