Motorola Motofone F3 e-ink handset Spiritual successor to Motorola's budget C113 handset, the new 'Motofone' F3 has clearly been designed with developing markets and the more technophobic among us in mind. All you get is a very basic phone that does nothing other than make and take calls and texts, and work as an alarm clock. That's it. No, really, that is it …
Do you know if it comes locked to the network? Considering the price there doesn't seem too much of a reason for them to bother.
But anyway, I'd like to use one with my O2 PAYG SIM. Under the price you mention SIM free but Phones4u don't sell it like this, is there somewhere else you've seen it sold like this?
Cheers
Inspired by your article on the Motorola Motofone F3 e-ink handset in today's Register Hardware, I went out to my local Phones4u stockist.
I was able to touch the (dead) sample fastened to the wall BUT.
An attractive young lady assured me that I would be much better off buying another phone as:
1/ they have removed their stock from sale currently,
2/ they have had *so* many returned as faulty,
3/ they couldn't even demonstrate the ring tones as they didn't have even one that worked. Nor did she know when the phones might be returned to stock!
You might like to add to your article AND inform us all when the situation is improved.
Peter Hill
Good question, Ian. I can confirm that the F3 was tried with both T-Mobile and Vodafone SIMs, and it worked just fine with both.
No great surprise, perhaps, since Phones4U is offering the handset with airtime packages from different carriers and I doubt it would stock two versions of the same handset, one for each carrier. Especially when all past cheap Motorolas have been unlocked.
I didn't, and now live in fear that my newly acquired F3 will not be dogged by problems.
I've just bought it during my lunch break for no particular reason. It cost £15 + £20 Pay-As-You go credit on T-Mobile.
So far so good. In fact, So far I love it.
It has as basic set of functions, which is all you need if you're only after a phone that does phone things. The screen is very pleasant and yes, it looks a little bit like paper. The interface is easy enough to read and navigate, but a tad on the slow side.
I'm about to go to the bathroom and test whether the screen can be read in darkness. I might report back in 15 minutes or so.
In my opinion the F3 will become a cult-classic.
I have had the review handset for nearly a week now and so far it has been faultless, despite some deliberately rough and tough usage. Phones4u still seem to be offering the handset via their on-line store so hopefully whatever issues they are experiencing are not too dramatic or severe.
I bought from phones-4u because my old phone had a smashed display and since I really don't text, just make and recieve calls, I thought the F3 would be the ideal phone for me.
I walked into phones4u and they said they could do a Virgin or TMobile for £14.95 but I had to pay on the card. So I told them I wanted a Virgin one and that I would be quickly be skipping down to my bank to pay in cash so that I could pay in some cash to my account so I could pay on my debit card.
When I got back, they told me they had made a mistake and that they could only give me a TMobile F3 for £14.95 - If I wanted Virgin, it would be an extra £5.00 - After comparing tariffs, I plumped with the TMobile.
** This is when I noticed that the TMobile + Virgin phones are packaged differently and are stocked seperate as they have to change the Virgin phone for a TMobile one.
I can't get over the display on it and how durable the whole thing feels. You can give the display a good old whack, it doesn't get messed up like an LCD does and there is no glass to crack.
My old PayG phone was on Orange. To my total amazement I found that my Orange SIM card worked on this phone. So there you go people - if you want to use your Orange SIM card, it appears the TMobile version of this phone is unlocked.
As another poster said, I can see this phone becoming a cult. It's so affordable and believe me, if you get the phone and place it in the hands of someone who doesn't know about it - their first reaction is that it's not a phone because the display doesn't look real. When they start to play around with it and get a feel for the build quality considering how thin the phone is and how tough the display is - they'll tell ya that they think the phone is worth £100 - £150
Just like a lot of rich people like to have a mini for the hell of it, I can see a lot of people buying a version of this phone for the hell it - that and having a phone which can be left on standby for one and a half weeks!
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
