LG VX-8500 Chocolate
Phone Scoop Review
Aug 11, 2006 by Eric Lin
An In-Depth review of LG's sleek new VX-8500 Chocolate slider music phone for Verizon Wireless. NEW: Video tour read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Hate it..
I hate this phone... I think i've had the phone for about a month...
So..here are my pros and cons:
Pros:
1. Fun design/ small design
2. You can change the red bars Verizon is so famous for on the display
3. Battery life/ charing time
Cons:
1. Touch sensor. Horrible!!! works 50% of the time. even with the sensitivity set as high as possible
2. You can't plug your phone into charge, and use a non bluetooth headset at the same time
3. Buttons are small and close together....I often find myself having to backspace because i accidentally hit another button. Even when you are careful, you can't help but hit other buttons as well.
4. Taking a picture of yourself is damn near impossible. You can tap the ok button (like 10 times) and risk moving the phone..or you can try to use the dedicated camera button..which ends up on the your left side(im right handed). So i try to hit the button with my right hand and avoid getting my arm in the picture, or accidentally tapping a touch button and erasing the pic.
4. The camera takes ok pictures. though mostly fuzzy.
5. When starting a call and placing the phone on your cheek it is very very very easy to hit the mute touch button and mute your call...The answer to this is to wait a few seconds before putting it to your face, but what a pain that is...
6. Slow...Slow...Slow. With having the touch buttons not work all the time, i tend to hit the button again...when in reality its the UI going really slow. And if you want to scan through pictures you've taken, be prepared to wait. It takes at least 5 seconds if not more to have the picture show up.
I had the 9800 before this...Loved that phone.... So I could just kick myself because now I have a crap phone and I'm going to have to spend some massive money to get something I don't feel like throwing off the bridge every day.
Any questions..feel free to send me a message.
chocolate not sweet......................
I have had the chocolate for 3 months and just this week I finally gave up trying to use it....It "IS NOT" user friendly and when I called Verizon to reenergize my old phone the customer service person said they have had nothing but complaints on the Chocolate...The keys are too touch sensitive and the battery doesnt hold charge well at all.........
What's everyone complaining about?!
I just got this phone today and it is a wonderful little device.
A lot of people whine about the touch sensitivity. It does take a certain 'touch', and is certainly not good for clumsy people or people with poor finger dexterity. But it's safe to say that if you can use a 'skating rink' laptop mouse, you can use this. Owners of this phone might also want to take note that you can choose from four separate levels of touch sensitivity.
Many people have criticised LG as having 'missed the mark' with this phone. I think they did a fine job. The MP3 player of this phone is quite nice. The sound quality of the mono speaker is very good for what it is. I like that you can continue listening to music while doing other things on the phone. This is the ONLY phone from Verizon that accepts files in an mp3 format. I previously had a Samsung A930, which would only accept files that had been converted to a special kind of .wma format that can only be generated from purchasing Verizon's 'Music Essentials Kit' (waste of money). With this phone however, it was as simple as dragging and dropping mp3 files on my computer into a folder on my microSD card, plugging the card into my phone, and playing the music. Delightfully simple and convenient considering that Verizon has rigged all their mid-range and high-end phones to only be able to handle the special .wma formatted files described above.
PROS
----
-loud ringtones
-nicely-designed mp3 player
-great interface and well thought out side keys
-excellent camera
-very stylish look
-compact size
-available extended life battery
-loud ear volume
-comfortable to hold
CONS
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-camera has no flash (a little inappropriate considering the phone's price)
-no speakerphone (seriously, LG, come ON!)
-touch sensitive keys not very easy to navigate without user's undivided attention
Overall, this is a great phone that maybe lacks a couple things, but is otherwise excellent and impressive. If only it were available outside of Verizon..
Honeymoon is over.....
I got the Chocolate this weekend in the hopes that it would fuse iPod capabilities with a phone calling feature, but nonetheless was disappointed overall. The faux-clickwheel was bothersome, since it did not give you any tactile "feel." Even after adjusting the D-pad's sensitivity, it was still hard to get the phone to perform functions I wanted.
I desperately wanted to fall in love with it, since it was heavily marketed and supposedly "everyone loves chocolate." Eventually I found it to be cumbersome and very battery-thirsty. As a big gym nut, I use my iPod all the time (using neoprene arm band while running/lifting). I shopped everywhere online (even European sites) to try and find a band made specifically for the Chocolate, but (so far) none exists. Again, very disappointing as the phone is marketed for iPod enthusiasts.
I was happy with the ease of transferring MP3 files from my laptop to the Chocolate. However, upon using the music player while working out, the fully-charged phone dies after 45 min. on the treadmill and a 10 min conversation. DO NOT use this exclusively as your music player. Even the RAZR V3M, ROKR, Q, and LG Fusic have the same, if not better MP3 capabilities.
This might be isolated, but another problem I had was attaching the headphones into the phone. It did not play music if the "boy" part was fully inserted into the "girl" part of the phone. I had to wiggle it and keep it dangling slightly to hear music on the headphones.
Overall, very hip, trendy phone...hopefully newer versions will be much better.
PROS:
*Great Looking (the only thing really)
*Ability to make Music playlists
*Voice quality
CONS:
*Shows fingerprints and dirt very easily
*Music player drains battery life
*NO Speakerphone (it's the first phone I have EVER used without it)
*NO FM Radio (you can't use it in your car stereo like an iPod)
*"Fake" Clickwheel
*Dull internal keypad
*Slider is not sturdy after dropping phone once!
Great Phone
This is a great phone! Some of the complaints/cons I have read on here are seriously ridiculous! Some people can never be pleased! You could give them a phone that has perfect reception, never drops a call, is waterproof, scratch-proof, break-proof with free service for life and they would still find something to complain about! I'd say try the Chocolate out for yourself!
Chocolate Really Deos Taste So Good
Wow what can i see im really satisfied with this phone and its really good i dont think why anyone wouldnt want it i really like its features and with the touch screen it really beats out all the other phones and well i upgraded from the lg vx 6000 and i couldnt be happier with the phone i got im so happy everyone is jealous its definitly fit for a star like me and everyone else so i suggest everyone go to verizon and buy it because you will not be disapointed because i know it and everyone else knows it and its going to change your lives its really a good fashion phone to go and show and its really good reception im keeping this one for a long time!
totally sweet!!
i just got the chocolate phone about a week ago. the first time i took it out of the box, i was amazed by how unique and sleek it looked like. i personally think that this phone is the most best looking device out there. it has great designs and the screen is sooo vivid and clear. the speaker is very loud if you set it up that way. and the chocolate does have a speaker phone. just install the software. the chocolate has great communication. i love how you can turn on your mp3 player and do something else like going on the web and etc. i am disapointed in the fact that there is no flash on the camera. however, the video and camera quality is awesome!!!the second problem is that the battery life stinks. the first time i used it, it ran out in about 1 day or so. but as i kept chrging it, the hours become much longer before it dies out.
bottom line: the chocolate phone is a great phone exept for a few issues. i think that people should buy this phone because its great.
nice but annoying...
after having the lg vx6000 4500 6100,8100 and then switching to moto for the razr i decided to come back to lg because they have never given me problems like the razr did, so i got the chocolate!
i had this phone for about a week, i thought i would get used to the touch style on the front(send,clear etc keys) but never did. LOVED the size and style of the phone but couldnt get the touch to work for me so i took it back and got the vx8300. nice phone i had the 8100 a year ago and it's a nice upgrade to that!
Awesome piece of equipment!********
What can I say? Looks cool, functions great! I never used an ipod, so I'm not one of those complaining about the "wheel" not working like an ipod. Works great for me. Does everything a phone can do and more. Putting music on was simple, being able to set shortcuts for just about anything has made tasking a breeze!
PROS
looks great
great functionality
new menus look amazing
screen is vibrant
touch keys easy once you get used to them
different than other thing else out there
calls are clear
great reception
CONS
doesn't make me coffee in the morning
