
Motorola F3: The anti-iPhone? (2007) - tshtf
http://earthlingsoft.net/ssp/blog/2007/10/motorola_f3
======
alexqgb
If by "anti iPhone" you mean "the zombie apocalypse phone", then yes,
absolutely.

It's as well-tailored to the third would (for which is was specifically
designed) as the iPhone is to the first. For instance, it doesn't use USB to
charge (computers are hardly ubiquitous), and you can navigate all the
commands using installed voice prompts, since basic literacy isn't a given
either.

Something else not reliably found everywhere: electricity. The F3 responds
with an e-ink display that allows 500 hours of standby between charges. Dirt
floors, on the other hand (to say nothing of paths and roads) are standard,
which is why the one-piece membrane on the front is so well-placed. Unlike a
many 'smartphones', it's not easily thwarted by moisture or grit.

Indeed, at $22.59, it may be the smartest phone on the planet.

~~~
StavrosK
I have one of those, I haven't charged it in a year. Let me check what state
it's in.

Fun fact: It uses the same jack for the headset as for the charger. Also, it
uses a low-frequency pulse in its speaker for vibration instead of a motor. I
wonder how I know all this, I must have opened it up at some point.

EDIT: Jesus, it works fine and the battery is full. Apparently, this phone is
something to keep in the car in case of emergency. A year unused and the
battery is still full.

~~~
blub
I doubt that it's physically possible for a phone battery to last a whole year
at 100% even when it's turned off.

------
angusgr
I actually just ditched my iPhone for a phone only marginally more
sophisticated than this[1], but with the same standby time.

I thought about trying to find an F3 instead, the only thing that put me off
was the apparently very crummy text messaging. That's one thing that I still
wanted to do.

It's quite hard to find a decent quality non-color-screen phone, though. Nokia
still make at least one, but to cut costs they put the earpiece on the back
side of the handset (combined with the loudspeaker). Which apparently makes it
hard to talk on sensibly.

I think if a manufacturer took current technology and built a phone with a ten
year old feature set and no colour screen, to a ~$80 RRP budget, they could
get months of standby time and a tiny light device that would last for
decades.[2]

[1] [http://projectgus.com/2010/09/my-no-iphone-no-smartphone-
exp...](http://projectgus.com/2010/09/my-no-iphone-no-smartphone-experiment/)
(I submitted it the other day but didn't get much interest, hope this doesn't
come across as spamming.)

[2] Not sure how big the market is, though. Even in the "third world"
countries everyone is talking about, fancy phones are usually a big status
symbol.

------
tortilla
$19.99 at NewEgg. Just picked one up.

[http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16875209...](http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16875209145)

------
lsc
A friend of mine bought one of these because he thought it would be cool. And
it was pretty cool, though keep in mind, it's just a phone. so my friend ended
up getting an iphone (well, a friend of his broke her iphone, so he got a free
broken iphone, and being that sort of person, he successfully repaired it.)

Anyhow, once I visited the guy and I left my phone charger at home, so after
my nokia e90 died, I borrowed his third world phone. My t mobile sim 'just
worked' and it seemed like a fairly competent phone overall... but really,
voice communication is only about 10% of what I use a phone for, and that's
all this thing can do, so for me, it's of limited utility.

------
vitovito
I used this phone for over a year. Texting is incredibly awkward, all lower-
case, and you can only see seven characters at a time. I got used to it, but I
preferred not to. Address book is stored only in the SIM, which I think is
fairly unique in the US. MMSes show up as weird bits of text with URLs, but
that might have been a by-product of T-Mobile's service. It was solidly
constructed, and had excellent reception and battery life.

I'm not sure I saw the "500 hours" of standby time, but I doubt I went 20 days
without a text message or a phone call. Heavy use and I still had to charge it
every couple of days. Regular to light use and I could go a week.

~~~
StavrosK
I can second this, for the bit of time that I used it, I remember the battery
lasting a few days (nowhere near 20).

------
bingaman
I use an F3 as my primary phone. I bought it in late 2006 just to avoid making
an investment because there were a lot of rumors at the time about a new phone
made by Apple.

One of the biggest advantages for me was dropping out of the feature-upgrade
rat race entirely. My phone is exactly as out of date now as it was when I
bought it and I expect to have it at least another 10 years. It looks brand
new, sounds great, is easy to use and has an insanely long battery life
(though a dictionary would be nice!)

It's not for everyone though, and I can see how 'downgrading' might be
difficult (especially for addicts).

------
kylec
Even though it's been on the market 3-4 years, this phone is still held up as
the example of a cheap, no-frills phone. It was even nicknamed the "zombie
phone" and received a bit of discussion on a recent Engadget Mobile podcast:

[http://mobile.engadget.com/2010/08/14/engadget-mobile-
podcas...](http://mobile.engadget.com/2010/08/14/engadget-mobile-
podcast-050-08-14-2010/)

------
adolph
As an owner and former user of an F3, I really like the simplicity and
ruggedness. I wish that Motorola had continued to develop it to address its
terrible shortcomings: lettering was rendered semi-1337-style through old-
school LED typography and it could not display an entire 10 digit number
across its screen. I don't know why they bothered to support text messaging at
all because it was utterly unusable.

I still keep it around as a hurricane backup as my iPhone SIM plugs in to make
calls without issue.

------
breakall
For a simple cell phone and texting device, I miss my old Samsung T509. It had
a super slim candybar form factor that slid in and out of my pocket easily and
didn't create a bulge in my pants. Looks like you can get a new one for about
$20.

Of course, as well as it served for phone calls and texts, if you tried to do
anything more with it (run java apps, add an mp3 ringtone), it disappointed.

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derefr
I wish I could own this phone, but I _do_ text a lot (and, in fact, only
"phone" people by swapping voicemail messages.) If it had a QWERTY keyboard
(and a screen that could manage text, though hopefully still e-ink) I'd be in
love. I can imagine such a thing as the ultimate low-end product from RIM.

------
earnubs
I've had one of these since 2008, it's been a useful phone to have for hikes
or trips where you won't get charge.

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sliverstorm
Wow, I wasn't aware something like this even existed.

With that amazing price point ($22 on Amazon) I'd almost buy one right now as
I've been wanting to move away from cell phones on the whole, but the
inability to wire contacts in and the horrific SMS capabilities are making me
hesitate.

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charliepark
Keep in mind, the F3 doesn't work with CDMA networks (like Verizon). There
theoretically is an F3c that _does_ work with CDMA networks, but I've been
looking for it for weeks, and haven't had any luck. If you find a source for
the F3c, please let me know.

~~~
alexqgb
[http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Motofone-F3-Dual-
Band-1900-In...](http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Motofone-F3-Dual-
Band-1900-International/dp/B0013A7KMW)

~~~
charliepark
From the phone's "features": "This unlocked cell phone is compatible with GSM
carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile. Not all carrier features may be supported. It
will not work with CDMA carriers like Verizon Wireless, Alltel and Sprint."

