(+), to write this character, hold down the 0 key.in incoming text messages are displayed as commas) Also, the non-alphabetic characters were severely limited due to this display, as the phone could only provide support for the following characters: All SMSs sent by the F3 were received entirely in lower case, and each character of any SMS received by the F3 is displayed in whichever case made the most sense using the font. The display used a fixed 'digital clock' style font, with no functionality for changing between upper case and lower case text. The text display contained only two lines of six characters each, making the use of text messaging (SMS) and data services less practical than on standard LCD displays. The characteristics of the display were fairly restrictive.

It had a backlight for the keypad and a slit that projects the backlight onto the screen so the display can be seen in darkness. The electronic paper main display allowed for the phone's thinness (no glass), longer battery life, and outdoor viewability (paper-like reflectivity). Motorola used the term ClearVision to describe the new display, which was manufactured using E Ink's electrophoretic imaging film. The F3 was the first mobile phone to use electronic paper in its screen. Motorola made it appealing to developing markets and people with reading and visual difficulties by using only simple symbols and using speech synthesis to identify tasks in the menu. The Motofone F3 was designed to appeal to the low-end market and developing countries, and was thus less functional, but also less expensive than most phones. The F3 (frequently known as the Motofone) was a GSM phone available in two band variants, and was released on 28 November 2006.

Motorola candybar phone