28 of 28 people found the following review helpful.
By V. Lockwood
When I decided to switch from Virgin Mobile to prepaid T-Mobile, my phone choices were a bit limited, because I didn't want to spend a lot of money for the phone. There were only a few in the $200-250 range. I looked at the LG L9, but it was too big for my front pocket. I also liked that this F3 had a bit of a faster processor, LTE capability, and that big battery, so I decided on this F3 and I am, for the most part, pleased with it for what I paid.
I have had this phone for 3 weeks now and I actually gone 2 days on a battery charge a few times. If I am at 60% or so at bedtime, I will keep the phone off the charger until it gets down to around 30%, and then charge it. Sometimes, if the usage has been light, it can hold out until the 2nd night. The screen is good, the processor, being a dual-core 1.2 GHz, is okay for light gaming, and LG gives you a lot of ways to customize, with different themes, fonts, lock screens, etc. Of course, the phone does have drawbacks, you couldn't get a budget phone that had everything perfect, right? :)
There are a couple of little things...speaker is weak, and I sometimes cannot hear it in the next room. I wish the front camera was a little better. But what really concerns me is that it has a small amount of storage. I am glad that I have a Kindle Fire 2nd gen that I use for most things, and therefore I keep just a few apps and games on this phone. The good thing is, with the Android 4.1.2, I am fine with the stock launcher, messaging app, camera app, etc. So, for me there is no need to use up the small amount of storage I have by installing 3rd party apps, something I had to do in the past if I wanted increased functionality. Still, even with that, right now, I have about 432 Mb available...not very much, I know. It does have a micro SD slot for music, videos, etc., but the changes to Android with the Jellybean version prevent you from storing apps on the SD card...something I could do on my old Gingerbread phone. I have been thinking about rooting the phone to get around this, but I have never done it before and I keep reading about the possibility of bricking the phone. So for now, I am trying to be conservative about what I install on the phone.
The LTE coverage where I am is very fast. I tested that at the T-Mobile store before I bought this phone, and it does not disappoint. I am currently on the $60 plan, where you get 2.5 Gb of high speed 4G (LTE if it is in your area), and then the phone drops down to 2G until the next month starts. It is easy to specify 2G, which I use for my daily use, and then pick the higher speed when I am doing something that requires a faster connection. (As an aside, the 2G is actually faster than the supposed 3G that I had with Virgin Mobile, so for the most part, I am very much happy with the 2G!) Three weeks into my plan, and I have only used 1.7 Gb of the 2.5 allotted to me.
All in all, this is a good phone with lots of functionality if you are okay with the storage limitation. I would recommend it to a casual user who likes to play a simple game now and then, perhaps would use the camera for the quick shot now and then, but who is more concerned with the actual phone and messaging aspects.
44 of 48 people found the following review helpful.
By Alan Houston
The T-Mobile version of the LG Optimus F3 is a first: a compact and light "World Phone" that combines ultra-high speed 4g LTE with very fast 4G HSPA+ at a low price.
The T-Mobile LG F3 is a "World Phone" that works in over 100 countries and enables you to make 20 cent per minute calls to the USA from around the world and phone the USA for FREE using T-Mobile's wi-fi calling app. And, when you are outside the USA, you also have unlimited free texting and unlimited free 2G data.
The T-Mobile LG F3 delivers consistently fast data speeds in major cities because it connects to both T-Mobile's new 4G LTE network and also to their very fast HSPA+ 4G network.
NOTE: The T-Mobile network covers about 70% of American homes. BEFORE buying the LG F3, carefully study the coverage map on the T-Mobile website. You can enter your zip code and zoom in to see the quality of the 4G signal coverage on your block.
In rural areas, the F3 will get bumped down to T-Mobile's 2G Edge network. However, the T-Mobile 2G network is usually faster than the Sprint 3G network my old phone used.
T-Mobile's BEST deal: T-Mobile bought MetroPCS and now sells the LG F3 at MetroPCS stores for a very low price. The MetroPCS F3 runs on the T-Mobile network, and the monthly bill will be about 20% less on Metro because the Metro price includes ALL fees and taxes.
Weak Point: It sometimes takes five or six minutes for the GPS to lock onto your location. And using GPS with 4G uses up to 25% of the battery in an hour.
The F3 has a sharp four inch IPS screen in a small body weighing just four ounces. The dual core processor is fast enough for most apps, but not for the most demanding 3D action games.
Although the LG F3 is one of the smallest 4G LTE phones available, it has a massive battery that lasts 50% longer than the average smartphone. Of course, if you are streaming videos over 4g LTE or navigating with GPS, you can consume 25% of your battery charge in just an hour.
The front speaker sounds good indoors but is a bit too quiet for a noisy environment. Turning on noise cancellation helps. The rear speaker works well as a speakerphone but is only adequate for music. With good ear buds, music sounds great.
The camera takes good photos in bright sunlight, but is mediocre in dimmer light and indoors. Videos are okay, but not great.
Only 1gb of internal memory is available after you update the pre-installed apps such as Google Maps. You should install a 16gb or 32gb sd card to hold your music and photos. Reserve that tiny 1gb of internal memory for apps. Some apps can be moved to the external SD card but most apps must be kept in internal memory.
An oval LED light around the home button changes from red to green when the F3 is fully charged. The light blinks when you have an unread text or email.
CASES: Most LG F3 cases on Amazon are for the Sprint/Virgin 720 version and do NOT fit the T-Mobile/MetroPCS MS659 version.
Search Amazon for "LG F3 case MS659" or visit a T-Mobile or MetroPCS store to get a case guaranteed to fit. The Body Glove Dimensions case is slim, light and made to last.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful.
By Tracy
What attracted me to this phone most were two things; the size and android (also the price). I needed a phone that I could keep in my pocket (with a case on it) and not feel like I'm carrying a tablet in there. I used to have a blackberry curve 9360, and I loved the size of the phone and the QWERTY keyboard, but Blackberry just doesn't have much for apps, and they are slowly losing app support from google. Also they don't do activesync email which was a problem for my work. I couldn't find any other android phones (that work with Tmobile) in this size category (similar to an iphone size).
The performance of this phone is very fast for day to day use (I'm not a gamer), and of course Android is awesome. I will say that with the smaller screen it is more difficult to type than on my wife's Galaxy SII (I would assume this is the same with Iphones too), but with the auto-correct or SWYPE, it really isn't that bad. I'm getting faster at typing on it. The phone does feel "cheap", but that really is just because it is so small and so light (relative to other android devices). Put a case on it and it feels great, I've got big hands and it still fits well. The screen is very nice.
The camera is normal, nothing to write home about it. For me it gets the job done. With the addition of an SD card I have no issues with the small amount of memory available. If you're super paranoid about running out of application memory the phone can be rooted and you have options for storing apps on the SD card. My wife's samsung came with much more bloatware than LG put on this guy, so no complaints there.
All in all I'm very happy with the purchase, especially for $199.
Update 9/23/2013
After having this phone for a few weeks, I love it even more. It really is fast, the LTE is blazing fast when I have it, and the battery lasts forever. I love the smaller size of this phone, and have completely gotten used to typing on it normally, and with Swype typing (and I have big hands and fingers). There is definitely a bug with Swype with the stock LG keyboard (noted in other LG phone reviews) where it deletes the second word every time, but I just downloaded the google keyboard, and it works awesome. Not sure what other people want that this phone doesn't have, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. The camera really is decent, and the panoramic shot this camera does is really fantastic.
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