Product Description

Now slimmer and lighter than ever, the Chocolate by LG comes in three new sumptuous colors to satisfy the most sophisticated palette. Of course, you'll still be addicted to the silky-smooth design and high-end media capabilities. But you'll also enjoy indulging in a few new treats like the touch keypad with vibration feedback and an improved navigation wheel with trace motion light. The Chocolate. Now sweeter than ever.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17501 in Cell Phone Accessories
• Color: Black
• Brand: LG
• Model: SCHU740ZAV
• Released on: 2007-07-12

Features

• Lightweight multimedia powerhouse in black with new Trace Motion Light navigation wheel
• Supports both WMA and MP3 music formats for more versitility in music listening; Bluetooth stereo headset support
• Expandable memory slot compatible with optional 4 GB microSD memory card for storage of up to 2000 songs
• 1.3 megapixel camera with digital zoom; video capture up to 1 hour
• Up to 250 minutes of talk time, up to 350 hours of standby time

Amazon.com Product Description
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 LG VX8550 Chocolate comes in three delicious colors and features advanced music playback features--including the ability to play in the background while accessing other phone features.

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

With Verizon's Mobile Email option, the LG Chocolate allows you to send and receive emails from MSN, Hotmail, and America Online, as well as access your address book and be alerted to new email.

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.

Customer Reviews

No flaws...
As a vx8000 owner, it was hard to switch phones. The 8000 perhaps being the best phone Verizon had offered in the last 5 years, prompted me to not upgrade immediately at my contract expiration. Finally the 8550 was introduced and the reviews were stellar, so I decided to take the leap. So far, I am extremely impressed. The most important things to me are call quality, speaker phone, signal strength and battery life. The "new" chocolate definitely scores with these categories. They could have made mp3 use a bit easier, however if you follow these directions, you don't need their software/kit. **The best way to transfer music is to use a microSD card. Insert a blank microSD card in VX8550, turn on the phone. It should format the microSD card for you, if not choose format. Then take the card out from the phone and insert in PC/flash reader. Copy all your music to my_music directory. Put the microSD card back in the VX8550.**

The only improvement I'd like to see is to be able to access speed dial with the glider closed. You have to scroll through contacts if you want to initiate a call from the closed position.

Great phone!
I have had this LG for 2 months after my Razr was stolen. When I first got this phone, I had my reservations about the slider (I've always had flip phones) and the tiny keypad. Just as it took some time to get used to the Razr's flat keypad, it takes a little time to get used to this LG. Now I'm really liking this phone. The small keypad doesn't bug me, but then again, I don't send a lot of text messages. This phone is smaller than the Razr and it's the first one I've ever had that fits nicely in my pocket.

Love the built-in MP3 player. I bought a 2GB memory card and loaded it up with my favorite MP3's. Now, I don't carry my iPod around with me; everything is in one small gizmo in my front pocket. Note, however, that this player is nowhere as user-friendly as a full blown iPod, it won't play AAC files bought on the iTunes music store (you have to convert them to MP3) and you'll have to buy a headphone adapter (the jack on the phone is too small for conventional headphones). For me, I set it to shuffle songs, hit play, and I'm a happy camper.

Another one of my favorite things about this phone is ringtones. I did some searching on the internet and it turns out that it's not hard to create and load your own ringtones. Google bitpim for a great program, and buy a cheap USB data cable on eBay.

So at last a great phone that fits in my pocket, carries 2GB of my favorite songs (which means I don't need to carry my iPod with me), and I gotta love being able to make my own ringtones! Definitely recommended.

Needed Some Time to Get Used to It
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.