Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE Review: A Nice Keyboard, but Middling Call Quality

As someone who uses his phone more often to send text messages than to make calls, I've been disappointed at the lack of phones with physical keyboards. Software keyboards are getting better every year (my favorite for Android is SwiftKey); but until I can accurately touch-type on them, I'll continue to prefer having physical buttons for typing long messages. Someone at Motorola seems to have read my thoughts, because the company's new Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE for Sprint ($200 with a new two-year contract, price as of August 8, 2012) is one of the best keyboard-equipped smartphones you can buy right now.

Design

The Photon Q looks like a slightly chunkier version of the Motorola Photon 4G, which premiered on Sprint last year. Both phones have angled corners, though the Photon Q lacks the Photon 4G's useful kickstand. The Photon Q's angled corners make it comfortable to hold while making calls, and the phone is compact enough to fit easily into most pockets. The Photon Q is largely composed of a soft plastic that feels good to the touch, though I was hoping that the phone would be wrapped in Kevlar like the Droid Razr and the Droid Razr Maxx.

The front of the phone accommodates a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera and a 4.3-inch 540-by-960-resolution display that uses the same Color Boost technology we saw on the Motorola Atrix HD. Motorola claims that Color Boost gives smartphones 50 percent more pixels than the leading smartphone offers, though the Photon Q's screen wasn't as sharp as the ones on the Samsung Galaxy S III, Atrix HD, or HTC One X. (It did look sharper and more vibrant than the screen on the Motorola Droid Bionic, however.) Like the Galaxy Nexus and the Atrix HD, the Photon Q uses Ice Cream Sandwich's virtual navigation buttons in the place of physical ones.

The back of the Photon Q holds an 8-megapixel camera and the phone's external speaker. The Photon Q uses a 1785mAh embedded battery; embedded batteries are supposed to last longer, but you can't replace the battery yourself if it ever becomes damaged or unable to hold much charge.

Along the left spine are the Photon Q's charging port and MicroHDMI port. The right spine of the phone hosts the volume rocker, a physical camera button, and a small flap covering the MicroSD card slot.

The Keyboard

The last keyboard-equipped phone I reviewed, the Motorola Droid 4, carried an above-average mobile keyboard with top-notch buttons. The Photon Q's keyboard is virtually identical to the Droid 4's. The keys are set slightly too close together for my taste, but the buttons felt great under my fingers as I typed. The only button I had a problem with was the spacebar, which emitted an audible cracking noise every time I pressed it. Though the button worked, but the sound it made was a bit unsettling.

Performance

Powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon S4 processor with 1GB of RAM, the Photon Q handled virtually everything I threw at it without a hitch. Even when scrolling through content-heavy pages, the phone rarely slowed down perceptibly, except when the browser tried to load a high-resolution image or video. Even then, I could keep multiple apps open and running simultaneously in the background without slowing the device to a crawl.

If you're a big mobile gamer, you'll appreciate that the Photon Q can handle most games available in the Play Store. One bonus of having a physical keyboard is that some games and emulators let you map specific actions to specific keys. The arrangement isn't perfect, but it's a huge step up from having to use a virtual control pad.

Call quality over Sprint's network left a lot to be desired: Voices sounded a bit muffled, and I heard a low buzzing noise whenever someone spoke. You and your caller will be able to hear each other, but you may have to speak up a bit to make yourself heard clearly. I tested the phone in our San Francisco office—an area with good reception. Since call quality varies depending on your location, you should consult coverage maps to get an idea of how good the call quality will be in your area.

The Photon Q is one of just a handful of phones that can connect to Sprint's new LTE network. Unfortunately, that network has yet to launch in San Francisco, so I couldn't test the phone's speeds on it. On Sprint's current 3G network over a strong 3G connection, the Photon Q managed an average download speed of 0.49 megabit per second and an average upload speed of 0.86 mbps, according to my measurements using the FCC-approved Ookla Speed Test app.

Even with LTE turned on, the Photon Q held out over the better part of a day (about 5.5 hours) of normal use—including sending text messages, downloading a few apps, and playing a game or two for several minutes at a time—before the battery ran out of juice. We haven't yet run the Photon Q through our official PCWorld Labs suite of battery tests; when we do, we'll update this page.

The Photon Q does have an NFC chip, so you'll be able to take advantage of any software that may use that technology.

Software

Swiping upward on certain app icons will present you with new information.The Photon Q ships with Android 4.0.4 beneath a custom Motorola overlay. I used a Motorola phone back in the days when the company relied on MotoBlur, and this new overlay is leaps and bounds better. For the most part, the operating system looks and behaves like Android Ice Cream Sandwich, with just a few tweaks.

Some app icons have little arrows next to them that you can swipe to pop up a small "quick-look" window. Depending on the app, these windows display different information. For example, swiping the Browser app icon will pop up a grid that displays your bookmarks, but swiping the Email app icon will show your inbox and identify the number of unread emails you have. The fact that Motorola Mobility (the part of the company that makes phones) is now a subsidiary of Google may have led Motorola to exercise some restraint in tricking out its overlay, but in any case I'm glad that the new overlay doesn't change the look and feel of Android too drastically.

The Photon Q comes with two preloaded Sprint apps (Sprint ID and Sprint Zone) that can't be uninstalled, but I applaud the carrier for keeping the quantity of preloaded apps to a minimum.

Entertainment

With only Sprint's snail's-pace 3G network to connect to, and without widespread LTE coverage, you probably won't be streaming many HD movies to your phone unless you live in one of the 15 areas in the United States that currently have Sprint LTE. It'll be a while before the rest of us can connect to that faster network.

If you hate "the cloud" and want to keep all of your media locally on your device, you'll probably want to invest in a MicroSD card. The Photon Q offers 8GB of built-in storage, but that fills up pretty quickly once you start downloading apps and taking pictures.

The rear speaker on the phone delivers decent sound; but for higher-quality audio, I recommend using headphones.

Camera

I wasn't particularly impressed with the photos I got from the Photon Q's 8-megapixel camera. They tended to be a bit dark, and colors looked washed out. The Photon Q's Camera app provides few extras, though the phone does have a zero-shutter-lag camera courtesy of Android 4.0. The front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera works well for video calls and is clear enough that you can use it to take a quick Facebook self-portrait.

The Photon Q can record video in 1080p, though footage looked a tad too dark. Audio pickup was slightly muffled, probably due to the location of the microphone (it's on the bottom half of the phone to the right of the keyboard).

Overall, the Photon Q's camera isn't the best I've seen, but it's adequate. Indoor photos may come out looking rather dark, so try to avoid shooting in poorly lit areas. The phone's video quality is quite good, but don't expect it to pick up every bit of audio from whatever you are recording.

Bottom Line

Though a bit on the chunky side and hampered by a mediocre camera, the Photon Q is a solid choice for anyone who wants a phone with a physical keyboard. If you're a huge texter, or if you compose a lot of email messages on your phone, this model is well worth considering. It's not perfect, but the Photon Q is currently the keyboard phone to beat.

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Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE Review: A Nice Keyboard, but Middling Call Quality

As someone who uses his phone more often to send text messages than to make calls, I've been disappointed at the lack of phones with physical keyboards. Software keyboards are getting better every year (my favorite for Android is SwiftKey); but until I can accurately touch-type on them, I'll continue to prefer having physical buttons for typing long messages. Someone at Motorola seems to have read my thoughts, because the company's new Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE for Sprint ($200 with a new two-year contract, price as of August 8, 2012) is one of the best keyboard-equipped smartphones you can buy right now.

Design

The Photon Q looks like a slightly chunkier version of the Motorola Photon 4G, which premiered on Sprint last year. Both phones have angled corners, though the Photon Q lacks the Photon 4G's useful kickstand. The Photon Q's angled corners make it comfortable to hold while making calls, and the phone is compact enough to fit easily into most pockets. The Photon Q is largely composed of a soft plastic that feels good to the touch, though I was hoping that the phone would be wrapped in Kevlar like the Droid Razr and the Droid Razr Maxx.

The front of the phone accommodates a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera and a 4.3-inch 540-by-960-resolution display that uses the same Color Boost technology we saw on the Motorola Atrix HD. Motorola claims that Color Boost gives smartphones 50 percent more pixels than the leading smartphone offers, though the Photon Q's screen wasn't as sharp as the ones on the Samsung Galaxy S III, Atrix HD, or HTC One X. (It did look sharper and more vibrant than the screen on the Motorola Droid Bionic, however.) Like the Galaxy Nexus and the Atrix HD, the Photon Q uses Ice Cream Sandwich's virtual navigation buttons in the place of physical ones.

The back of the Photon Q holds an 8-megapixel camera and the phone's external speaker. The Photon Q uses a 1785mAh embedded battery; embedded batteries are supposed to last longer, but you can't replace the battery yourself if it ever becomes damaged or unable to hold much charge.

Along the left spine are the Photon Q's charging port and MicroHDMI port. The right spine of the phone hosts the volume rocker, a physical camera button, and a small flap covering the MicroSD card slot.

The Keyboard

The last keyboard-equipped phone I reviewed, the Motorola Droid 4, carried an above-average mobile keyboard with top-notch buttons. The Photon Q's keyboard is virtually identical to the Droid 4's. The keys are set slightly too close together for my taste, but the buttons felt great under my fingers as I typed. The only button I had a problem with was the spacebar, which emitted an audible cracking noise every time I pressed it. Though the button worked, but the sound it made was a bit unsettling.

Performance

Powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon S4 processor with 1GB of RAM, the Photon Q handled virtually everything I threw at it without a hitch. Even when scrolling through content-heavy pages, the phone rarely slowed down perceptibly, except when the browser tried to load a high-resolution image or video. Even then, I could keep multiple apps open and running simultaneously in the background without slowing the device to a crawl.

If you're a big mobile gamer, you'll appreciate that the Photon Q can handle most games available in the Play Store. One bonus of having a physical keyboard is that some games and emulators let you map specific actions to specific keys. The arrangement isn't perfect, but it's a huge step up from having to use a virtual control pad.

Call quality over Sprint's network left a lot to be desired: Voices sounded a bit muffled, and I heard a low buzzing noise whenever someone spoke. You and your caller will be able to hear each other, but you may have to speak up a bit to make yourself heard clearly. I tested the phone in our San Francisco office—an area with good reception. Since call quality varies depending on your location, you should consult coverage maps to get an idea of how good the call quality will be in your area.

The Photon Q is one of just a handful of phones that can connect to Sprint's new LTE network. Unfortunately, that network has yet to launch in San Francisco, so I couldn't test the phone's speeds on it. On Sprint's current 3G network over a strong 3G connection, the Photon Q managed an average download speeds of 0.49 megabit per second and an average upload speed of 0.86 mbps, according to my measurements using the FCC-approved Ookla Speed Test app.

Even with LTE turned on, the Photon Q held out over the better part of a day (about 5.5 hours) of normal use—including sending text messages, downloading a few apps, and playing a game or two for several minutes at a time—before the battery ran out of juice. We haven't yet run the Photon Q through our official PCWorld Labs suite of battery tests; when we do, we'll update this page.

The Photon Q does have an NFC chip, so you'll be able to take advantage of any software that may use that technology.

Software

Swiping upward on certain app icons will present you with new information.The Photon Q ships with Android 4.0.4 beneath a custom Motorola overlay. I used a Motorola phone back in the days when the company relied on MotoBlur, and this new overlay is leaps and bounds better. For the most part, the operating system looks and behaves like Android Ice Cream Sandwich, with just a few tweaks.

Some app icons have little arrows next to them that you can swipe to pop up a small "quick-look" window. Depending on the app, these windows display different information. For example, swiping the Browser app icon will pop up a grid that displays your bookmarks, but swiping the Email app icon will show your inbox and identify the number of unread emails you have. The fact that Motorola Mobility (the part of the company that makes phones) is now a subsidiary of Google may have led Motorola to exercise some restraint in tricking out its overlay, but in any case I'm glad that the new overlay doesn't change the look and feel of Android too drastically.

The Photon Q comes with two preloaded Sprint apps (Sprint ID and Sprint Zone) that can't be uninstalled, but I applaud the carrier for keeping the quantity of preloaded apps to a minimum.

Entertainment

With only Sprint's snail's-pace 3G network to connect to, and without widespread LTE coverage, you probably won't be streaming many HD movies to your phone unless you live in one of the 15 areas in the United States that currently have Sprint LTE. It'll be a while before the rest of us can connect to that faster network.

If you hate "the cloud" and want to keep all of your media locally on your device, you'll probably want to invest in a MicroSD card. The Photon Q offers 8GB of built-in storage, but that fills up pretty quickly once you start downloading apps and taking pictures.

The rear speaker on the phone delivers decent sound; but for higher-quality audio, I recommend using headphones.

Camera

I wasn't particularly impressed with the photos I got from the Photon Q's 8-megapixel camera. They tended to be a bit dark, and colors looked washed out. The Photon Q's Camera app provides few extras, though the phone does have a zero-shutter-lag camera courtesy of Android 4.0. The front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera works well for video calls and is clear enough that you can use it to take a quick Facebook self-portrait.

The Photon Q can record video in 1080p, though footage looked a tad too dark. Audio pickup was slightly muffled, probably due to the location of the microphone (it's on the bottom half of the phone to the right of the keyboard).

Overall, the Photon Q's camera isn't the best I've seen, but it's adequate. Indoor photos may come out looking rather dark, so try to avoid shooting in poorly lit areas. The phone's video quality is quite good, but don't expect it to pick up every bit of audio from whatever you are recording.

Bottom Line

Though a bit on the chunky side and hampered by a mediocre camera, the Photon Q is a solid choice for anyone who wants a phone with a physical keyboard. If you're a huge texter, or if you compose a lot of email messages on your phone, this model is well worth considering. It's not perfect, but the Photon Q is currently the keyboard phone to beat.

From PC World. Shop computer and accessories from Amazon here

Photon Android App Review: This Puzzler Needs Polishing

Live in the future, NOW!

We sincerely apologise, we had some serious issues with the last build.

If anyone purchased Arcade mode and is being asked to buy it again please use the Restore Purchases button we've just added. In testing it sometimes took a few tries to successfully restore, but I believe this has to do with waiting till Google Play has responded that it is ready to purchase. Playing a round of Classic mode will probably give it enough time to set itself up and should then work the first time.

Have fun with the free credits and jump over to our Facebook page and tell us which Perk you like the most, or even make some suggestions for new ones.

Here it is! Version 2.5

In celebration of Photon reaching 250 000 downloads this update includes 10,000 free Atoms to use on Perks in Arcade mode. Thanks to everyone for helping to make Photon a success, and a huge thank you for the constructive feedback we've received.

Also in this version:

- Improved tilt control (including the ability to calibrate your device).

- Added Colour Blind Assist (The "eye" icon in the menu).

- Fixed a few gameplay bugs.

- Automatically saves Audio, Tilt and ColourBlind Assist preferences between plays.

- Improved stability, should be a lot less crashing happening.

- Temporarily disable OpenFeint. It was responsible for many of the freezes and crashes.

A huge thank you to all those players who love Photon and have given us a good rating, we greatly appreciate your support.

Feel free to join in any discussions, or create new ones, on our Facebook page www.Facebook.com/BifrostStudios or follow us on twitter @BifrostStudios

New in Version 2.0

- Lots of bug fixes

- Screen flicker glitch fixed

- Fixed all known game crashing bugs

- Enabled OpenFeint for Android users

- Added a skip tutorial button

- Added The NEW Arcade mode

- So many gameplay enhancements (the game is 100 times more fun now)

- Graphics update (so many high visuals)

NEW GAME MODE ADDED

- Arcade Mode, is a fast paced countdown mode allowing the player to achieve scores of 100000+. Using unlockable perks and entering Fusion mode players will see combos out of this world.

- Earn Atoms be RICH!

- Enter Fusion mode for a psychedelic experience

- Connect multi colour combos with the New Bridge Disk

Photon! Exciting disc game! Connect discs - now they are destroyed!

Longer chains will impress your friend! Special discs make life hard for you - include them in combos to get terrific bonus points!

All graphics are next level! You must have quick brain and fast eyes! Do not panic! The future is here! Play it now for free!

We are aware of a few issues, an update is on its way!

by Sarah Jacobsson Purewal, PCWorld

Photon is a futuristic match-three puzzle game designed in the drop-down style of Tetris. Your goal is to clear screens by connecting brightly colored discs with your finger. The app, developed by Bifrost Studios, is free on Google Play but requires an in-app purchase of $0.99 for full functionality. Unfortunately, while Photon is fun and addictive, it suffers from multiple performance issues that its designer needs to address.

Gameplay

Photon features simple, easy-to-learn gameplay that involves using both your finger and your device's accelerometer.

In the game, colored discs fall from the top of the screen, and roll and bounce around when they reach the bottom of the screen. Your goal is to connect discs of the same color by drawing lines between them with your finger. You can only connect discs if you have a straight shot (with no other discs in the way), and you must connect at least three discs to clear them from the board.

In addition to colored discs, silver discs containing symbols fall from the top of the screen. You can loop these special discs into any line of single-colored discs to clear them from the board. Some special discs have power-ups (for example, one will blast all discs of one color off the board), while others hinder you (for example, one swells up to take up more space).

Two buttons appear on the screen, near the top of the board: a drop button and a pause button. The drop button lets you flood the screen with discs quickly. Pressing the drop button gives you extra points, but you shouldn't use it if you're already running out of space. On the right side of the screen is a pause button.

Photon lets you choose between Classic mode and Arcade mode. Classic mode supports endless gameplay, and your goal is always the same: to keep your screen from filling up with colored discs. As you progress through Classic mode levels, gameplay becomes increasingly difficult because discs fall faster and additional colors appear.

In Arcade mode, your goal is to see how many points you can rack up within a specified period of time. Arcade mode also gives you access to different power-ups, such as a multicolored disc that lets you connect strings of two different colors. Arcade mode costs an additional $0.99, though you do get 10 free Arcade mode plays with your free version of Photon.

Features

Photon has a couple of options that you can switch on in the main screen. The accelerometer allows you to tilt your phone from side to side to rearrange the discs. I found this option frustrating, for the most part, because the discs move very slowly when you tilt your device. The colorblind assistance option changes the discs into different shapes (but maintains the colors). This is a nice option for people who are colorblind, or who just want to change the look of the game.

Photon doesn't have a native leaderboard, but it does let you share your scores with friends via OpenFeint.

Graphics, Audio, and Performance

The game looked and sounded great on my Galaxy Nexus. Though it's a simple game, the graphics are high-resolution and Bifrost Studios clearly paid attention to the details--from the honeycombed background to the Tron-like glow emanating from the borders. The soundtrack is upbeat and adrenaline-inducing, and the sound effects are useful.

Though Photon looks great, its performance is less impressive. The app crashed often when I played it, though the crashes were usually limited to startup and didn't occur in the middle of play. Game mechanics and controls were sometimes sketchy. too: Among the issues I encountered were touchscreen lag, accelerometer lag, and glitches (such as invisible discs in the middle of the screen being selected). These drawbacks didn't prevent me from playing, but they were certainly frustrating.

The glitches and performance issues might affect users who want to play Photon on devices that run on single-core processors. On the positive side, the app isn't a battery hog and there are no annoying ads to worry about.

Though Photon is a great game, the app needs a little work before I can fully recommend it. In any case, however, the Classic mode, which is free, is well worth checking out.

This app was tested using a Samsung Galaxy Nexus running Android 4.0.2.

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