LG Optimus F3 Black (Virgin Mobile)

I've had this phone about 3 weeks now. It is absolutely amazing for the price. It has tremendous features, that I had not seen in a phone anywhere close to this price range. The most important feature to me is the 4G LTE access. It's now available even out in the country where I live (about 3 miles from a major US highway) in the middle of rural northTexas 60 miles from a major city. It works great and is very fast. The phone has a very sharp 4" screen with brilliant colors. It also includes a fast dual core (or is it quad, I forget) processor. It seems well built, and generally does everything I ask of it (even including phone calls!). Some have criticized the phone because it has relatively less memory than other phones with similar features. That is true, but those other phones will cost 3 or 4 times as much as the LG F3. Also, it seems to have plenty of memory to do what I need. I have apps for keeping up with the news, weather, & stock market, plus some like Wikipedia, Pandora, Youtube, IMDB, office software, some card games and an assortment of others, plus the phone came with quite a few apps preinstalled. Some of the preinstalled apps are quite useful, others not so much. The only games I use are card games, which may help in keeping from exceeding the phone's memory.My previous phone was an LG Optimus Elite, which I was satisfied with, but it pales in comparison to the F3.In summary, the F3 meets all my expectations and exceeds in some. I think the most surprising was the visual quality of the screen, which also is Gorilla glass btw.However, if you want to get something quickly, I would advise you to avoid Amazon's free shipping. It was very slow. But yes, it was free!

This was a good phone from 2012. Lower end but for most people it did it's job.

A few months ago I upgraded to the LG Optimus F3 from Virgin Mobile's own Kyocera Event. This has proved to be a good decision on my part. It's an entry level phone for sure, but for the asking price (about a third of what you'd pay for the similarly-spec'd Samsung Galaxy S3, as of my writing this) you're unlikely to find a better 4G phone.The F3 boasts a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor and 1 GB of RAM, as well as 4G network access. These specs, while not fantastic, have been more than enough to suit my (admittedly modest) needs. You'll be able to switch between various tasks and open widgets on the fly with barely any noticeable lag. The F3 also runs on Android 4.1.2, which includes a great deal of the advancements found in later iterations of the OS. These specs are all well and good, but this brings me to the phone's one major flaw, and the reason I didn't give it five stars: the on-board memory. Supposedly the F3 has 4 GB on on-board memory, but in practice most of that will be irreversibly occupied with pre-installed software before you even open the box. This leaves you with just under a 1.25 GB budget for installing your own desired apps. Note that this does not include apps that are automatically installed, such as the Google Play Apps and various on-board LG software. Normally I'd recommend moving apps to a Micro SD card, but this phone's OS has blocked that for some reason. You will have to budget memory very carefully to be able to fit your desired apps onto this phone; If gaming is a make-or-break aspect for you, I'd recommend skipping the F3 for that reason alone. However, if your needs are relatively minor, then the on-board memory should suffice, albeit barely. But it would have been nice to have a few extra gigs on there. Supposedly there is a workaround for this via rooting your phone, but I have yet to try that, so I can't verify if it actually works.The good news here is that the F3 has great battery life. During times when I've used my phone sparingly, I've been able to go for upwards of two full days without needing to charge it, and I have yet to have it die on me at an inopportune time. Even with heavy use, you're unlikely to run out of juice in the middle of the day. The OS also allows you to set up an automatic battery level at which to put the phone into power-saving mode, so even if your battery does run low you'll be able to stretch its life a bit longer.The F3's physical build is what you'd expect for the price - it feels light without feeling cheap or flimsy, with a grooved back plate that can be a bit tricky to pry off if you need to access the battery or replace the Micro SD card. It boasts a four-inch screen whose resolution, while not amazing, is more than bright and clear enough for navigating through menus, texting, playing the occasional game, and even watching the videos. The speaker on the back is of low quality, but that won't matter if you plug in some headphones or external speakers. Given that the build is so light, I'd recommend buying a case for it, as I don't think I'd trust it not to break if I dropped it on a hard surface. Connectivity will largely depend on where you are geographically, but my experience in that regard has been good; I haven't had any calls dropped thus far, and the call quality has been acceptable. The F3 is also good about switching back and forth between 3G and 4G, depending on where you are.If you're looking for a decent, reliable smartphone on a Virgin Mobile plan, look no further. It doesn't boast the specs of the Samsung Galaxy S line, or the physical build quality of HTC phones, but for the price you'd be hard pressed to find a better, more fully-featured smartphone.

PROS:-Great 4G reception (when available); 3G is actually usable, thanks to the efficient dual core processor. Fast WiFi performance.-Solid graphics performance with the Adreno 305. It performs well with 1080p videos (despite 800x480 res, esp. on WiFi), and 3D games.-Well controlled audio from the headphone jack, suitable for playing high quality FLAC files @ 24bit/96-128k (great for an inexpensive phone).-Heat is not much of an issue with this phone, unless you root and use an overclock kernel (more on that later).-Physical home button with color changing LED that changes based on notifications.-Front facing camera for selfies (a.k.a. self portraits :) ).-1080p HD video.-2,460 mA battery for all day use.-Can use micro SD cards larger than 32 GB. Simply format the file system as FAT32, and your phone can have tons more storage than the typical phone that has no room for memory expansion. Note the 4 GB size limit for files on FAT32 partitions.-Some apps can be removed or disabled, which can free up memory and speed up the phone a bit more.-Along with many other current LG devices running on JellyBean, it is set to update to KitKat in the next few months!-Active community on androidforums.com that can help you out if you want to take the leap and root your F3 for added functionality.CONS:-Short on memory; only 1.2 GB available out of the box.-Rooting required to expand memory.-Extra case needed for protection, as F3's backside is slippery.-Some large apps may not run on the phone, even with the capable CPU and GPU on board.-Gorilla Glass is great for light falls, but a bunch of videos on YouTube show that they aren't indestructible. Unless your device has version 3, which probably isn't on the F3.-Screen protector and extra outer case still required for max protection.I bought this phone to replace a Kyocera Event. While that phone still works relatively well, it had begun to look slow to me, even when doing some basic tasks like reading web pages and e-mails. I've had that one for about six months, but if it's combined with the Kyocera Rise I boot looped, that's about 1 1/2 years on the same basic hardware. The Rise has the tiny rubberized keyboard, which was kind of sticky to work with.The first thing I noticed from the Event was that the layout of the side buttons are identical, along with the headphone jack. The one difference was the micro USB port. It's at the bottom, under three keys for back, home and menu. Having a physical home key, with a colorful LED to frame it, is a nice touch for this phone.The body itself is a slim design, with a metallic frame outlining the screen. The textured back is pretty to look at, but doesn't have much grip to it. As great as the design is, all of that takes a back seat once it's got a case on it.At first, I ran the phone without activating it. This gave me an idea on how well it connects to WiFi, and allowed me to evaluate the audio and video quality. Coming from an Event, I was pleased with the speed of the interface. I didn't experience any lag, and the games I ran on it were as fast as I'd ever seen on a budget phone. I was glad to see that at least some apps could be disabled (if not removed).Though I knew I'd eventually root the phone, I could see myself being satisfied decently even if I didn't. The fact that I could effectively use a card larger than 32 GB was awesome to behold. A great thing, as it's not too expensive to get a 64 GB card these days. The Transcend Class 10 I chose was $35 at B&H Photo in New York City (plus a few bucks for one day USPS Priority Mail).Once activated, a few of the Virgin Mobile apps downloaded onto my phone. Thankfully, only three apps were loaded. Two of them can be disabled, so you can avoid having them run in the background.About four days into running the phone unrooted (and two weeks of research on rooting), I finally did the deed. I rooted the phone, divided the external SD card to expand the small bit of internal memory, and used a couple of linking apps to also help with expanding memory. I loaded a bunch of apps I was using with my Kyocera Event onto the phone. Based on a short list that I found on vmroms.com, I removed a few apps from the phone. I now have something that really does feel like a tiny PC with a phone attached to it. All for around $130! It's not exactly a Samsung S3 or S4, but whatever. I'm still not sure I'll use the overclock kernel that one user created on androidforums (for now). No serious problems have been reported with using it. The overclock kernel raises the speed of both the main CPU, and the graphics processor beyond stock speeds.I can say I would recommend this phone for anyone that wants a powerhouse on a small budget, if you don't mind the rooting process. I've rooted every Android device I've owned since 2011 (four in total), but only after at least a few weeks of asking questions, researching the issues, and making up my own mind about it.Even if you don't root it, you can still do well with this phone. There are several good alternatives to the official apps of most social sites that won't take your RAM out for a late, fattening dinner. If you don't care for large, possibly addictive games, you'll do fine. Anyway, if you don't root, I'd bet you can enjoy this phone for the amount of video and music that can be stored on it. The dual core CPU and fast graphics are just fine for entertaining. Plus, now you can video chat with your pals on Skype... a lot can be done without rooting. Not to mention the upcoming update to KitKat! I'd say that alone is worth getting this phone now.If you made it this far, awesome! I'm done for now. Will update if I come across any issues.UPDATE, Nov. 13, 2014: I NO LONGER OWN THIS PHONE! My F3 overheated badly a few weeks ago. I tried to correct the problem by removing CPU hungry apps like facebook and twitter. I also attempted to simply let the phone cool by turning it off for long periods. None of it worked for me. I may have had a bad unit, so... I guess I'd still recommend this phone (with reservations) to anyone interested in getting a low cost unit for Virgin Mobile USA that can be rooted. I've also updated my rating... I still have an older LG Optimus V, and a Kyocera Event. Neither of those phones have failed like the F3. I've moved on to the LG Tribute, which is truly a bang-for-the-buck device IMHO.