Welcome to the era of the disposable phone. The Motorola Motofone F3 is the kind of phone that if you leave it somewhere, you can just replace it the next morning cheaper than taking a minicab back to where you left it. Or thought you left it.
Naturally at this sort of price level, around twenty quid (!!!) you can't expect an iPhone which GPSes you home, plays back Hollywood blockbusters and takes better photos than Lord Patrick Lichfield. It's a phone. It makes calls. It sends text messages. What else do you want?
Not that it should be necessarily despised due to its dearth of feature set. The Motofone F3 is a great phone for a particular type of user. If your eyes are starting to go a bit bad, you'll find that the electrophoretic screen is easy to read in any light, even the brightest sunlight which would wash out the best 600 quid smartphone. Remember sunlight? Yes, it's that nice warm stuff that falls out of the sky in Alicante.
The alphanumeric characters are huge and black up against the light gray background so you won't have to face much problem in seeing the text from the display.
The entire design concept of the Motofone F3 is for people who just want the basic functions in a phone that is easy to handle. The buttons on the keypads are several times larger than some of the trendier mobiles; it's sturdy enough to survive many a butter-fingered drop; the round control pad is the size of the a wheel on a Perodua; and thanks to the microconsumption of the electrophoretics, the battery lasts longer than The Ashes. Furthermore, there is no finagling with that newfangled Internet thing that's just full of dirty pictures anyway.
Adjusting settings is maddeningly complex and the F3 comes with voice prompts to help you though it. Fortunately 99.9% of all the F3 users won't ever want to adjust any blooming settings. When you are the new, proud, and middle aged owner of a Motofone F3 you can make this your new mantra: It's a phone. It makes calls. It sends text messages. What else do you want?
Conclusion
If you want to buy a mobile just for making calls without spending much then this cell is made for you.
Specifications:
General:
Network -- GSM 900 / GSM 1800
Announced -- 2006, June
Status -- Available
Size:
Dimensions -- 114 x 47 x 9 mm, 48 cc
Weight -- 70 g
Display:
Type -- Alphanumeric
Size -- 2 x 6 chars, 34 x 43 mm
- Extra large character font size
Ringtones:
Type -- Polyphonic (8 channels)
Number -- 7 preset
Customization -- No
Vibration -- Yes
Memory:
Phonebook -- SIM only
Call records -- 20 dialed, received, missed calls
Card slot -- No
Data:
GPRS -- No
HSCSD -- No
EDGE -- No
3G -- No
WLAN -- No
Bluetooth -- No
Infrared port -- No
USB -- No
Features:
Messaging -- SMS
Browser -- No
Games -- No
Colors Available -- Black, Blue, Red
Camera -- No
Other Features:
- Clock
- Alarm
- Speakerphone
Battery:
Standard battery, Li-Ion 800 mAh
Stand-by -- Up to 300 h
Talk time -- Up to 4 h 30 min
Links you may find interesting -
- Review of Samsung E250
- Review of Motorola RAZR2 V8
- Review of Sony Ericsson K790i
- Review of Sony Ericsson W580i
- Review of NOKIA N73
