LG VX-8550 Chocolate
Average Ratings
More like the Ipod in looks, still garbage.
Same glitz, a little updated, same piece of garbage Chocolate. Sure, it has features, and the kiddies will like it, much like its predecessor, the first Chocolate, but it's not different enough for me to count it as a different phone from the original Chocolate, and it has the same reliability issues.
See my review for the original Chocolate, and you'll get the idea. Stylish (to some), some nice features, but if you get one that actually WORKS for a year or more then God is smiling down on you.
Again, for those too lazy to see my other review for the Chocolate, I work for VZW's warranty department. I have gotten at least one call on a Chocolate every day I've been keeping track so far, and at least half of them are refurbished (meaning they should've theoretically been fixed. And God knows the guys at the warehouse do try, but asking them to fix a Chocolate is like giving a guy a BB gun and telling him to kill Godzilla. It just won't happen, as good as they are.)
Blow it up
This, my 3rd Chocolate in trying to get a decent one, is a "A Nightmare on Phone Street". The only improvement seems to be that some touch buttons have been replaced with click buttons, which helps. But it still has the same problem that the originals had. When I get an incoming call and I'm talking, it often (but not always) goes to some update entry screen that DEMANDS that I either "Create new" or "Update existing". It does this even though the caller is in my phonebook! And it beeps incessantly until you deal with the question on the screen. It does this also when I'm listening to voicemails, and it won't let me press 7 to erase or ANYTHING until I get rid of the beeping screen. Sure, you can clear it, you can go through the update procedure, etc. But I think this is just a ploy by LG/Verizon to get you to use up more of your minutes answering a pointless question. Verizon's answer? They give me another Choco-loser with the same problem. I am seriously considering the $130 buy-out to dump Verizon, even though I've been with them since they began as GTE Mobilenet.
Blow up this phone!
Disgusting Phone.
If you're ready for a new phone every month, go ahead and purchase this phone.
I am currently on my 7th chocolate in the past 5 months.
At first was my own fault, i considered it a strong phone, bad idea, and let it drop and fall out of my pocket.
it scratched easily and the charger port broke.
i was on vacation in san diego and i went to a verizon store to purchase a new one.
after rudely being lectured on how to take care of my phone, the lady behind the desk ordered me a new phone. her excuse for not giving me a new one then an there? the color was out of stock and they could not give me a different color.
i was disgustingly annoyed when i returned home only to find that they had given me a dark blue phone when i had a light blue battery.
strike one.
after that it was phone after phone after phone.
the people in the verizon store in my my town became familiar with my face.
the past three phones i didnt have for over two months, they malfunctioned and broke.
i've had them all replaced for free due to malfuctions except for one which was broken internally due to a friend sitting on it, which was replaced to 50 dollars.
I recently got a new phone earlier today, only to find that it will not charge.
the phone before i had to push and tug on the cord for it to charge and now this phone simply refuses to charge.
the phone was given to me broken as well.
while driving away i noticed that the side lock button was broken. i was late for something so i ignored it, its not too important to me.
i got home and charged it, once again pushing and tugging on the cord.
i took it out and a few hours later wanted to charge it before going to bed and it just wont charge.
i'm disgusted and fed up with this phone and will be paying another visit to verizon tomarrow.
they told me that the chocolate is generally a good phone,
ive heard different.
and ive experienced worse.
this phone is horrible!
think twice before you buy it.
Was just not for me...
I recently traded my LG VX8550 Chocolate phone. This phone was a good device for some. However, for me this phone had the worst user experience of any phone on the market.
If you are a teenager then I recommend you go and buy this phone. It will probably impress your friends. If you are looking for a phone that is easy to use then keep looking. The main culprit is the touch sensitive buttons and wheel. I would constantly accidently touch one and would have to start over what I was doing. I also unintentionally ignored important calls with those buttons. To be fair, I am going to give some pros and cons of this phone....
Pros:
Excellent software features
Great Music Player
Easy to reach MicroSD slot
Battery Life
Stylish
Cons:
User Experience with front buttons and wheel
Signal (at least in Cary, NC with Verizon)
Voice dialing was hit or miss
Slider
All in all, the phone is a great attempt by Verizon and LG to copy the ease of use of the iPod click wheel interface and the problem for me is I expected it to be similar as far as ease of use. However, your mileage may vary.
nice phone
I like this phone. It feels very sturdy, the touch keys are sensitive enough that I don't have to press a key more than once. the track wheel is very intuitive, and you can scroll through a big selection very quickly.
pros: track wheel
small
fits in your hand nicely(big hands)
vibrating feedback
not boring software
slider is sturdy
great camera, almost seems like 2 mp.
pretty good speaker, it is very loud
nice big screen
Now for the terrible cons.
when it vibrates it feels like it wants
to
twist itself sideways is you hands
FINGERPRINT CITY! but its touch keys,
its expected.
and it feels sort of plasticy, like a
baby toy.
DO NOT DROP, OR IT WILL LOOK LIKE
SOMEBODY TOOK A CHAINSAW TO IT!
Overall, I think that it will serve you well,
it will provide good entertainment with its great screen and amazing camera and the best music player on any phone that I've ever seen!
I'm Ready for A Full Keyboard
I got my 8550 about 6 mo ago. It's not really a terrible phone, but I hate it. It has way more pros than cons. It is a durable little phone though. In the last month I have been extra hard on it, and it is still kickin.
Pros:
-Slider seems solid, even after 6 mo
-Love the navigation wheel
Cons:
-Numbers are too small
-Screen scratched after 2 weeks
-Battery life sucks
-Always bump soft keys
-Bad sound quality in ear piece
-Shuts down on its own all the time
-Hate T9
Was too good to be true
The features on the phone and idea where Outstanding but the design was a HUGE flaw.
I had the phone for 2-3 weeks before I finally gave up.
This is a phone PERFECT for left handers.
The keys on the inside were way to small to use. Forget trying to play games because you will either loose by hitting the wrong key or cancel the game by hitting end. Or your fingers become too cramped.
The scroll wheel is great but when trying to use it the clr button to the right of it gets pressed because your thumb has to lean on it to use the wheel.
I started over on many text messages because of this. It would make it easier if Verizon's operating system saved frequently used words for use again in the WORD mode (T9).
It took me too long to use because of the amount of times I had to redo something. The speaker on the left side of the scroll wheel doesn't activate unless you are on a call. This seems more reasonable to move it to the right side so your thumb can easily rest on it. I'm sorry but no one will use the wheel with their thumb coming straight up from the bottom.
Unfortunately the only good phone I want is the pearl and then you have to pay $20 extra a month! What phone do I get now!! VERIZON PLEASE get a good phone with no design flaws, that looks cool and has all the cool options but is inexpensive!
Audiovox (Toshiba) 9900 was the best phone and interface I have had. With a few fixes and shrink it down it would be awesome
My Chocolate Survived the Plunge!
I had just gotten a brand new Chocolate...the red (or blackberry color) and I LOVED everything about it...especially the "looks".
However, one fateful day I managed to drop my beautiful new toy right in the toilet at the Doctor's office! I saw my phone flipping thru the air in slow motion, plunging straight into the depth of water contained in toilet bowl. I almost had a heart attack, but quickly retrieved the phone and shook as much water out of it as I could. I DID NOT TURN IT ON.
The nurse managed to help me remove the battery and we dried off all the excess water we could at the time.
When i sadly returned home, my husband could see that there was still water in the display. He proceeded to set the phone in warm dry places, rotating and re-positioning the phone to attempt complete drainage. I felt hopeless as most people told me that it would probably never work again.
About 48 hours later, my husband charged the battery and placed it back in the phone. I was out at the time, and borrowed my husband's KRAZR while I was out. At some point, I decided to check the KRAZR to see if there were any messages. To my complete amazement, I found a current message from my presumably deceased cell phone! IT SURVIVED!
My husband had charged the battery and replaced it back in the phone and after one false start...all functionality has returned!
not as much as its cracked up to be
so the phone was ok. lets start with the touch screen. during calls i commonly hit the buttons with my ear, and it would be constant beeping sounds during the call. the clear button is on the right, and being right handed, i commonly bumped it when i was trying to push the right button, and it cleared whatever menu i was in. I DID NOT LIKE THE TOUCH SCREEN FEATURES.
i did like the sliding feasture however. but that was really about all the stood out to me.
after 30 days of my try out, i am going to change to the enV 2.
Chocolate was great!
I give this phone an absolute 5 star rating! Unfortunately I am not a Chocolate owner anymore because I switched to Sprint from a deal from work and am now a Palm Treo owner. I was really sad about giving up my chocolate, however. All of the great features of a music phone combined with a great camera and an even better video camera. Video recorder can be set to either 30 seconds or total memory which I believe ends up being about 40 minutes or so. The design of this phone is excellent and very attractive. Many users have said that it attracts smudges but those can be wiped off easily because of its shiny finish. Something that I really enjoyed about the Chocolate is the fact that, as someone else already mentioned, you can use third party sites to sent yourself ring tones in a text message, as well as videos and pictures to set as your background. This is a wonderful and perfectly customizable phone and I absolutely recommend it. The Shine looks like a nice next generation and although very professional looking, is only available in chrome and pink (that i know of)
