The Motorola Photon 4G Android smartphone recently arrived on the Sprint WiMAX 4G network. The Photon 4G retails starting at $99 with a two-year activation at select Sprint authorized retailers, and $199 at Sprint. Motorola made sure that the Photon was endowed with a couple of qualities that other phones cannot match. The ability to port into the laptop dock that Motorola made for their Atrix 4G allows Photon users to employ the processor in their handset which is quicker than the Atrix processor to power the notebook optional dock.
The multimedia dock made for the Atrix 4G also fits the Motorola Photon 4G. Tech analysts had been wondering if Motorola was going to allow those optional laptop and multimedia docks exclusivity with the Atrix 4G, and the answer is Motorola Photon’s capability to access both devices.
At 5.00 x 2.63 x 0.48 inches (126.9 x 66.9 x 12.2 mm) and 5.57 ounces, the Motorola Photon 4G smartphone is average in size in comparison to other 4G smartphones, and is slightly heavier at 5.57 ounces. The display that the Photon delivers is an above average for 4G 540 x 960 megapixels on a 4.3 inch capacitive touch screen which supports multi-gestures and has a proximity sensor for GPS supported applications and software, and a light sensor built-in.
The popular Nvidia Tegra 2 dual core 1.0 GHz processing chip is present in the Photon 4G, and 1.0 GB of PC quality RAM memory supports this chip. Android’s 2.3 Gingerbread operating system is available out-of-the-box, and any subsequent operating system upgrades by Google are free over the air. Buy the Motorola Photon 4G starting at $99.
The Motorola Photon 4G Android smartphone supports the Adobe Flash media player, as do all Android operating systems, and web surfing is available in HTML, XHTML and WAP 2.0 formats. Video out is supplied wirelessly through DLNA technology, and wired through an HDMI port, a microUSB port is on board for charging and hooking up to other devices, and a microSD slot is available for storage expansion up to 32 GB. Bluetooth stereo and Wi-Fi b, g and n connectivity are also offered.
An eight megapixel video camera faces out of the rear of the device, and allows for recording in 720 P HD resolution, and a VGA quality front facing chat cam also provides video call capabilities. The rear facing eight megapixel video camera also delivers digital zoom, autofocus and dual LED flash options. Facebook, Flickr and Picasso applications are preloaded, and are just the start of Google integration found throughout the Motorola Photon 4G. Learn more about this Sprint 4G smartphone in our comprehensive Motorola Photon 4G Review.
September 26, 2011 at 3:36 pm
The Atrix accessories can’t be used with the Photon. One guy did get it to work with the lapdoc but he had to crack open the case and switch the ports for the usb and hdmi as they are mounted in the oppisite direction from the Photon.
The new Droid Bionic lapdock will work without modifications but the Photon still hangs over the edge of the cradle.