A photon moves at the speed of light, shines brightly and has a resting mass of zero. That said, it's a damn good name for Motorola's latest Android phone.
The Photon brings 4G speeds and dual-core processing power to Sprint customers. An all-around powerhouse Android phone, the Photon is a good fit for the data-hungry and app-enthusiastic among us.
It's the latest in a trend of increasingly powerful handsets debuting this year. All of the major U.S. networks – AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile – are pouring money into expanding their high-speed networks, while hardware manufacturers keep pace by introducing more and more 4G-capable phones. To boot, each newly released high-end device comes with increasingly powerful processors for speedy app navigation. Chips like Nvidia's Tegra 2 are practically de rigueur for Android phones this year.
The Photon is no exception to the rule. Using the Wi-Max-ready radio, I averaged download speeds of up to 13 Mbps on Sprint's network during the testing period in the Bay Area. Page-load times were cut into fractions of what we've seen on rival networks like T-Mobile or AT&T. The last phone we've tested that was this speedy was HTC's Thunderbolt, which runs on on Verizon's 4G LTE network.
With its 4.3-inch screen and considerably large physical dimensions (2.63 by 4.99 by .48 inches, plus some funky angled corners), you'd expect the Photon to possess some degree of heft.
And yet, it doesn't. At a mere 5.57 ounces, the Photon's weight is in accordance with its namesake. The chassis is made almost entirely of lightweight plastic, the biggest piece of exterior metal being the kickstand. While it's nice not to lug a brick in my pants pockets, the phone seems almost too light for its chunky shape. Still, it's no eyesore.
