In a world where smartphones seem to be in an ever-continuing race for having the smallest screen and highest megapixels, one budget-friendly smartphone is quietly providing exactly what consumer’s want, without any of the marketing fuss: The Optimus F3.
Created by LG, the Optimus F3 has one of the smallest screens you’ll see on a non-Apple smartphone (4 inches), an exceedingly impressive 16 hour talk-time battery life, and a variety of built-in applications that make call quality, file sharing, and overall life more convenient.
While there are a variety of questions and concerns consumers should take into account when purchasing a new smartphone, one of the most frequent inquiries buyers have, is ‘What can this smartphone do for me?’ Well, here’s five reasons the new LG Optimus F3 should be a serious contender for your next smartphone.
Price:
As of March 1st, the LG Optimus F3 has a web exclusive price that’s just shy of $100, ringing in at $97.49. While this may seem like an average yet favorable price for a smartphone, because the Optimus F3 is sold through Virgin Mobile, the price also includes the no contract plan with unlimited data and messaging. Beyond the initial web exclusive price, unlimited data, web, messaging, and email begins at just $35 a month which makes the Optimus F3 a very favorable phone for budget-conscious consumers.
Call Quality, Convenience:The Optimus F3 took special note of increasing call quality from it’s LG predecessors, by introducing new built in options to make call quality crystal clear. The ‘Wide Voice Extension’ improves sound quality to get a clear voice when using wide voice band, and the ‘Voice Clarity’ option allows for enhanced voice sound quality in noisy environments. I tested these options out by recording voice mail messages to my other cell phone using each of these options during a noisy outdoor music festival and was surprised by the clear and uninterrupted sound that made its way to the recording in comparison to leaving a message without any of the special features. If your job requires frequent phone calls, the Optimus F3 will provide some of the clearest voice clarity found in any smartphone on the market.
Safety:
If safety is of concern to you and a login doesn’t satisfy your desire to keep your smarphone secure, ‘Remote Locate Device’ is a great feature found on the Optimus F3 that should interest you. Upon registering your phone, owners can remotely locate their smartphone in the unfortunate event it goes missing and if it ends up in a less than desired location there’s an option to lock or erase your phone using the Andriod Device Manager to keep everything on your phone private. This is a great feature not only for safety, but also for convenience, if you’re prone to leaving your phone somewhere and can never remember quite where!
SmartShare, FileShare:
Want to share multimedia files and documents with yourself and/or others in a convenient way? Cue two of Optimus F3’s built in apps, SmartShare and FileShare. SmartShare allows for DLNA wireless media mirroring and sharing that shines brilliantly with their QSlite 2.0 “advanced multitasking” engine. FileShare further allows advanced user experience and functionality by sending files to nearby smartphones even without WiFi! For enhanced user experience, a variety of other built-in apps such as QuickMemo that lets users add comments to pictures, and Quick Translator that allows owners to translate words and phrases from 44 different languages into 64 native languages come in handy for those who are constantly on the go and need to communicate with others quickly for work or leisure.
Camera Additions:
Selfie wasn’t the word of the year for no reason; self-taken portraits are on the rise and a variety of camera additions including the Cheese Shutter makes taking selfless easier than ever. Instead of trying to hold one’s smartphone in a weird or awkward position to hit the camera button, Cheese Shutter allows users to say a word ranging from “Cheese” to “Whisky” to signal your phone to take a picture. Furthermore, instead of downloading apps to make pictures ‘beautified’ there are options to instantly clear up skin, remove red eyes, and improve image quality. The multi-image button is my personal favorite, and allowed me to take action shots during professional sports games and combined them into one, superior shot. For camera lovers, this 5 megapixel camera may seem average, but the quality and options that come on the Optimus F3 make this great for photo documenters!
Although I really do not want a smartphone-if I did LG would be one of my first picks. They have always had quality products!
I have actually never owned a smartphone (or even a standard cellphone) before. So weird, right? My fiance’s phone, on the other hand, just had the battery of his phone up and die on him so he has been looking for a good replacement. This phone definitely seems awesome for its price. Can’t believe it’s under $100!
Oh, that SmartShare seems like a really cool feature! Nice phone.
I like the safety features and being able to say cheese when you want to snap a picture. That is cute!
This phone looks like a great deal! I didn’t know that Virgin does no contracts. I don’t have a smartphone yet (crazy, I know!) and that would be a great entry into the whole smart phone world :) Thanks for the review!