The Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE is one of the best Android devices with a physical keyboard available in 2012 and a genuine answer to the question of whether flagship-quality hardware and a QWERTY slider can coexist.
Specs
- 4.3-inch 540×960 TFT display
- Android 4.0.4 with Motorola’s slimmed-down UI (Jelly Bean update confirmed)
- 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4
- 1GB RAM, 8GB internal storage with microSD expansion
- 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and 1080p video, dedicated hardware shutter button
- 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera
- 1,785mAh non-removable battery
- NFC, DLNA, 4G LTE
- 5-row individually backlit QWERTY keyboard
Hardware and Build
Build quality is well above average. Soft-touch trim, textured backing, chromed buttons with clear tactile click, and a hardware camera button complete a premium feel. The power, volume, and camera buttons are all chrome-finished with good travel and no sticking. The slider mechanism is smooth and solid with no spring issues. One quirk: the heavily rounded corners are tapered enough that sliding the keyboard open can cause fingers to slip. The workaround is to push open using the camera button and volume rocker rather than the corners; annoying but manageable.
Display
The 4.3-inch qHD display is responsive with vivid colors. Not class-leading against the top 2012 flagships, but fully adequate for daily use.
Keyboard
The keyboard is the reason to buy this phone. Island-style, non-grid key arrangement, a 4-key-wide centered spacebar, directional arrow keys, per-key backlighting with auto-brightness via the ambient light sensor, and excellent key travel. After adjustment time, it’s faster and more accurate than virtual keyboards for heavy email and text users. Quadrant scores around 4500 put it in the same performance tier as the HTC One X.
Camera
The camera has a persistent bug: on opening the app, the viewfinder cycles through color filters from aqua to sepia before settling on normal. This is worse when moving between bright and dark environments. When functioning correctly, photos are good, but the unreliability and the inability to disable the shutter sound are frustrating. The hardware camera button is a highlight. The front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera is adequate for video chat.
Software
Motorola’s UI on ICS is the lightest and least intrusive iteration yet. Most of Android is left untouched; Motorola added a lockscreen with four shortcuts and a silent toggle, a Circles widget showing time, weather, and battery, and Smart Actions for task automation. Bloatware is minimal: Help Center, Emergency Alerts, file manager, QuickOffice, Smart Actions, Sprint iD, and Sprint Zone. Only four apps that won’t be used by most people.
Battery
On 3G, the 1,785mAh battery easily covered a full day of average use. LTE coverage was unavailable in the review area; battery life will take a hit when LTE arrives, as it does on all LTE devices.
Conclusion
At $199, the Photon Q is a rare thing: a high-spec Android slider that doesn’t compromise on hardware to accommodate the keyboard. Sprint should be marketing it more aggressively. The camera bug is frustrating but may be software-fixable, and the imminent Jelly Bean update should only improve things. For anyone who wants a physical keyboard on a current-generation Sprint Android device, this is the clear choice.
