Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE (Sprint)

Pros: See pros in summary

Cons: See cons in summary

Summary: On to the device: Like all smartphones, this phone has its pros and cons. I finally went with this phone because of the physical keyboard, which is very roomy. My only issue with the keyboard is that it can be a buggy, due to the software needing to select the Motorola keyboard (for physical keyboard) or Swype (my preferred on-screen keyboard). I try to keep the setting on Swype, since I do use it occasionally for quick messages and don't want to change my input every time, but sometimes this makes some important functions, such as capitalization, not work on the physical keyboard. :/ I did not have this issue on my Samsung Epic 4G.

The hardware is very good on this phone; I don't feel like it's going to break at any moment like I did with my Samsung. However, I am still trying to get used to Motorola's oversimplification of Android ICS...I'm honestly not sure if this blame should be placed on Motorola or Android developers (I know this is supposed to be a 'cleaner' version of ICS), but when comparing the software on my phone to my dad's HTC One and my friend's Samsung Galaxy III, their versions make a lot more sense to me and allow more customization. I hate scrolling through my homescreens and the last one is solely devoted to homescreen options...which I haven't found a way to change.

I also cannot set which screen I want to be my default homescreen; I've never been limited in this way before. I'm considering trying a different launcher. Another thing that really bothers me about this phone: the excess space beneath the screen that could easily fit capacitive keys for the "back", "home", and, "recent" keys. Instead, these buttons are crammed in at the bottom of the screen, which was really just a stupid decision. Why take up more screen real-estate when there's plenty of room beneath the screen? I'm also a bit disappointed in the washed-out pictures the 8mp camera takes, but I was well aware of that before I purchased this phone, so that doesn't affect my rating.

Otherwise, this phone is fast and so far reliable...unlike my Samsung Epic (which I had replaced by another Epic when I first got it because of all its issues, turned out it was just a terrible phone). It's so nice to actually be able to use GPS and all the other features on my phone for once. I can talk on my phone now for longer than 5 minutes! The signal strength in general seems to be way better with this phone. The battery life is decent(once again, at least better than my Epic), but I still keep a charger on me at all times. While the device alone probably deserves closer to 3 stars, I'm giving it 4 because of the lack of options when it comes to smartphones with physical keyboards.

Before you purchase, take more profit at: Sprintandroidphones.blogspot.com/p/photon-q-4g.html

Hope I helps, enjoy!