If you’re looking for the next generation smartphones which have internet faster than 3G, 4G phones are the best ones to go for in the Android smartphone segment. Motorola Mobility has been one of the best smartphones manufacturers in the 4G segment and the Photon 4G and the Atrix 4G the best smartphones from this stable. Here, in this post, we take a look at both the phones, comparing each phone alongside the other section by section.
Note: The Motorola Photon 4G is also known as the Motorola Electrify is some regions.
Table of Contents:
- Form Factor Comparison
- Display Comparison
- Camera Comparison
- Memory Comparison
- Connectivity Comparison
- Operating System and User Interface Comparison
- Battery and Processor Coamparison
Form Factor
The Motorola Photon 4G, at 126.9 x 66.9 x 12.2 mm is slightly longer than the Atrix 4G, which is at 117.8 x 63.5 x 11 mm. The Photon weighs 158 grams while the Motorola Atrix is just 135 grams in weight, slightly lesser, but indeed makes a difference.
Winner: Motorola Atrix 4G
Display
The Motorola Atrix and the Motorola Photon 4G, come with a 4.3 inch TFT Capacitive display with a pixel density of 275ppi on the Atrix and 256ppi on the Photon 4g. Both the devices have a screen resolution of 540×960 on them.
Both the phones have two touch sensitive below the display, with the standard set of 4 Android buttons and support Multi-touch. There is an accelerometer and proximity sensor on both the cellphones as well. The phones have their display made of Gorilla Glass.
Camera:
The Photon 4G from Motorola has a 8MP camera while the Atrix 4G has a 5MP Camera. The photon can take photos upto a resolution of 3264×2448 pixels while the Atrix 4G has a maximum resolution of 2592х1944 pixels. There is autofocus and LED Flash on both the devices as well. Geo tagging, face detection and image stabilization are standard features on both the Motorola 4G phones.
Also, note that there is a secondary camera on both the devices, of VGA resolution. This is used for normal camera purposes, by various camera based apps or for video calling via Skype, Google Talk etc.
Memory:
The Motorola Atrix has 16GB of internal memory and a microSD card slot that is expandable up to 32GB while the Moto Photon 4G also has similar memory specifications, with 16GB of internal memory and is extendable upto 32GB using microSD.
Also, in some regions, the Motorola Atrix 4G comes with a 8GB microSD card inside the box.
Winner: Motorola Atrix
Connectivity:
The Motorola Atrix has GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 bands and CDMA 800 / 1900 and CDMA2000 1xEV-DO on 2G along with HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100 bands as well, which gives maximum speeds upto 3.1Mbps on HSDPA while the Motorola Photon also has similar bands on GSM and HSDPA, but does not have EV-DO support. Note that the Photon 4G has WiMAX 802.16 e on it, which enables real high speed internet connection on the device.
Wi-fi bands is there on both the phones and the Atrix and the Photon support the latest band of Wi-Fi, the 802.11n and 802.11b/g as well. Both the phones support WiFi Hotspot feature on them. To know how to enable Wifi Hotspot via tethering, follow these instructions here.
The Motrola Atrix has a Biometric fingerprint reader on it as well, enabling you to secure your files using your fingerprint. Pretty useful at times.
GPS is available on both the phones and Bluetooth is 2.1 enabled on the Motorola Atrix 4G and the Motorola Photon 4G, with A2DP and EDR support.
Stereo FM radio with RDS is supported on the Photon 4G but the Atrix 4G does not have FM Radio.
Operating System and UI:
Both the devices run on a Android, 2.3 Gingerbread. Both the phones are from Motorola, and run its own Moto BLUR UI over the stock Android layer. The Moto BLUR UI brings a new launcher and new iconography all over the User Interface and also adds some intuitive gesture based features here and there, making your Android experience simpler.
Both the phones have the same version of Android OS, 2.3 and also run the same UI layer, Moto BLUR.
Winner : Similar specifications
Battery and Processor
The Moto Photon 4G has a 1700mAh battery while the Atrix 4G has a 1930mAh battery. The Motorola Photon 4G, on 2G has a talktime of upto 10 h 40 min and 288hours of standby time and Upto 312 hours of standby time and 9 hours and 10 minutes on 3G. While the Motorola Atrix has on 2G has a talktime of upto 8 h 50 min and 400hours of standby time and around 8 hours and 50 minutes of talktime and of standby time and 350 hours on 3G.
The Motorola Photon 4G has a Dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor powered by a ULP GeForce GPU, based on the Tegra 2 AP20H chipset while the Motorola Atrix 4G has a Dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor based on Nvidia’s ULP GeForce GPU, based on the Tegra 2 AP20H chipset.
Winner: Motorola Photon 4G
Conclusion
Both the phones are very much similar in their looks and their features, but the way the Motorola Photon 4G shapes up is indeed interesting to see. The Atrix 4G sold very few numbers, spite being one of the best built smartphone with a fingerprint sensor as well. Go out and look for both the models and in case you like the Atrix, go ahead with it. But from our view at Android Advices, we’d recommend you go ahead and buy the Motorola Photon 4G.
