Should I go with VZW / Samsung Charge, or Sprint / Motorola Photon?

[Mizugori]

I cannot make up my freaking mind, I am switching jobs and need to get a new cellphone plan (long story, my current job lets me use my company droid for personal use.) I know I want a kickass phone and 4g is pretty important to me. Mainly I am debating between going Verizon and getting the Charge, or going Sprint and getting the Photon (or possibly another Sprint phone such as the EVO 4G or EVO 3D.)

Firstly, I live in NY so coverage is probably not going to be an issue with any carrier.

Can anyone weigh in here and help me decide? I did a bunch of research but I am still not sure which way to go...

 

[JS80]

I would wait for the first LTE dual core on VZ.

 

[Bateluer]

I haven't read any comprehensive reviews of the Photon yet, but on Verizon, I'd wait until September for the second gen LTE phones, if you put stock in that leaked roadmap. Their current LTE offerings, the Thunderbolt, Charge, and Revolution, are all last years hardware, have poor battery life, etc. The SGS2/Stratosphere<?> and HTC Vigor will be replacing the Charge/Thunderbolt.

 

[SBCT]

That HTC Vigor sounds like its gonna be pretty sweet! 1.5 ghz dual core? Sign me up!

 

[Bateluer]

That HTC Vigor sounds like its gonna be pretty sweet! 1.5 ghz dual core? Sign me up!

3 hour battery life on LTE?

It is an HTC phone, remember.

 

[boomhower]

Unlimited 3G>2GB 4G

 

[Mizugori]

any thoughts on sprint's phones? I am leaning toward the EVO 3D right now... are any awesome phones coming out in the next 3-5 weeks for Sprint that I should be waiting for?

 

[tonygeor]

Give HTC some credit, they have been getting better. Look at the Sensation

3 hour battery life on LTE?

It is an HTC phone, remember.

 

[Bateluer]

any thoughts on sprint's phones? I am leaning toward the EVO 3D right now... are any awesome phones coming out in the next 3-5 weeks for Sprint that I should be waiting for?

Uh, the Photon?

 

[boomhower]

Photon>3D

 

[Mizugori]

I read mixed reviews about the photon and it has that same cheapass hunk-o-plastic look like the charge does... the evo looks and feels much better. Why do you say the photon is better than the evo? also, is there anyone that HAS the photon?

 

[Headcase_Fargone]

Unlimited 3G>2GB 4G

A year ago I would have agreed with you, which is why I went with Sprint. Their 3G network is so wretched though. I rarely get close to 1mb down, usually in the 600kb range. Pretty sad. And that's in a big city.

 

[Mizugori]

What city? I am in NY

 

[Headcase_Fargone]

What city? I am in NY

Houston, though I've noticed the same dismal speeds in Baton Rouge and New Orleans as well.

 

[thephew]

My wife has a Photon. It's a beast of a phone (fast, nice screen, good size/weight, good battery life, lots of good corporate features, SIM card slot, etc), although there are some early bugs (occasionally mutes your calls until you restart, auto screen brightness doesn't work yet, etc). Updates should fix those bugs soon.

Our rural area has no 4g from anyone, so that didn't factor into the decision. Ignoring the 23&#37; discount we get from Sprint as USAA members, an equivalent plan from Verizon was like $30+/month more expensive, and doesn't have nice perks like unlimited mobile-to-mobile. Not to mention Verizon doesn't currently have any phones that compete with the Photon.