Motorola Photon 4G on Sprint was launched on July 31, offering a phone packed with powerful balance of features to complement a consumer’s personal and professional life.

The smartphone is priced at $199 with a two-year contract from Sprint, but Amazon Wireless offers the phone for $179.99.

Apart from being powered by a dual core processor and 4G, the smartphone from Sprint is a world phone which means the consumers have international GSM roaming so that they can access their email, calendar and contacts from anywhere. As the phone includes enterprise-tailored security, it will also attract corporate users.

The Photon 4G is Sprint’s seventh Sprint ID-capable device. Sprint ID delivers a variety of apps, widgets, shortcuts, ringtones and wallpapers – designed to meet users’ specific mobile needs and interests – in a few simple clicks. Sprint ID packs are free to download with an Everything Data plan, and users can download five at once, including Professional (features tools to help busy professionals with travel plans, organization, communication), Green (tips to live a greener lifestyle), MTV Music ID (mobile music experience), HSN (shopping on the go) and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series ID Pack. To see all Sprint ID packs, visit www.sprint.com/sprintid.

Strong sales of its Google Android-based smartphones in Latin America and China helped Motorola Mobility report a 40 percent increase in second-quarter revenues. Motorola has shipped 11m mobile devices, including 4.4m smartphones. But the company is facing strong competition from Apple, Samsung and HTC. After the launch of Motorola Atrix, the company has not launched any major 4G device that could have lifted up their revenue. But things are expected to change with the launch of Motorola Photon 4G and Motorola Droid Bionic along another 4G LTE capable smartphone in the fourth quarter.

Here is a look at how Motorola Photon 4G fares with iPhone 5’s most probable specifications.

Size:
The latest rumor on the iPhone 5 shown through a rough schematic designing casing revealed a thinner iPhone with curved edges and larger display screen stretched right to the edge of the device compared to iPhone 4. This leak is similar to what happened before the iPad 2 arrived, giving consumers an idea of its exact shape and profile. If the sightings are true, then expect a smartphone bigger or equal to iPhone 4 dimensions (115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm) but the iPhone 5 will be thinner than 9.3 mm. Also, the iPhone 5 is expected to weigh less than the 137 gram-iPhone 4. Motorola Photon 4G has a dimension of 126.9 x 66.9 x 12.2 mm and weighs 158 grams.

Display:
As the display of the iPhone 5 is rumored to be stretched to the edge, the possibility of the iPhone 5 featuring a 3.7 or 4-inch display is likely with a better or equal resolution than that of the iPhone 4 (The iPhone 4 has a resolution of 640 x 960 pixels). Motorola Photon 4G has a 4.3-inch 540 x 960 pixels (qHD) TFT capacitive touchscreen display.

Input features:
The input features found in Motorola Photon 4G are multi-touch input method, accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, proximity sensor for auto turn-off and touch-sensitive controls.

When the iPhone 4 was launched it had all the input features found in iPhone 3GS, the previous version like scratch-resistant oleophobic surface, multi-touch input method, accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate and proximity sensor for auto turn-off. But the iPhone 4 had the three-axis gyro sensor as an additional feature. Similarly, the iPhone 5 is expected to come with all these features, but there are possibilities of additional features as well.

Memory:
The Photon 4G has 16 GB storage, 1 GB RAM and 2 GB ROM support. However, as Apple upgrades its RAM during the release of their newer version every year, there is the possibility of the iPhone 5 featuring a 768 MB RAM or the iPhone 4’s 512 MB RAM. Usually, the Apple iPhone features a lesser RAM capacity compared to other major Android smarpthones, and only a tear down of the device can reveal how much RAM the iPhone contains.

Speed:
Sprint currently offers 4G service in 71 markets in 28 states. And the Sprint 4G network allows for simultaneous voice and data connectivity and speeds 10 times faster than the already fast Sprint 3G system. Simultaneous voice and data capability means that you can surf the web while on a call. Do not assume that this is an ability of all 4G systems. Sprint is one of the few wireless providers that have this technology. If you travel the globe, the Photon 4G also provides GSM and 3G UMTS network connectivity worldwide through Sprint.

Although the iPhone 5 is rumored to be featuring 4G LTE support,this is less likely as the phone must be modified to fit in the big LTE chip, which contrasts with Apple planning to deliver a thinner and lighter device. Even without 4G support, the iPhone 4 is still the top smarpthone among consumers.,This is likely to continue with the iPhone 5, as recent surveys have revealed. According to a survey of about 3,000 U.S. consumers conducted by online retail store PriceGrabber.com, 35 percent of shoppers say they plan on buying an iPhone 5 whenever it is released. Of that 35 percent, half of the respondents say they will buy the new iPhone within a year of its release, while about 30 percent want to be using it by New Year's 2012, responding that they would purchase the phone by the end of the year.

WLAN:
The Motorola Photon 4G will have Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot; WiMAX 802.16 e support whereas the iPhone 5 will have Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot support.

Camera:
Motorola Photon 4G has an 8-megapixel 3264x2448 pixels camera with features like autofocus, dual-LED flash, geo-tagging, face detection and image stabilization. And the phone can capture video at 720p.

The iPhone 5 will come with 8-megapixel camera and 1080p video recording, along with dual-LED flash. As leaked by Sony CEO Howard Stringer, the iPhone 5 may also carry an "HD" FaceTime camera similar to those shipping with the current MacBook Pro lineup.

Processor:
The Motorola smartphone comes with dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 ULP GeForce GPU Tegra 2 AP20H chipset processor. While the iPhone 5 will feature Apple iPad 2’s dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU Apple A5 chipset processor,the jury is still out on whether the phone will feature a 1 GHz or 1.2 GHz processor.

Operating system:
Motorola Photon 4G is built in with the Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system. The iPhone 5 will feature Apple’s iOS 5 operating system which has 200 new features.

The new iPhone features, like the notification center, newsstand, reminders, Twitter integration, photo sharing, cloud synchronization, wireless syncing and split keyboard, have been enjoyed by Android users for a while now.

Apps:
In of May 2011, Apple approved its 500,000th app. 37 percent of all apps are free, with the average price of paid apps being $3.64. The iPhone 5, the new kid on the block, will continue to take advantage of these apps. Officially, the Android Market has 200,000 plus apps but unofficial estimates show 400,000 plus apps.

Battery:
Motorola Photon 4G has a Li-Po 1700 mAh battery and Apple iPhone 5 can feature a battery with more than the capacity of iPhone 4 (Li-Po 1420mAh).

Other features of the Motorola Photon 4G include SMS threaded view, MMS, email, IM, push email, HTML browser, A-GPS support, SNS integration, digital compass, active noise cancellation with dedicated mic, MP3/WAV/WMA/AAC+ player, MP4/WMV/H.263/H.264 player, Google search, maps, Gmail, YouTube, Google Talk, built-in kickstand, document viewer, photo viewer and editor, organizer, voice memo-dial-commands and predictive text input (Swype).

The Motorola PHOTON 4G provides an array of versatile tools, such as the Motorola Webtop application, allowing users to access and create content from a larger screen while connected to a Motorola HD Station dock. The ease of docking allows users to get online just the way they would with their regular laptops or office desktops. It provides a full Firefox browser, document editing and multimedia access on a large screen almost anywhere. The HD Station will be available when the device launches for $99.99 (excluding tax), additionally, users can connect up to three USB peripherals, such as a keyboard, mouse or memory stick to be even more productive at home or on-the-go.

The robust accessory ecosystem of the Photon 4G gives an added advantage to users. There is a wireless keyboard, which provides quick access to Android apps using dedicated shortcut keys, and users can navigate through Web apps powered by Android in a snap. The keyboard retails at $69.99. The Vehicle Navigation Dock ($59.99) is the ultimate travel companion, providing users with easy access to maps, favorite contacts, hands-free calling, music, turn-by-turn navigation and more. Equipped with an integrated Motorola ESP technology to automate the screen preferences, it allows streaming audio & music via the 3.5mm audio jack through the vehicle speakers. On Aug. 21, another accessory to hit the shelves will be a Battery Only Charger and Battery Bundle for $49.99.

The Photon 4G requires activation on one of Sprint’s Everything Data plans plus a required $10 Premium Data add-on charge for smartphones. Sprint’s Everything Data plan with Any Mobile, AnytimeSM includes unlimited web, texting and calling to and from any mobile in America while on the Sprint Network, starting at just $69.99 per month plus required $10 Premium Data add-on charge – a savings of $39.99 per month versus Verizon’s comparable plan with unlimited talk, text and 2GB web or $9.99 per month versus Verizon’s 450-minute plan with unlimited text and 2GB web. The Mobile Hotspot option is available for an additional $29.99 per month, supporting up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices simultaneously.

Moreover Photon 4G users will enjoy flash, an open source operating system, expandable memory, removable battery and HDMI support which the iPhone 5 will not support.

And the latest report on the iPhone 5 launch shows that the phone may not come out in September, but will launch in October. “Sources with knowledge of the situation say reports claiming AT&T has blacked out employee vacations during the last two weeks of September in preparation for the retail debut of the next iPhone are misinformed,” said John Paczkowski of All Things D.

But recent reports shows that Chinese case makers have begun distributing cases allegedly for Apple's next-generation iPhone, with one report saying the cases were "everywhere in China." But the job listing for iPhone sales staff to work in retail between August 16 and October 29 reveals that the iPhone 5 launch can be anytime between September and October.

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