Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I was attracted to the LG Chocolate for many of the same reasons that everyone else here was: it's sleek and sexy, thin enough to comfortably sit in my pocket, and pretty cheap for a fashionable phone. Upon acquiring it however, I found it had several serious glitches.
My previous phone was a Sony Ericsson w600i (AT&T), and the one before that was a Sony Ericsson T616. Both of these phones were incredibly sturdy, fashionable, reliable, intuitive, and overall just really good phones. All the menus were simple, as brief as possible, and plenty customizable. All the necessities like call quality, battery life, longevity, and ease of use were top notch. However, I had to switch to Verizon when my contract expired because AT&T does a really poor job of covering the area I now live in. It deeply saddened me that Verizon did not offer any Sony Ericsson phones.
In any case, onto the Chocolate. My first big complaint about the Chocolate is the touch keypad. This sounds like a good, hip idea in theory, but in practice it brings about dozens of curses and violent tendencies. When trying to adjust the volume, you hit it with your thumb. During calls, if you dial numbers on the keypad (such as in your voicemail), you unlock the touch pad and when the phone touches your face, you access menus and sometimes even mute the phone. Then the pad locks up, and you're forced to unlock the keys and unmute the phone, all while your contact on the other end goes, "Hello? Can you hear me?"
In addition to the poorly conceptualized keypad, the menus are long and clunky. On my old phones, you could select an item (like, Turn Alarm Off/On), and simply push the D-Pad left or right to turn it off. Instead, on the Chocolate, you must select the text box, hit "Set", change the setting to On or Off, hit "Save", wait for the cute animated checkbox to tell you whether or not it's now on/off, and then return the previous menu. Do this enough times while just trying to accomplish a simple task, and pretty soon you'll be fed up with needless confirmations.
Now, the stupid menus I can't get around. However, the touchpad thing is a bit better now. If I dial the sensitivity down to "low", which is still plenty sensitive to detect a deliberate button push, the accidental inputs aren't that much of a problem. In terms of accidental face inputs (which were INCREDIBLY frustrating), I found that if you select the numbers, hold the phone away from your face for about 2 seconds to wait for the touchpad to lock, then put the phone to your face, they don't really happen. Kind of a pain, yes, but it's just one of those things you have to learn to do, like ducking your head when you get in your car so you don't hit that annoying handle every time.
Thanks to the good build quality, great looks, excellent battery life, and good call quality, I gave this phone 3 stars. It lost points for the illconceived touchpad, annoying menus, and a slider mechanism which seems like it will fail sometime before 2 years are up.
Click Here to see more reviews about: LG Chocolate VX8550 Phone, Black (Verizon Wireless)
Slimmer, lighter and sweeter than ever, LG updates its Chocolate slider phone to the VX8550 with improvements including a new metal navigation wheel (which traces your finger's movement with a small light), vibrating touch keypad, and the ability to run the music player in the background while using the other features of the phone. But many of the much vaunted features of the original Chocolate remain: silky-smooth slider design support for V Cast Music, an integrated music/video player, a 1.3 megapixel camera/camcorder, stereo Bluetooth capabilities, and a microSD memory slot for up to 4 GB of storage. In addition to Verizon's V Cast Music feature, this phone is also enabled with the Get It Now service, which allows you to easily download ringtones, games, and applications. It runs on Verizon's CDMA 850/CDMA 1900 frequencies and EV-DO high-speed data network. (Learn more about where EV-DO coverage is offered.)
Imaging and Entertainment The Chocolate's is a 1.3-megapixel digital camera features a flash, as well as 2x digital zoom, self-timer, night-mode functions, and brightness and white balance controls. Other features include an in-phone image editor (zoom, rotate, crop) and a mirror for self-portrait capability. The camera can also capture video clips--30 seconds for sending and up to 1 hour for saving to memory card--at a 176 x 144-pixel resolution. It's compatible with playing MP3, 3GP, and 3G2 video formats, and you can set a video as your screen's wallpaper (as long as it's under 5 MB in size).
A built-in music player with a dedicated music key for easy access, stereo speakers and an equalizer, MP3 and WMA playback, and the ability to hide the music player while still allowing the music to play on in the background. You can create and manage playlists right on the phone, as well as synchronize music between the Chocolate and your PC (using an optional USB cable and connecting with Windows Media Player 10 or higher). You can also take advantage of the Chocolate's Bluetooth wireless headset capability, allowing you to hook up a pair of Bluetooth stereo headphones.
Design The phone features a seriously attractive open-faced design with an internal antenna and a vibrant 240 x 320 pixel, 262,000-color TFT/TFD display. A touch sensor click wheel, similar to iPod, and sliding design set the phone apart stylistically. Opening the slider reveals a numeric keypad, as well as the 1.3-megapixel camera and LED flash, which are housed on the rear of the phone. The new navigation wheel with Trace Motion Light allows for easy navigation through phone functions, as well as quick and simple functionality while browsing music and videos. The touch keypad provides an improved feel for quicker input.
Calling Features The Chocolate boasts powerful calling functions, such as speaker independent voice dialing, which makes it easy to call contacts by simply saying their names. No prior voice training is required and you can even speak individual digits to the phone for quick dialing of numbers you know by heart. And because the Chocolate is Bluetooth enabled, wireless headsets can be configured with the phone for total handsfree operation. You can save up to 20 Bluetooth pairings, and it supports the following Bluetooth profiles: headset, hands-free, dial-up networking, advanced audio distribution, phone book access, basic printing, object push for vCard and vCalendar (accessories sold separately), file transfer, and basic imaging.
The Chocolate's internal memory can hold up to 1000 contacts for quick access to email addresses and phone numbers. Each contact can store up to five numbers and two email addresses. The phone lets you easily assign pictures as well as ringtones to your most common callers. In addition to vibrating alerts, the phone supports polyphonic ringtones, and a number of ringtones come preloaded on the phone and more ringtones can be downloaded from Verizon's Get It Now service. Lastly, the Chocolate's GPS location technology pinpoints your exact location when you dial 911.
Messaging, Internet, and Tools The phone's support for multimedia messaging means that text, photos, video and audio can be sent with ease (Verizon messaging charges apply). When used in combination with the Chocolate's built-in camera, MMS opens up a whole new world of messaging fun. There's also a built-in web browser for downloads and mobile web browsing. Verizon's optional Mobile Web 2.0 package allows you to read and send emails, exchange instant messages and view your favorite web content on your phone. You can check your email, trade stocks online, compare prices while shopping, access flight information, get movie listings and find directions to the theater. T9 text entry, which is a technology that makes it easier for people to enter words and text on handsets, is built into the unit-- a plus for mobile email and text messaging users.
With support for the EV-DO high-speed data standard, the Chocolate is fully compatible with Verizon's V Cast service. With V Cast music, your phone is a music player, letting you jam out wherever you are. It's also a music store, and you can download songs instantly to your phone. Save your songs to a memory card with a capacity that's right for you. You can even pause to take a call without missing a beat. You can also download and stream high-quality video--get the latest Accuweather forecast delivered right to your handset, or stream CNN news headlines. ESPN sports updates, entertainment news from E!, and even Sesame Street content for the kids. V Cast also serves as a portal for enhanced 3D games, making it possible to have more fun with a new breed of realistic games.
A number of handy software tools are bundled with the Chocolate including a voice memo recorder that can record calls, a calculator, a calendar, and an alarm clock. You can even set the alarm to wake you to your favorite music. Also included with the Chocolate is Verizon's VG Navigator software, which allows you to get real-time, turn-by-turn audible directions as you're driving.
Vital Statistics The LG VX8550 Chocolate weighs 3.24 ounces and measures 3.85 x 1.87 x .67 inches. Its l800 mAh ithium-ion battery is rated at up to 4.17 hours (250 minutes) of digital talk time, and up to 350 hours of digital standby time. It runs on the CDMA 850/CDMA 1900 frequencies. The phone comes with a one-year limited warranty.
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