LG Chocolate VX8500 Phone, Black (Verizon Wireless)

Quick initial review August 4, 2006

Reviewer:  FightOrFlight  (Arizona or California) -

I've been using this phone for about a week, and just thought I'd give a little review. (Yes, I know, it's not in stores yet. It's been available online since July 30 at verizonwireless.com)

I probably wont ever use the phone's mp3 functions, so I won't/can't comment on that. I just like sliders because they are easier to open with 1 hand.

First off, the phone is gorgeous. I think it's the best looking phone available. It highly resembles a black IPOD nano, just not as thin and more slick looking due to the mirror finish that hides the screen when not in use. It looks and feels a lot smaller than the pictures or dimensions make it seem. Everyone who has seen my phone loves the touchpad style "buttons" and how sleek it is.

THe user interface and included animated themes are very nice as well. The LCD is very crisp and bright. Recieving text messages never looked so pretty. Verizon/LG have done a nice job on the software. Some other people that have this phone have been saying there's some UI lag, about 1 sec. I notice no lag at all. I tap a button and the UI responds instantly, usually. On occasion when i hit "OK" it does take about 1 sec, but it's rare, maybe 1/20 times.

THe phone is built very well. It feels very sturdy and solid, including the sliding mechanism. It's actually heavier than it looks. The finish, although high gloss, and prone to fingerprints, seems to have a hard coating. Lightly scraping with my fingernail the phone appears to be relatively scratch resistant. (knock on wood)

The buttons on the side are a little hard to push, but the touchpad and dial pad are easy to use. Keep in mind I have slender fingers.

As of now there's no speakerphone, a possible dealbreaker for some. However, it definitely has the ability to have that added. The voice command system operates in a speakerphone manner. Hopefully, Verizon will update the software to enable an actual speakerphone function.

Speaking of which, the voice command system is awesome. It's one of my favorite parts of the phone. It has the standard "call name" or "call number", but it has many other commands like "check battery, check signal, go to bluetooth, look up name, etc etc"

Signal strength has been good. In general, I have been recieving 1 bar more than my old slider phone, the Kyocera SE47. I haven't been to the point with 0 bars yet so I can't comment on it's performance in that scenario. However, calls have been very clear on both ends. Additionally, the earpiece is very loud on the vx8500.

Battery life has been good so far, but it's too early to tell.

I haven't picked up a bluetooth headset yet, but it paired quickly and easily to my laptop. I haven't played around much, but for those wondering, BitPim does work with this phone through BlueTooth. I haven't tried transfering files yet, but I have transfered contacts and such.

MP3 ringtones August 9, 2006

Reviewer:  David Nestor "web developer"  (Long Beach, CA USA) -

If you get this phone, it's definitely important to buy Verizon's Music Essentials Kit as well. It comes with a headset, a USB cable, and drivers for the cable. Then you can upload MP3s from your collection using Windows Media Player, although the phone only holds 60MB of music without a MicroSD card. But also, if you download the free open-source software BitPim from bitpim dot org, you can create your own MP3 ringtones and also backup your pix and phonebook. For now, BitPim has to be set manually to LG VX8300 until it has support for the VX8500.

Pretty phone but doesn't live up to hype September 7, 2006

Reviewer:  J. Lau "JJL"  (NM, USA) -

I really wanted to like this phone. The look of it is very sharp and the screen is nice and clear, with great graphics. It's small and fits well in the palm of my hand. The interface is slick and intuitive. It has a decent internal memory (60 MB) as well as supporting microSD cards. Most quibbles were minor enough to ignore (like button sensitivity). I liked almost everything except the reason I bought it. More on that shortly.

Some minor gripes:
As has been mentioned in other reviews, the interface is always a little touchy in some way, particularly the OK button, even after adjusting the sensitivity.

I'm not sure if this is an LG decision or Verizon, but the phone isn't fully capable out of the box. They advertise a music phone, but in order to be able to use it to its full capacity you'll need to get their Music Essentials kit for another 30 bucks, and all you get is a proprietary USB cable and some mediocre headphones. Anyone who buys Nokia phones knows this stuff is almost always included, especially if it's proprietary or required for specific features on the phone (like playing music).

The main reason for purchasing this phone, however, was to have a remote storage device along with being able to play MP3s. My previous phone was a Nokia 3300, which was billed as an MP3 phone, and worked great for that. I could put in a memory card, plug the USB into the computer, and it pops up as a removeable disk, and i could copy files to and from the phone like any other USB thumb/flash drive, no special software required (not even drivers, depending on the OS). This is great for me, because I work and go to school and am constantly shuffling files back and forth between the two and home. The Chocolate does not offer that versatility.

The only way you can copy stuff to the Choclate is using a sync feature via Windows Media Player 10; it does now show up in Windows Explorer when the USB is plugged in. That means the only thing you can copy to the phone is music, so no using it for portable storage. Also, the phone doesn't seem to accept anything except CBR mp3s, preferably ripped by Windows Media Player. Given that I've accumulated over 1000 CDs over the years and have ripped them using various methods with various software, most of my collection won't transfer. The only solution from Verizon's support (who know very little about the phone, I might add) was to re-rip everything using WMP. This is an unacceptable solution, especially since my Nokia would play just about anything I threw at it.

Also annoying, you can't use any of your MP3s as ringtones. I briefly tried the bitpim software, but the Chocolate isn't supported yet and there were various minor issues, most notably it didn't seem to recognize the memory card I purchased for the phone, only the internal memory. Bottom line is I shouln't have to rely on 3rd party software to hack my own phone to get it to work the way i want it.

Perhaps Nokia has spoiled me. No doubt some will say that means I'm just closed-minded, but I've had my 3300 for some time now and it's worked great. Everything was intuitive and versatile. Nokia doesn't intentionally gimp their products like Motorola's SLVR (why iTunes? gah!) or LG's Chocolate.

In short, if you're just looking for a flashy, stylish phone the LG Chocolate fits the bill nicely. Just don't expect it to be the great media player it's been advertised to be. And certainly don't count on it as a remote storage device.

All in one answers August 28, 2006

Reviewer:  S. M. Thomas 

I hope this review helps some people as the reviews I read while also doing some google searches along the way helped me to configure the LG Chocolate and get it to work the best way it can for me from the way it comes out of the box.

First of all let me say that now that I have worked out some of the issues I had with this phone I absolutely love it and will have many hours of enjoyment with music, photos, rigtones, etc, etc.

1) I have seen many posts regarding battery life. The best way to save some battery life if you are not using V-Cast is to hit 0 after you enter the menu screen and then six 0's as service code. Under 1. Mode preference scroll down to 1X only. This disables the V-Cast ev-do network which puts a drain on your battery as it continually searches for the signal. If you use V-Cast you can always disable it and then just turn it back on when you are using it.

2) I have read that some people were unable to get certain songs to sync to the phone while others worked fine. By looking at the songs I had an issue with I noticed they all had a bit rate of VBR 200 something. I used an MP3 ripper to make them 128 KBPS and then tried those songs again in the syncing phase and what do you know. That was the issue. Apparently the player does not support certain bit rates. I am still trying to find a good free ripper but there are literaly hundreds of them out there and anyone of them usually offers two week trials that can at least fix your current files and an added plus is that this process compresses the file even further saving memory space while not decreasing quality in any way in my opinion.

3) ID3 tags don't work for mp3. Well I also have heard of this being a big issue and had the problem after the first time I ran a sync. ID3 tags are the coding that allows your music to sort in nice categories like artist, genre, album etc. When the player doesn't read them properly the entire filename just simply raps around in the song title line. This is happening as I found out because the player only reads ID3 V1 and does not support ID3 V2. It's silly in my opinion that a new product comes out of the box like this but there is a quick fix. A simple program called ID3 Kill can be downloaded in a few seconds. Just run the program and check off ID3 V2 and click go after selecting your music folder. This process does not change the way your files are viewed on your computer or do any damage to the files. If you format your memory card and do the sync process over again after this process you will find 85% of the files will be fixed and now sorted. For the remaining 15% it's probably just the way I have my ID3 V1 tags configured and I'm no expert in the field and will just deal with it like this.

4) Ringtones. Everyone loves ringtones but they can be expensive if you really like them a lot and want to change them all the time. Well now along with your USB cable that you get with music essentials and a free program called bitpim that you can download you are able to upload your current mp3 music to your ringtone folder. It's really simple as all you need to do is select the song, do a quick edit to make it about 30 seconds long and hit send. It's free, quick, and easy. Bitpim also allows you to send all kinds of other files from your PC to the phone like contact lists, pix, etc. Oh, and just select the VX8300 as the phone since they don't have VX8500 on there. Apparently they are very similar and it works fine.

5) Finally here is an added plus. It has nothing to do with the phone at all but a friend of mine found this site which I will note I get nothing for promoting them but I want to share because it can save people a ton of money. The website [...]sells music for .10 - .15 a track. I have used it for about six months and feel it's a fantastic deal. Songs download in seconds and are of great quality. I have even seen albums loaded on the site shortly before they are released in stores.

Hopefully this is all helpful. It took me a couple days but I finally got my Chocolate working sweet!! Enjoy.

Almost perfect August 16, 2006

Reviewer:  Gillian  (NJ USA) -

I usually buy Motorola flip phones, and I was originally going to get a Razr, but I was attracted to this phone because of its ability to play mp3s. I've been using it a little over a week and I am for the most part very impressed. I'll discuss the phone first, then the mp3 capability.

The phone is definitely very attractive, sleek and glossy black (not dark brown as one might expect from the name). It's a little longer and wider than a flip phone, but still fits easily in my pocket. I find sliding the phone open to answer it actually easier than flipping one open, and you can also answer calls with it closed. In fact, most functions are available when it is closed, unless you need to use the keypad. You can access menus, dial from your phonebook, etc, all with the phone closed.

The sound and screen quality is very good, and the camera takes very decent photos. It took me a while to get used to the touchpad, but I now love it. Overall, I'd say it is more attractive and stylish than other phones with similar functions, and compares well quality wise. It seems pretty sturdy so far, too.

It's the mp3 capability that really makes this phone shine. The phone's speaker is not terribly loud, but the sound quality is good, and if you attach headphones the sound quality is very good. There is an adapter enclosed to use regular headphones, but I would suggest buying Verizon's Music Essentials Kit (about $30), which comes with headphones which allow you to quickly pause the music and answer the phone while you are listening to music. I find this very useful while commuting as I used to miss calls when I listened to my ipod. The kit also includes a usb cable to connect the phone to your computer.

Be aware that the phone's internal memory is only 60mb, or enough for about 15 songs (depending on quality). If you want more, you will need to buy a MicroSD card - I bought a 1 gig one from Amazon for $40, which included an SD adapter so it can go in a regular card reader.

Some other things you should know:

Verizon heavily advertises Vcast, but it is not available everywhere. I checked before I bought the phone, but it still turned out that the inside of my house is not in the Vcast area - and the Verizon rep suggesting I stand in my yard to download music wasn't especially helpful. Even if it is available, it costs $15 a month and 99c on up per download. This applies to all Verizon Vcast phones, not just this one.

However, you don't need Vcast to listen to music on the phone. You can transfer mp3s from your computer to the phone. The Music Essentials Kit has a USB cable and drivers which allow you to sync the phone with Windows Media Player and transfer songs to the phone. Be aware that not all computers actually work, even if they are running XP. I spent a very long time on the phone with a Verizon rep trying to get it to work on my five year old desktop computer, ending with him giving me a link to a Miscrosoft page with instructions on Registry changes that would hopefully help. Unfortunately, my Registry settings were already correct so it did not help me and I was never able to sync the phone to my desktop. Thankfully my laptop had no problems, and it took about five minutes from the time I started installing the software to me listening to my music on the phone.

Should you not be able to sync your computer with the phone, you can still get music onto it by connecting the MicroSD card to your computer using a card reader, and dragging and dropping mp3s directly onto the card. It's still worth buying the Music Essentials Kit for the headphones mentioned above.

In summary, I am very happy with the phone, especially once I got the mp3 installation kinks sorted out. Just be aware when you buy the phone that there are additional costs if you want to use it as an mp3 player.

Watch out, Warranty & Service??? September 11, 2006

Reviewer:  C. TSAO  (San Jose, USA) -

After two weeks waisting, I got a new LG Chocolate ordered from Amazon and found out the Camera key malfunction. DOA.

1. I called LG and a lady said I should call Verizon. LG is repair center only not customer service.

2, Then I called Verizon service dept. After couple checkups, restart, restore defaul, the nice guy told me that camera key failed and better bring it to Verizon store for service. Because that is brand new one (he checked my account), if I can bring in the whole package to store, they shoud replace a new one for me.

3. I went to the Verizon store at Great Mall today with the whole package. After I showed then the Amzon invoice, the manager told me so cannot get a new one because I bought from Amazon. They can exchange me an old one through their order process. I asked the manager about the warranty and he told me they only replace new one to whom bought from Verizon directly.

4. I called Amazon service dept and told a good support guy about my problem. He said no problem they can replace or exchange a new one form me. It did not surprise me at all that is basic policy every store provide to their custome. The question is who offer the phone warranty and services after 30 days or months. Do you think Amazon will provide that, of cause no, they is one of dealer only. Whom should we call? Who'll honor the warranty? If Verizon refuse to exange a brand new DOA phone, how can we expect for the rest of contract period.

The whole manuals come with Verizon logo but even brand new one I cannot get a new replacement from their store. I told the Verizon sotre mangager about I can get services for my iPod from any Apple store nationalwide. He said "Yes, I knew Apple can do that for their products. but you bought the phone from Amazon, Verizon cannot provide you a new replacement only can order a used one."

I provided my unpleasant experience for your reference. Hope that bring your attention while you choosing a new dealer, service provider and maker for your new phone.

FYI, my 1st iPod got three replacements due to their hardware issues (battery, keypad). I bought a new iPod Video 60GB for my kid this year because I know I can get service for sure.

Chocolate -- Sexy design doesn't overcome usability flaws August 19, 2006

Reviewer:  _ "kevin_nevadacity"  (Nevada City, CA USA) -

While the styling of the Chocolate phone is a compelling selling point, a slighty closer look may be useful to you.

"Flip-phones" (those that fold in half at the middle) are a flattened V-shape when in use, touching you only at the ear and chin while on a call. "Candy-bar phones", like the Chocolate, lay on your face while on a call.

The Chocolate phone introduces "touch-sensitive" buttons (i.e., like a touch-dimmer light switch). I found it difficult to press the touch-sensitive keys only once. Leave your finger on the key a fraction of a second too long and it thinks you've pressed it twice (or more). I found the navigaton buttons (up, down, left right) to be very jumpy (regardless of the sensitivity setting). They are arranged in a circle, seemingly like an iPod, but work nothing like it. They are just four discrete buttons, you can't roll your finger around the circle to "scroll" through a list.

These buttons are located on the portion of the phone that will likely touch your face while on a call. Letting it touch your face during a call would have the same effect pressing those buttons with your fingers, were it not for the fact that those buttons are disabled after you answer a call. Clearly, LG realized touch-sensitve buttons near your face would be a problem for many. Does locking out these keys solve the problem? It solves one problem (one they arguably created) and creates another.

To "flash over" to an incoming second call on other LG phones, you press the "send" key (with the same hand if you're good), barely moving it off your face. But on the Chocolate, you'd have to press one of the touch-sensitive buttons -- but they are disabled while in a call, remember? You have to unlock the keyboard by pressing a button on the side of the phone, and then press the now-enabled touch-sensitive button quickly or the keyboard lock is re-enabled (you have about 3 seconds, but seems shorter -- this may be configurable but I don't know).

Chocolate looks nice, but is quite cumersome, but not totally unusable (or I would have rated it a 1 star). YMMV. I opted for an LG VX8300 instead. It does most everything the Chocolate does (that I care about, Bluetooth, MP3s, contacts, etc.) and is less expensive.

One more note about Verizon that they don't really tell you: they've barely allowed you to put your own music on the phone (it's cumbersome to access once it is there), but very easy to spend $1.99 per song to buy music and videos from Verizon. So don't be fooled, this is not an iPod replacement by any stretch of the imagination. This is a tool to drive sales of their music store. I mostly agree with Walter Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal about this phone.

WARNING about the E-911 FCC laws: if you are going to "try out" a new phone by activating your existing number onto the new phone, be sure your existing phone is E-911 capable. If it is not, the FCC will not allow the cellular carrier to *ever* reactivate your phone. Even if you were just "trying out a new phone" for a few days. Even if the carrier "forgot" to tell you about the law. Even if you have a 1 hour conversation with a supervisor. All your batteries, chargers, car kits, etc. will become instantly useless. Caveat Emptor.

Good phone September 3, 2006

Reviewer:  N. Shoemaker  (In Hiding) -

I have had this phone for a week now and it's not that bad. Originally, it didn't even catch my eye from the commercials. I had my mind set on the Samsung slider through Cingular. But seeing how many of my family and friends have Verizon I decided to go with this. Oh, and seeing the phone in person really helped too, it has a certain charm to it. I really like the slider feature as opposed to clamshell which I have mainly owned.

Pros:
-It's small
-Slider function is easy with one hand
-You can answer the phone without sliding it open
-Great looks
-MP3 capable
-Decent camera
-Internal antenna
-Set alarm to wake up to music stored on phone

Cons:
-I'm surprised with the lack of complaints about the jack you have to use in order to plug in headphones. This is the one thing I absolutely hate about the phone. It's a little bigger than I had imagined it would be and it sticks out of the side which is bothersome. I realize I could just use a BlueTooth headset but this would drain the battery more. Not cool.
-Texting on this phone is nowhere as easy and fast as other phones I have had. Not a big deal if you don't text a lot, but I'm still trying to get it down.
-My text inbox is near 90% full with around 40 some messages in it. And it seems you have to delete messages instead of the phone autmatically doing it. This is a pain.
-The touch pad is cool but you have to be right on when hitting what you want to. Too many times I end up somewhere else on the phone by accidently pushing the up and down arrow.
-No speakerphone. Although this really isn't that big of a deal to me I know some people like this feature. I did find myself wanting to put down the phone yesterday while working around the house. Oh well.

And this could be a pro or con depending on how you look at it:

You can make your own ringtones using the Bitpim program as stated already. However, you run the risk of having your phone freeze up or not function properly. It has happened before.


All in all, this phone is pretty cool. Go give it a look, it might change you mind just seeing it.

Verizon Chocolate VX 8500 August 22, 2006

Reviewer:  Travis Anderson 

This is a very nice, high tech phone. I really like the mp3 player/cell phone combo. I get very good reception with the phone and its pretty easy to use.

A few dislikes... in order to use all of the functions on the phone you have to purchase expensive "optional" accessories (Blue Tooth, Music Essentials Kit).

also, the touch sensors on the phone seem to have a mind of thier own. I often end up dialing people on accident. The END CALL button is not easy to touch...its on the right hand side. Your other option is to slide the phone closed.
There is no SpeakerPhone (other than listening to your song playlist.

This is a more difficult phone to hook your charger, headset, usb calbes to. I wish it had a regular round plug, but this is the flat type that has to be lined up just right or you risk damaging something.

Im a little disappointed in some aspects of the phone, but I really do like the MP3 feature. VCast isnt available yet where i live, so Im not sure how good that is.

with an upgrade at Verizon your gonna pay $220 for the phone delivered (and you will get a $50 mail in rebate). Then you will need to get your bluetooth, case, car charger, music essentials kit, and the micro SD card (i suggest a 1G). Your looking at $150 for those "extras". And then VCast will cost you another $15/month and VZNavigator will cost an additional $10 a month.

its a nice phone but its expensive.

Like it - Like it ALOT August 24, 2006

Reviewer:  Dennis Bosman "bozhed"  (Napa, CA) -

Over the past couple of years I have had a variety of cell phones: Motorola Q, Treo, VX7000, Razor. The Chocolate is by far the best of the bunch. Here is why:

Form - The size of the phone is great, especially when compared to the LG VX7000 or the Treo.

Signal Strength - This phone has the best reception of any phone I have every used. At home, where my Treo only received about 2 bars, this phone has at least double.

MP3 - I really have never been a big user of MP3 players until I got this phone. Given the size and the mico SD slot it is great. Bought a 1GB card and it stores more than enough music for my needs. I can now be at the gym, working out to music and if a phone call comes in, it automatically switches over to the phone function. When the call is done, the music comes right back on. MAGIC!! :-)

Battery - I purchased the extended battery with the phone. Even with the MP3 player useage I get about 2 days of use before having to charge. That is excellent compared to what my Treo used to get.

Putting on personal ringtones - Here is where Verizon tries to lock things down. Interest enough though, I figured out a work around.

Here it is: First create your music clip from a song you like. To do this you will need software (ie. Roxio) that allows you to edit sounds. There is a limit on the size of the file you can use. From what I have figured out it is about 10 seconds at low MP3 quality. Once you are done, save the clip to your Mini SD card. Put the card in the phone, open your sounds and send the file to your cell phone. Once you receive the file, you will have the ability to save it as a ringtone. Someone may have an easier what to do this but this is the only way I have found that actually works.

Bluetooth - Tried a number of headsets but the best so far is Plantronics 320. Headsets tried included the Jabra JX10, Motorola H700 and H850.

Overall very happy with this phone and will probably keep for a while (which is saying something for me)