Design
The appearance of the Motorola Photon 4G LTE is very similar to Verizon’s Motorola Droid 4. The Photon’s dimensions are 5 inches tall by 2.6 inches wide and 0.54 inches thick. It also weighs in at 6 ounces, making it a pretty hefty device. A lot of this heftiness comes from the Photon Q’s physical slide out QWERTY keyboard that boasts a full five rows and LED backlit keys. A virtual keyboard and Swype keyboard are also available for use to type, text, and message. The design also features a Micro-USB port, a HDMI port, micro-SD card slot, volume rocker, and camera button. The Photo Q 4G has a 4.3 inch qHD LCD screen with Motorola’s ColorBoost technology and a decent quality resolution of 960×540 pixels.

Hardware, Software, & Performance
The Motorola Photon 4G LTE runs on Google’s Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system and Motorola’s Motoblur user interface. Android 4.0 is the second most recent version of Android, and when paired with the 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor and 1GB RAM, it makes the Photon very quick in performance and response as well as easy to use and navigate. The user is provided with two home screens, and are allowed to add five of their own for a total of seven home screens. The user can organize their apps, features, and downloads on these home screens. The Photon Q has great call quality and the speakerphone is loud, clear, and crisp. The 1,785mAh non-removable battery boasts a continuous talk time of 7.5 hours.

Features and Apps
The Motorola Photon 4G LTE comes preloaded with a variety of apps and features. Google has provided the user with all the usual Google apps and features like access to Gmail, Google+, Chrome, and the Google Play store which allows the user to download music, movies, documents and more. The user can also use visual voicemail and voice commands. Sprint has loaded a few of their own apps as well, like Sprint Zone (Sprint’s app store) and Sprint ID (downloadable themes). The Photon Q is also known as an unlocked bootloader, which allows the user to download customized software to their phone, giving the user unparalleled customization.

The Smart Actions app is also cool and handy. This app automates certain actions the user may perform. For example, when the phone recognizes it is at its home location, it could automatically switch to and connect to the Wi-Fi there. The Photon Q has an 8MP camera with lot of features like LED Flash, quick shot, timer, capture and scene modes that include panorama, multi-shot, Nightscape, Sunset, and filters like Sepia and Aqua. The image quality is average with some fuzziness. The images could be a little sharper. The user can record videos up to 1080p HD. There is also a front facing camera for self shots and videos.

Pros
The Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE has a great slide out QWERTY keyboard, a fast processor, runs on Android 4.0, has a nice screen, and is 4G LTE capable.

Cons
The Photon Q is a thick and heavy phone, has a non-removable battery, low quality pictures, and the availability to 4G LTE is limited.

Click here to compare this device with some of Motorola’s other products that are new to the market.

Clifford DeLeutters – tech. writer also interested in PC technology and fishing