I would buy this cellphone: motofone f3

Last Updated: Dec 14, 2008

I picked this phone because it’s cheap and no-frills. I hate charging my phones every 1/2 hour just so I can have some lame animation type feature that I don’t even want in the first place.

I also hate cell phone contracts. My wife and I had a basic plan that always ended up being way more than it was supposed to be each month. My solution was to go to TMobile prepay phones. I get a $100 card online at a discount (I use cheapphonecards.com & retail-me-not for the discount/coupon). The end result is I end up paying less than $100 per YEAR for my phone & only a bit more for my wife’s. It’s a much better deal with no surprise costs.

The display is really cool. It’s e-ink that is supposed to save battery life since it doesn’t use juice when it’s not changing the display. Also the display looks BETTER in full daylight. It’s the best part of the phone.

I bought mine from Amazon (link below) & then got the cheapest pay-as-you-go cell from Walmart. I then pulled the SIM card & put it in my Motofone F3. Everything worked flawlessly.

wikipedia article for more info
gizmodo article

PROS:
cheap
great speakerphone
really nice/unique styling

CONS:
battery life is not as good as they say
spanish only instructions. You can find PDF’s of the english version online though.

Motorola Motofone F3 Unlocked Cell Phone–International Version with No Warranty (Black)