LG Optimus F3 Black (Virgin Mobile)

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

By far the best value for a 4G LTE phone out there, no doubt about this, if you can find a better value let me know. I got this just to move up to 4G and treat myself to a new phone. Paid 50% Off Retail Price and no regrets so far.This is a very slippery smallish phone and yes, you will need some sort of case. The screen is made with Gorilla Glass, so I am not going to purchase a screen protector. Battery life is superb with no need for some kind of Battery Saver App, even with heavy Browser, Instagram, Email and Maps use, I get 24 hours quite easily. Charge up is relatively quick and unlike my other phone, it holds onto the 100% charge even when unplugged. It does not lose much charge when phone is sleeping.As far as performance, it's pretty quick and responsive. Camera is better than I was expecting, installed software is not intrusive and some can be "disabled". Standard launcher/screen is pretty boring so I use "Smart Launcher" App, it's free and clean. It does take some getting used to the "Qslide Apps", but the very cool notification light is unbeatable.As far as the available 1.24Gb of space, I have loaded all my previous Apps and still have @ 700Mb and I do not play many games on this device. All the complaints about the available Space and the inability to move all/some Apps to an SD card is unjustified. Why on earth would you even buy this phone if you already know all this ahead of time. I do encourage using an SD card, so you don't use up all your space for photos, downloads, etc etc etc. If you're looking to find a 4G LTE phone with more internal storage, you'll also be looking for a phone that is at LEAST twice the price.Voice and Data reception is going to be about the same as you're getting now, maybe just a bit better. Where I have strong Voice and Data reception, I can pick up 4G as well. However, don't expect this phone (or for that matter most any phone) to improve quality of reception. When I do pick up 4G, the speeds are out of this world, as high as 16Mbps to an average of 6Mbps download, this really is a pleasant surprise. Call quality is clear and constant.After giving this phone a hard workout for the last 5 days, I have nothing but praise! No glitches, no shut offs, no freezes... (knock on wood)

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.