Motorola Motofone F3 Review

posted terribly early in the morning by Constantinos. Filed under Review

I bought the Motorola Motofone after being introduced to it by this post on my friend Nick Baum‘s blog. For as long as I remember, I’ve been reading about how phones keep getting more and more complicated. Yet many people want their phone to do only one thing: make calls. The trick was getting a phone that was usable and friendly at the same time. When Motorola finally came out with the Motofone, it appeared that they had achieved just that. The only problem was that the phone was only available in India! Fortunately for me, I’ve been in India for the last 3.5 months. So I decided to buy one (or two), and write a hands-on review for it. Well, after writing a single-spaced narrative that spanned 3 pages and finding myself only half way through the things I wanted to say about this phone, my friend Nick came to the rescue with a list of questions for me to answer. So I’ll just break my unnaturally long essay into pieces and post the review in interview format-.

Update 2007-03-07: Cross-posted on nickbaum.com

Update 2007-03-27: For those of you looking for a manual of this phone, I found two, in English. Motofone Draft Manual [pdf] is one, and Motofone Digital Manual [pdf] is another. The latter doesn’t contain the list of ‘advanced’ codes.

Without further delay, the brand new Motorola Motofone F3:

Motofone

Nick: How is the packaging, the new user experience? What’s included in the box?

Manual Me: The phone came in a cylindrical container, aka a tube. Opening the box revealed inside the device itself (without any protective plastic bag/screen cover), a battery in a nylon bag, the back cover of the device, a charger, a user’s manual (in Telugu, Kannada and English), and the standard warranty papers. Motofone box Motofone box - rear The package is a standard cardboard tube with plastic tops, which makes it feel a bit cheap. However the finish is good, and if it’s sitting on a table it looks better than expected, so it might actually work in places other than India, like Europe or even the US. Most phones come in solid & glossy cardboard boxes with the phone securely tucked away in polystyrene or a plastic casing, but the Motofone’s case is different enough that it might get away with it.

Nick: Tell me about the physical design of the phone. How does it feel?

Me: The phone is extremely light. The face is completely flush, with no nicks or grooves for dirt to get into (not even around the screen, which is simply a transparent piece of plastic as far as the outer shell goes). Even the keys are completely flat, which I love. Motofone keypad I read somewhere that the phone was built for the weather in countries like India, where there’s a lot of rain and dirt in the air. I have not tested the rain claim, but I will take Motorola’s word for it. As for the dirt, the only place I can see dirt getting into is the speaker, but even that seems hard. Everything else is either completely flat or sealed with rubber. There’s still tactile feedback through the protruding rubber lines above and below the buttons. Both the buttons and the click wheel in the middle feel very natural. The clickable area is quite large, and you can easily feel the button being pressed.

The only input slot is the charger/headphone jack, which is smaller than any other charger jack I’ve seen. Motofone comparison However, the fit of the plug is extremely snug in the phone (it will not fall off if you dangle the phone from the cord, but at the same time it does not require much strength to push it in/take it out), and it seems that it uses the same plug for headphones, which I have not tested. The thickness of the phone is about the same as an Apple Remote.

Nick: How about performance? In practice, how long is the battery life? How is reception?

Me: Motorola claims 300h of stand-by battery life which, for the less mathematically inclined, translates to 12 days. That might be true if you turn on the phone, leave it on a table and never touch it or receive any calls. The screen consumes absolutely no power when it’s not changing the contents of the display, so on stand by the only power drain is the signal reception and updating the time every 60 seconds. However, I would not expect the battery to last anything more than 5 days under any circumstances where the phone is actually being used. I did let the battery run down completely, but I did get a solid 4 days of constant use from it before the 5-segment battery indicator dropped to a single line (just barely dropped below 2, where the last line can easily go for another day).

As far as reception goes, I only have one word: outstanding. I’ve been using this phone for 2 weeks, and I still have not seen the reception indicator fall below the full 5 lines (and no, reception is not generally this good in my area). In line with this, the excellent speakerphone is a feature I did not expect. Voice clarity on this device is up to par with any phone I’ve ever tried, including land lines. I have no problems understanding anything anyone says to me on this phone.

Nick: How does the screen perform in different light conditions? How does it compare to regular screens?

A Motofone Apart Me: The screen is definitely the most innovative power saving feature of the device. I already knew that the E-ink technology used for the screen requires no power to keep the screen on, but it’s a different feeling when you take out the battery without turning the phone off, and the screen keeps displaying the last characters on it! (Yes, it does reset without any trace when you turn it back on). The contrast is excellent and the characters are clearly visible in any light condition from any angle (unless there’s complete darkness).

This being said, it’s not all rosy. The character display is exactly like the old 16-segment LCD displays of yesteryear. 2 rows of 6 characters, that’s it. What’s even worse, only the first row is used for actual alphanumeric characters, which makes reading messages a big pain. I do believe there’s a valid reason for doing this (read on about the user interface), but it doesn’t stop it from being extremely annoying. Also since the characters are constructed from segments, there’s no notion of upper/lower case. You will see an upper case letter or a lower case letter depending on which one will make the most sense when formed by the segments.

Nick: Describe the user interface? Is it immediately intuitive, or does it take getting used to?

Me: The interface is by far the most interesting aspect of the device, even more so than the screen. The phone has a language setting, but not in the traditional sense as none of the menus have any text in them. Instead, any action you might perform on the phone and might need some instruction, comes with a voice-over, in the language chosen by the user. As this phone is targeted for the low-income family, there’s a good chance that a user of the phone might not even know how to read. For this reason, I believe the choice to preload the phone with voice messages in the native languages of the region it is being launched in instead of simply having text in different languages is an excellent choice.

Manual - Interface The first time I turned on the phone and entered my PIN, I was greeted by a man speaking in a language I did not understand. After a few seconds, the same man said, in English, “For English, press 3”. Since I bought the phone in the Karnataka district of India, the phone comes with 3 pre-set languages: Telugu, Kannada, and English, where the first two are the official languages of the district. These options come up whenever the SIM card is replaced in the phone, which makes sense. Once the language is selected, if you wish to change it you must either change the SIM, or go through the ‘advanced menus’ (read on).

As soon as I pressed 3, the same voice asked me if I wanted voice prompts while using the phone. 1 for Yes, 2 for No. I pressed 1 just out of curiosity. This option is presented to me every time the phone is switched on. Note that wherever I make a note of what the “friendly voice” says, this is always dependent to whether or not voice prompts are enabled. If they’re not, then the voice will never be heard from again (at least not until you turn the phone off and back on).

Since I had just powered on the phone, I was presented with the option for setting the time on the phone (with the voice telling me “Enter time”). After telling it the time and date, I was pretty much done with the setup.

Manual - Buttons There are exactly 6 menu choices. The menu can be accessed by pressing right or left on the click wheel. Pressing up or down while on standby changes the volume of the phone. The menu itself contains no characters, just icons. The same friendly voice tells you the menu you are on, which you can access by pressing the action key (top left). These choices are (as narrated by the friendly voice): Send a message, Read your messages, Call history, Change ringtone (7 possible pre-defined choices), Set alarm, Change time. Scrolling to the menu you wish to use you can press ‘up’ or ‘action’ and the menu will be selected, where the voice will tell you what you can do (“Write your message” for example).

There are a few other (advanced) options you can mess with: change language, select time format, set voicemail number, keypad tones on/off, auto keypad lock on/off, set SIM pin, SIM pin on/off, restricted calling – phonebook only, prepaid balance display, set balance inquiry number, and the obligatory reset factory settings. All of these options are accessible by pressing *** [3-digit number code] * [action]. These settings obviously require the manual which lists all the 3 digit codes, and are generally the kind of thing you would only set once and then forget about it. I haven’t tried to see if there are any easter eggs in there.

All in all, it took me about 10 minutes to get used to the interface. It did not immediately come to me (I spent a few seconds being utterly confused), but I believe the reason for that was because I’m so used to the standard interfaces that come on every phone. After getting the hang of this one (which was very fast to do so), it became almost second nature.

Nick: How does the address book work?

Phone Book Me: There’s a phone book button (top right) which takes you directly to the phone book. There is no memory on the phone itself for an address book, so it uses the SIM memory which is limited to 12 characters per contact name, and one number per contact entry. Pressing the phone book button will bring up the phone book, which you can navigate with up/down, or press a letter to jump to that point in the phone book. To scroll through the 6 character limit of the display you must press right. Pressing right multiple times will display the phone number of the contact, and then an option to delete the contact (shown as a trash can, you must press ‘up’ to delete it when the icon is shown). Furthermore, each contact has a number associated to it (the SIM card memory location), which can be used for speed dialing. If an unknown number is on the display, an icon appears above the phone book button which indicates that pressing it will let you add that number to your SIM.

The Call History menu has a memory of the last 15 dialed/received calls (the menu icon indicates whether the number was dialed or received, depending on the direction of the arrow).

Nick: How does text messaging work?

Me: There are two ways you can send a text message. The first way is to start writing a message by using the “Send a message” menu (first choice), then entering the number or going through the phone book. Alternatively, whenever a number or a contact (either through the phone book or through the Call History menu) is visible, a “Send a message” action is available and accessible through the action button, which will take you to the same “Send a message” menu. Writing the message and pressing send will send the message to the number you already selected.

Texting I already mentioned that only the top row is used for text, and that this makes reading messages extremely annoying. However, you do get used to it. If a word is less than 6 characters long, it will definitely be shown in its entirety. I.e. if you receive the message “hi how is california?” then “hi how” would be on the first screen, “is” would be on the second and “california” would span two screens, split at the ‘o’. The reason behind all this, in my opinion, is consistency. Browsing anything (messages, contacts, call history, etc) is a top to bottom action, and reading a message is a left to right action. If the message spanned two lines, it might be a bit more confusing, but the initial confusion might be worth the convenience. On the up side the response time of any action is next to nothing, so reading a message on this phone is NOT considerably slower than on any other phone, provided you’re not using T9 or any other sophisticated input method. The only way a message can be composed is by typing each letter in the standard way. Furthermore, there’s no ‘back’ button in the sense that you can navigate your message. If you make a mistake, you have to erase all the letters from the end of the message to the mistake in order to correct it, and then type everything again.

Nick: What do you like best about the phone?

Me: I’d have to say the large characters that display the time, the visibility of the screen, and the intuitiveness of the interface (after you take 10 minutes to learn it, mainly because we’ve all been conditioned to expect a lot of counter-intuitive interfaces from phones). Oh, and the price. You just can’t beat a $40 price tag on a phone that looks this good.

Also, I was surprised by the alarm. It’s quite loud, annoying, and must have a very well constructed sound loop because when it starts “chirping”, it appears as if the frequency/tone of the sound is slightly randomized, so it’s not a constant beat. Let’s just say it has more success waking me up than most other alarms I’ve tried (with the possible exception of The Matrix soundtrack CD starting at full volume).

Nick: What do you miss most? Is the simplicity a blessing or a curse?

Me: I think what I miss the most is the ability to synchronize my contact list with my mac, and slightly less I miss being able to connect my mac to the internet through the phone from wherever I am. However I still force myself to not carry my bluetooth enabled phone everywhere with me, because I believe having that kind of access to the internet should be reduced. As a computer scientist I spend a LOT of time on the internet as is, and having the ability to connect to the internet from anywhere at any time is just distracting. Feel free to disagree with me on this.

Beyond that, I do not miss the camera, the color screen, or the mp3 capabilities (I even have an iPod that I never use). If anything, I’d say the simplicity is a blessing. I never really used any of those features on my phones for any reasonable purpose, and simply having them there caused me to take ugly photos, waste time with 100px color photos, and suffer through low quality songs. Granted there are a lot of smartphones out there that get a lot of these things right, and maybe it is convenient to some to have a low quality 2MP camera in their pocket at all times. As far as I’m concerned however, if I believe I’ll want to take some photos, I’ll take a real camera. There’s just no way a phone can be designed to do all those things, and at the same time be small, light and usable. It always takes away from the primary purpose of the phone: making calls; which is why I believe the simplicity of this phone is a step in the right direction.

Nick: What are the greatest flaws of the phone? How would you improve it?

Me: I’d have to say the way the screen displays the characters. It seems that e-ink technology is able to create finer text, though I don’t know how that would affect the stand-by battery life (not that it matters much in real-life terms). Reading/Composing messages is troublesome at best, which is a problem concerning a lot of cellular communication now occurs via texting. I realize that a lot of the marketing around the phone is targeted to people who potentially don’t know how to read and/or write, but it’s a mistake to not consider the vast number of people who do and will be using this phone for that purpose. Other than that, I couldn’t be happier with it.

Nick: How popular is the phone in India? How is it marketed?

Me: I have not seen any ads for it, nor have I seen anyone else carry it or use it. That being said, I had a hell of a time finding a unit, as it was out of stock in every shop I went to. On the flip side, one shop owner I chatted up said they only brought 20 units total which sold in a couple of weeks, but they have no plans of bringing more. A few other stores hadn’t even heard of the device. I was finally able to locate a store that was having some stock brought in, and I reserved a device from them. The store attendant seemed to be very curious as to why I would choose a phone that had no features, and kept trying to get me to buy something else. Then again I’m in Mangalore, which is a city of 800,000 people in a country of 1.2 billion, and is also considered by many as a backwater village (i had to go to 4 different computer stores to find a 6-pin to 6-pin firewire cable). It’s extremely likely that Motorola has just not focused any marketing efforts in my parts of India, but I can’t confirm that.

Nick: Would you use this as your primary phone in the US?

Me: Probably. I’ve definitely given up a Nokia 6230 and an Ericsson K700i for this phone. Both of the other phones are turned off and stuck in my closet. That being said, I would not get rid of secondary phone with some more wireless capabilities, because I often find myself needing some mobile access which a simple phone cannot provide. I don’t know if I’d give up a blackberry for it, as I’ve never owned one (re: my comment on the simplicity of the phone).

Update 2007-03-28: Since some people have started adding undocumented key codes to the comments, I’ll try to maintain a complete list here and update it as more undocumented settings codes come up.

To access the advanced settings, press * * * [number code] * [action]

Phone Setting Number Code
Reset Factory settings 000
Restricted Calling (Phonebook only) ON | OFF 160|161
Keypad tones ON | OFF 250|251
Auto keypad lock ON | OFF 260|261
Set SIM Pin 300
SIM Pin ON | OFF 310|311
Select time format 470
Prepaid Balance Display ON | OFF 500|501
Voice Prompts ON | OFF
(can also be toggled by pressing
[action] on the volume menu)
510|511
Change Language 520
Set Balance Inquiry Number to # * 642
Set Voicemail number 644

Those are the ‘official’ codes, covered in the manual. Now for the experimental part…
Note: Use these at your own risk, even before these codes were posted here phone numbers were lost from a SIM card because of them, so back up your numbers before you use them!

Undocumented Codes – Use at your own risk!
Display total time of accepted incoming calls 111
Display total time of outgoing calls 121
Switch Audible call minute counter (beep) ON|OFF 130|131
Region Code display ON | OFF 400|401
List available networks with option to change to another network 402
Display network currently receiving service from 480
Display list of networks within range 481
View / Edit Service Cell Number (SMS Service) 643
Delete ALL stored messages 700
Enter SMS prepay query code (?) 701

The following codes work AS IS, i.e. without entering the * around them

Phone information details * * 9 9 9 9 * [action]
Cell phone serial number * # 0 6 # [action]

That’s it for now! If you find more, post them in the contents, I’ll pick them up and put them here.

394 Responses to “Motorola Motofone F3 Review”

  1. 1. Comment by Matt
    on 18 Jun 2007 @ 12:05 am

    I too have a Motofone bought in Mexico and locked to TelCel. However I was able to get an unlock code for an ebay auction. The problem is if you have a non-TelCel SIM in the phone (in my case Cingular) in will only let you type a few numbers (911 for instance) as well as give you an error message (No SIM 3-020) the same error that pops up if you actually don’t have a SIM card inserted.

    Therefore I can not enter my unlock code. I emailed the guy I got the code from. He wanted to verify that my phone operated on 1900 GSM – I told him it did and he hasn’t responded since.

    Other people (http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?p=9353744) seam to share this problem but they haven’t seam to made any progress either. If anyone could help I would appreciate it very much.

  2. 2. Comment by meharvan
    on 19 Jun 2007 @ 2:33 am

    Hello.

    First of all, GREAT review!!

    I just wanted to know,
    once I press ***250*, it says ‘ON’ and the ‘Ok’ icon blinks.
    I want to turn it ‘OFF’.
    How to do that??
    Any help greatly appreciated.
    Thanks

  3. 3. Comment by Arthur
    on 20 Jun 2007 @ 4:44 am

    Is there any way to import an additional language beyond the three that are already programmed into the F3? I bought one in Slovakia, has only Slovak, Czech, Hungarian…but no English!!!!

    Unfortunately, I dont speak any of the three available languages…

  4. 4. Comment by Hans
    on 23 Jun 2007 @ 4:45 pm

    Hi everyone.
    After using my new Motofone F3 one week (!), the battery-indicator suddenly popped up at full strenght, minus one bar. So this is no longer a topic for me.
    Strange that it took so long but probably the indicator works randomly?
    It proofs that the battery has excellent capacities and also, after one week, I can tell that this phone has a superb voice quality and loudspeaker. The interface is probably the most intuïtive approach for phone-management and use.
    The Motofone meets all my expectations about it.

  5. 5. Comment by Bratislav Metulsky
    on 26 Jun 2007 @ 1:46 am

    Larger post offices in Germany (“Deutsche Post”) sell the F3 including a T-Mobile prepaid SIM with € 10 of credit for only € 19.90 and they neither have a SIMlock nor a netlock. Supported languages are German, English and Italian.

    However F3 prepaid packages sold elsewhere in Germany (including T-Mobile stores) do have a SIMlock.

  6. 6. Comment by Vinicius
    on 27 Jun 2007 @ 7:11 am

    “Switch something unkown ON | OFF 130|131”

    something unknown = automatic network scan ON | OFF

  7. 7. Comment by Dr timothy bleary
    on 28 Jun 2007 @ 10:42 pm

    [quote comment=”1633″]I’ve got a problem to get my voicemail notification set up. i’ve got 2 sim card (orange and t-mobile) i tried ***644* and put my voicemail number but it doesn’t seem to work for both of them.
    Any idea on how to do that?[/quote]
    NO IDEA AS I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM! Someone please help!

  8. 8. Comment by Aldo
    on 30 Jun 2007 @ 6:31 am

    For any of those who are interested in the codes…
    130|131 Switches Audible call minute counter (beep) ON|OFF

    Has anyone figured out how to personalize the initial splash screen or the message diplayed every time you finish using the phone? Mine displays the ATT network number I am on (they have two in the area)… Having “31038” show up every time I use the phone is getting a little annoying… would prefer something like “smile” or “hello” or my name there…

  9. 9. Comment by Aldo
    on 9 Jul 2007 @ 12:10 am

    [quote comment=”1982″][quote comment=”1556″]How to turn off the minute reminder? (My reminder makes first click at 55 seconds and then every minute – I find that odd).[/quote]

    I think if your operator charged you by the minute, it would make sense to know that you are about to enter a new minute 5 seconds before, so you would have time to say a quick bye and disconnect… similar to when your credit is about to finish in a public coin phone.[/quote]

    130|131 to turn the minute counter on|off
    Anybody figure out if there is a missed calls list anywhere?

  10. 10. Comment by gagah
    on 10 Jul 2007 @ 10:14 pm

    The damn f3 is not simple, it is simplistic. You cannot edit a message or even a contact, the arrow will actually ERASE any of the two. I hate the idea of having only 7 ringtones and reading messages only in a way (i mean that straight long liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine). Battery doesn’t last long as the manual say. So, basically the thing is pretty basically , and basic, TOO basic. And not cheap here in Brazil.

  11. 11. Comment by neenee
    on 13 Jul 2007 @ 11:31 am

    Thank you for the wonderful review.

    Since yesterday I am the proud owner of a Motofone F3. My old phone is a Motorola Razr v3, but I found myself not using the camera, bluetooth, calculator, I rarely switched backgrounds, always used the same ringtone, I even removed most of the menu options using some software tools and the data-cable.

    I was looking at the Philips Xenium, which are simple phones as well, though still more feature-rich, but their main attraction is a very long battery life, of up to one month. I do understand that the Motofone F3 can not remain on standby this long without recharging (It must be the capacity of the battery, perhaps there’ll be some 3rd party batteries soon, from MaxCell for instance that can help here), but that’s okay.

    I love the e-paper display. Very clear and very good viewing angles. No more blocking the sun just to see the display.

    And well, no-one can argue with the price =]

    The only thing I miss is proper SMS support. I did read and send them semi-regularly, but I can probably do without.

    And I may order a case somewhere, a leather one with a strap/clip, or better yet, something which barely distorts the look of the phone, perhaps a glove-like cover, rubbery to protect against bouncing and scrapes. I’ll have to search a bit, as the phone is still quite new and there doesn’t seem to be much out there that was specifically designed for the Motofone F3.

    In short: Thank you for the review, it helped me decide on this phone.

    Have a nice day one and all [=

  12. 12. Comment by pradeep
    on 16 Jul 2007 @ 2:07 am

    I did buy a F3 in the UK. Mine only came in a box from Orange. Everything included, but yeah, the lettering could be better for texting. Its just that, when u switch from a normal cell phone, with regular ‘signs’ and a lil bit of complexity, this phone seems out of the ordinary. Like, sometimes, I have this phone symbol that flashes when it goes into the ‘time only’ mode, and then a symbol like > shows up. Any1 know what that is?

    other than that, the display is genious.

  13. 13. Comment by Marcin
    on 19 Jul 2007 @ 11:01 am

    I’ve bought f3 yesterday and I do not know if it works properly. May anybody confirm if phone works improperly:

    Few times per hours strange thing happends:
    Display start blinking, antenna led “is mowing” from left to right. Whole process takes 10 seconds. During this time the name of the operator appears for a while. It looks like phone is connecting to the base station – but is blinkink is proper behaviour?

    hank You for help

  14. 14. Comment by MMMF3
    on 21 Jul 2007 @ 10:30 am

    Sorry, no luck on this end for the headset. I asked around, but nobody in India seems to know that this phone has a headset accessory!

    If you mean handsfree headset , it was in the original package

  15. 15. Comment by Marc
    on 21 Jul 2007 @ 8:36 pm

    I got this phone for £10 in the UK at phones4u or car phone warehouse. Its not locked to any network. Has anyone experience this problem or is a fone “feature”. I have my ringtone volume at ‘Vibrate / Increasing ring volume’ – the vibration kicks in as soon as the phone rings but its a good 10 seconds before the ringing kicks. I miss the call most of the times. Anyone else have this same problem?

    I wish it had a T9 dictionary too.

  16. 16. Comment by canadianeh?
    on 24 Jul 2007 @ 9:56 am

    so i’ve got the f3 from mexico locked to the telcel network like everyone else in canada. i’ve purchased an unlock code off ebay for $14 but have no way to enter the code. the only sim i’ve tried with is my rogers card but to no avail. I’m wondering if i try with a fido sim card (prepay service in canada) if it will work because its supposed to be a prepaid phone. has anyone tried this or found a way to enter the unlock code? maybe one of the easter eggs that allows numerical entry?

  17. 17. Comment by Paweł B. Sczaniecki
    on 25 Jul 2007 @ 1:21 pm

    A very active person on a Dutch forum discovered the following “Easter Eggs”
    400 / 401 -> switches something unknown on/off[/quote]
    ==========
    The code has been a remedy for my problem, namely “the motofone hanged-up” each time I made a time/date adjustment.
    Three times it was serviced, to no avail! Today I took the chance, used the Dutch undefined discovery and the time/date problem is over. Before, I had to take battery out and in, and enter the time & date from the very start. What a relieve…

  18. 18. Comment by Bob
    on 27 Jul 2007 @ 12:53 am

    Bought mine today at Aldi UK for £9 it came with a Orange pay as you go sim which I have not activated. As Im already on an Orange contract I thought it would be handy to ease the wear on my contract phone by placing my Orange contact Sim into the F3. Charged the phone then tried to enter the Phonebook but all I get is my own number displayed, refuses to show any of my contact numbers

    Any ideas anyone —– Help
    Cheers
    Bob

  19. 19. Comment by Tony
    on 27 Jul 2007 @ 10:20 am

    Just bought an F3 from Asda in Leeds, England. Cost £9.00. Comes with an Orange sim which when registered gives you a £1.00 free. Unit is very basic, but for less than a ‘tenner’what more do you want. Great 2nd emergency phone.

  20. 20. Comment by Matthew
    on 31 Jul 2007 @ 2:14 pm

    This is just that a very nice simple phone , really any one over the age of 30 dosent use a phone for any thing but calls and the odd sms ie. home soon etc

    I have shelved a Nokia 6300 with this as my main handset now , I have even bought some for gifts for my friend and family ….

    Pure simple reliable clear looks like a $1000 dollars and does what it is ment to be a MOBILE PHONE not a mobile head ache

    PS my F3 charged up in 1 hour out of the Tube …. Can say enough about this simple little handset

    Great work Motorola

  21. 21. Comment by Tony
    on 1 Aug 2007 @ 2:49 pm

    [quote comment=”2005″]Bought mine today at Aldi UK for £9 it came with a Orange pay as you go sim which I have not activated. As Im already on an Orange contract I thought it would be handy to ease the wear on my contract phone by placing my Orange contact Sim into the F3. Charged the phone then tried to enter the Phonebook but all I get is my own number displayed, refuses to show any of my contact numbers

    Any ideas anyone —– Help
    Cheers
    Bob[/quote]

    Bob. Only thing I can think of is that your address book is on the contract phone and not on the sim card.

  22. 22. Comment by rednose
    on 2 Aug 2007 @ 4:59 pm

    Hi All. I wonder if anybody found out how to do a couple of things.

    1) How to turn on the “hide number” on call. My previous mobile was a Nokia, and I had the possibility to “obscurate” my phone number on calling other mobiles.

    2) How to know if anybody called, and you missed the call.

    Any help apprecitaed.
    Thanks!!!

  23. 23. Comment by monty111
    on 4 Aug 2007 @ 1:35 am

    hey can anybody tell how many contacts this 1 holds (or how many the sim card holds ? plz help

  24. 24. Comment by rae
    on 5 Aug 2007 @ 3:20 pm

    how to set speed dial. some contacts had it, some doesnt.

  25. 25. Comment by Bob
    on 5 Aug 2007 @ 4:05 pm

    [quote post=”73″]Bob. Only thing I can think of is that your address book is on the contract phone and not on the sim card.[/quote]

    Yes Tony you were right. Using the F3 I re-entered all my contact numbers back into the Orange contract sim card I then put the sim card back into my Contract phone only to find that all my numbers were showing twice. Obviously my contract phone had enough memory not to use the sim card. while the Motorola has no memory and has to depend on the sim card entries.
    Im outdoors quite a bit as I have a keen interest in photography. I always have my pockets full of junk and I can carry this one without worring about wear a tear. By the way my phone came from Asda and not Aldi my mistake. Anyway it has turned out to be fabulous buy for £9 .
    Cheers
    Bob

  26. 26. Comment by neenee
    on 5 Aug 2007 @ 9:12 pm

    Hi everyone.

    I’ve been enjoying my Motofone F3 for several weeks now, but I was wondering about the standby time. Various sites mention standy times anywhere from 5 days to 14 and more.

    I was wondering, what are the standby times of the readers here?

    Thanks for sharing 😉

  27. 27. Comment by Alexander
    on 6 Aug 2007 @ 12:03 am

    No idea about standby-only time (never tested), but my F3 can make it up to 5 days with about an hour or so spent on talking each day… moto promised it to be a bit longer, but I have a feeling I’ve screwed something up with initial charging. Anyway, it’s still not a bad result, as my L6 will make it for 2.5 days approx. with a lot less talking going on (about 20 mins./day), so I’m quite ok with the F3 (:

  28. 28. Comment by Tony
    on 6 Aug 2007 @ 12:47 pm

    [quote post=”73″]I was wondering, what are the standby times of the readers here[/quote]

    Hi. Initial charge of 3 hours gave me a standby of 4 days. A full charge overnight on 30 July and it is still going, showing a remaining charge of 40%.

    Tony

  29. 29. Comment by neenee
    on 6 Aug 2007 @ 10:44 pm

    Okay, so that’s at least 7 days. Thank you for your prompt response 😉

  30. 30. Comment by john
    on 7 Aug 2007 @ 10:50 am

    Hi guys?thanks for the tonne of information provided.Im in Kenya and ive been looking out for the F3c but i cant seem to find it.Anybody out there who might be of help, i would realy appreciate.
    Please ensure its not locked.

  31. 31. Comment by aaron sneddon
    on 7 Aug 2007 @ 2:00 pm

    I had an 02 XDA11, and a HP Ipaq before this, i am happy with this one.

    If i need to do some serious web and emailing i take the laptop in the car, most phones internet capabilities are limited anyway in terms of using outlook to download attachements etc, so i only ever used the likes of this on my k800i every couple of days or so (I still have the K800I but its going to my wife who likes it)

    The F3 is likeable, it has a great design and doesnt put a bulge in the pocket, so even with the basic functions it will stay out of the way but bring looks of admiration from other people seeing just how thin it really is!

    Think i’ll stick to this, downgrading has been a release.

  32. 32. Comment by Tony
    on 8 Aug 2007 @ 6:26 pm

    [quote post=”73″]By the way my phone came from Asda [/quote]

    Bob. Just out of interest, was it an Asda in Leeds you bought it from ? It would be interesting to know if this was a local or wider offer.

    Thanks

  33. 33. Comment by J
    on 9 Aug 2007 @ 4:25 am

    I recently bought the Motofone, and I can say that is an excellent choice for a person that just want to make calls. The design and simplicity are perfect. I bought it in Mexico for 300 pesos (25 dollars, more or less) and it works very well.
    Well done Motorola!

  34. 34. Comment by Jon Long
    on 9 Aug 2007 @ 11:41 am

    [quote comment=”2002″]I have my ringtone volume at ‘Vibrate / Increasing ring volume’ – the vibration kicks in as soon as the phone rings but its a good 10 seconds before the ringing kicks. I miss the call most of the times. Anyone else have this same problem?

    [/quote]

    I have the same problem so I never use the vibrate function. This way the phone starts to ring as soon as it receives a call – no annoying 10 second delay.

  35. 35. Comment by Dmitry
    on 10 Aug 2007 @ 12:39 am

    [quote comment=”2015″]Hi everyone.

    I’ve been enjoying my Motofone F3 for several weeks now, but I was wondering about the standby time. Various sites mention standy times anywhere from 5 days to 14 and more.

    I was wondering, what are the standby times of the readers here?

    Thanks for sharing ;)[/quote]

    I have unlocked T-mobile F3. Battery model BD50. I don’t see where capacity listed. Phone works around 3 days. In 24h after recharge 2 bars are empty.

    Tony mentioned that night recharge gives him a week of work. I didn’t try that. I was charging it until bar become full and stop blinking (around 4h). I believe phone is not charging after that.

  36. 36. Comment by Dmitry
    on 10 Aug 2007 @ 12:44 am

    [quote comment=”2015″]Hi everyone.

    I’ve been enjoying my Motofone F3 for several weeks now, but I was wondering about the standby time. Various sites mention standy times anywhere from 5 days to 14 and more.

    I was wondering, what are the standby times of the readers here?

    Thanks for sharing ;)[/quote]

    I have unlocked T-mobile F3. Battery model BD50. I don’t see where capacity listed. Phone works around 3 days. In 24h after recharge 2 bars are empty.

    Tony mentioned that night recharge gives him a week of work. I didn’t try that. I was charging it until bar become full and stop blinking (around 4h). I believe the phone is not charging after that.

  37. 37. Comment by Bob
    on 10 Aug 2007 @ 3:03 pm

    [quote post=”73″]Bob. Just out of interest, was it an Asda in Leeds you bought it from ? It would be interesting to know if this was a local or wider offer.[/quote]

    Tony. It was from one of their Newcastle based stores. In fact we acted after seeing the full page Asda F3 advert which appeared in the Daily Express went up to the store that day and bought two

    Cheers

  38. 38. Comment by Jack
    on 11 Aug 2007 @ 6:55 pm

    any solution on unlocking the Mexical TELCEL F3s yet? Has someone been successful? If so, please post how

  39. 39. Comment by gagah
    on 13 Aug 2007 @ 5:29 pm

    Sometimes when I call my friends from my F3 they don’t answer because they say i’m showing up in their mobiles as a “retristcted call”, but sometimes my number|name does show up. Can anyone explain this? As the phone has no menu I really don’t understand what is going on. Is there a code for restricted call| non-restricted call (show my number wahtever)?
    PLEASE HELP 🙂

  40. 40. Comment by Frances
    on 14 Aug 2007 @ 5:56 am

    please Help. Im writing from australia. trying to unlock my f3 so i can send it to a relative in tonga. ??? how can i do that without having to pay my provider $80?

  41. 41. Comment by Tony
    on 14 Aug 2007 @ 5:47 pm

    [quote post=”73″]Sometimes when I call my friends from my F3 they don’t answer because they say i’m showing up in their mobiles as a ‘retristcted call’, but sometimes my number|name does show up. Can anyone explain this? As the phone has no menu I really don’t understand what is going on. Is there a code for restricted call| non-restricted call (show my number wahtever)?
    PLEASE HELP [/quote]

    Try

    * * * 161 * [action]

    Should turn off restricted calls (* * * 160 * [action]will turn it on again)

  42. 42. Comment by Oleksiy
    on 15 Aug 2007 @ 1:33 am

    [quote comment=”1981″]I’m wondering if anyone with an unlocked model for North America would want to trade it for my two unlocked ones. Obviously you know how to unlock them so you would then have 2 and I’d have a functioning cell phone. You can contact me at hurlyburly at google’s email service. Thanks![/quote]
    I’m willing to try it out – contact me at opikalo (to prevent spam ) hotmail dot com and we will arrange the details

  43. 43. Comment by Alan
    on 15 Aug 2007 @ 11:52 pm

    how to loud sound message tone f3? or how to download new ring tones?

  44. 44. Comment by Richard
    on 18 Aug 2007 @ 9:08 pm

    Hi,

    Does anyone know how to get rid of the voice mail icon when all voicemails have been listened to? It won’t dissapear in my phone

  45. 45. Comment by Rafael
    on 19 Aug 2007 @ 1:31 am

    I just returned to the US from Colombia where I purchased an F3 for use while I travelled with family. The packaging and instructions are in Spanish and Portuguese. There are at least two Colombian service providers offering the F3, Comcel and Tigo, both as prepaid providers. I purchased mine from Comcel for 57,000 Colombian Pesos, which translated to roughly $30.00 USD and which included promotional connect time. I purchased the phone at a kiosk at the front of a supermarket which relied on the customer service department of the market to conduct transactions. The SKU rung up as 46,000 Pesos and the “promotional” connect time and the IVA (either sales or value-added tax, I forget which) added the 11,000 Pesos and change.

    I saw the F3 on offer in the cities of Bogotá, Armenia, Neiva, and in many smaller villages in between. All were offered for roughly the same price. The signal coverage was excellent, and the phone behaved exactly as advertised. I met one other individual who was using the F3, and he was happy with it.

    I have been very happy with the phone and would like very much to continue using it in the US. I have been using another Motorola phone with a prepaid plan – the C-139 – but it has too many features. I fall into the “less is more camp” as regards phones. Using the Easter Egg codes, I find that the phone recognizes the Cingular/ATT GSM network in my area. Cingular/ATT offers a prepaid plan, and I’d like to see if using one of their SIM cards I can get the phone to work. I can’t use it with my current plan.

    Thanks for the lively and informative posts.

  46. 46. Comment by Simon
    on 20 Aug 2007 @ 6:59 pm

    I’ve just bought one of these from Asda (Walmart) in the UK. It’s locked to the Orange network here and won’t accept another network’s SIM. Has anyone figured out how to unlock these phones yet? Thanks.

  47. 47. Comment by Aaron
    on 21 Aug 2007 @ 10:26 pm

    I purchased The F3 to be used in Israel with an Orange SMS card. I could not pick up any of the voice mail. They claim the DTMF tones are to short to pick up the mail. Do you know how to make the key tone longer so their voice mail system can pick up the mail?

  48. 48. Comment by neenee
    on 23 Aug 2007 @ 10:18 am

    [quote comment=”2033″]how to loud sound message tone f3? or how to download new ring tones?[/quote]

    As mentioned before, You can not change the volume of your
    text-message tone and you can not download ring-tones.

    Please read the entire thread or at least search through it
    before posting a question which may have been answered before.

  49. 49. Comment by Eze Uba
    on 24 Aug 2007 @ 9:14 pm

    I have been using my F3 for at least 5 months now here in Nigeria. It turns out to be one of the most hassle-free phones I have ever used, actually I bought it when my last phone, a Nokia, crashed and it was due to budget reasons that I settled for the F3, but I am now counting my blessings to have such a wonderful phone. Battery issue is a bygone problem now, sometimes I even forget to charge it for two days and it keeps on and on. Simplicity of use is another thing I love about it; no frills, just normal everyday phone functionality. Up until today it has been bliss for me and this phone, until I decided to dabble into the dark world of phone codes. I was just trying out a code I saw on the net about caller id blocking, *#31#, I tried it and it blocked my caller id, for good. Even uptill now I have been unsuccesful in my attempts to change it back and everyone I call now keeps asking me who is on the line? Please if anyone out there has any clue to how I can re-enable my caller id to appear when I call people, I would appreciate it very much. I have tried to re-enter the code again but it doesn’t work; I had assumed it was a toggle thing.
    Thank you all for any and all attention to my post.
    Cheers,
    Eze Uba

  50. 50. Comment by Eze Uba
    on 25 Aug 2007 @ 9:41 am

    Aaaah… I got it fixed. I just reset to default factory setting with ***000* and it did worked. Now my caller id is shown again.
    Cheers everyone.