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
Best phone I've had
This is the best phone I've ever had. Every feature of the phone is well thought out and works great for me. The phone does lack speakerphone, which I'm not concerned with since I rarely use that feature. There is speculation that it could be added with a software update, but that really doesn't concern me.
So far this phones has been able to do everything I've thrown at it. I've added custom ringtones through Bluetooth. I've gotten complete movies on there in .mp4 format and they play back great!
Some people have complained about the touch sensitive buttons, but I guess it depends on the person. My fiancee has a bit of trouble using the buttons, but I can use them just as easily as a regular phone. Having the touch buttons works nicely when you are in a quiet place and want to check e-mail. No annoying clicking sounds!
Pros:
Great new UI
Very cool form factor
Great quality pictures (outdoors)
Touch sensitive buttons work great
Music speaker has good volume and clarity
Cons:
I guess if I had to list some...
No speakerphone
Easily scratched if you are not careful (buy a screen shield)
Sweet Chocolate!!! Love It!
This is a wonderful phone. I had a LG9800 "V" prior to this and I don't think I will ever go back to the V. The touch pad takes some getting used to but it has been wonderful. The camera is about the same as the V. The ringer that come factory are louder then the ones in the V and I love the slide up to answer option. I am having difficulty working the voice dialing feature but I will get the hang of it. I wish that the picture ID option was better. It only shows a small thumb nail size pic instead of full or almost full screen of the pic. The battery so far is lasting me 3-4 days whereas the battery on my V lasted 7-8 days. But the phone is only 2 weeks old. The color is nice but I would also have liked it if it were chocolate colored! Great phone!
Does the Job
The Chocolate is my first LG phone. I have always been a Moto person. I upgraded to the Chocolate from the V710. It was really hard to upgrade because I have had great success with the V710.
Battery life is OK, its not spectacular, but what standard battery life really is? The only downside to the phone in my opinion is the fact that it is a dual mode (digital) phone. I prefer tri-mode phones. I usually in areas where analog is nice to have as a backup. Even though it is dual mode I have not dropped any calls yet. I tried the Razor and dropped 3 calls in 5 minutes.
The lack of speaker phone is not a big deal to me because I never have nor plan on using speaker phone function for phone calls. I am not really a headset guy so the Bluetooth headset was not a big deal.
The deal breaker that turned out not to be was customized ringtones. I wanted a MP3 as my ringtone and I was able to get it. Plus I was able to use my TransFlash memory from my V710 in the Chocolate.
All-in-all I am impressed with the phone. I am still in my 15 day return window, but I think I will be keeping this phone.
Very Nice
A quick background : I am not a power cell-phone user - just a normal guy who calls, texts on occasion (maybe 10 a month) and really just wanted a nice looking/working phone. Something to replace my VX6000 (that has been faithfully used for 2 years).
I was happy to see the chocolate as I was interested in the moto slider - and bummed Verizon wouldn't be getting it. Then i saw the chocolate and woohoo!
Pros - The phone looks nice. It is sleek and feels good in my hand. The aesthetics are wonderful - the phone looks nice on the outside as well as the actual phone UI and such.
I am getting better signal (Verizon / OC CA) and can make calls at home where previously i couldn't get reception. I haven't had any dropped calls yet (and hopefully this stays the case)
Cons - Some of the buttons are kinda small. I admit my fingers are a little on the larger side, but I have no problems with anything else (keyboard, old phone, other phones). The side buttons in particular feel a little small - but this is pretty minor.
The gloss smudges - But this is un avoidable. Wiping it with a microfiber cloth and the finish looks just as good as ever.
The touch sens buttons take some getting used to. They sometimes don't register (even at super sensitive) but overall it's nice.
Overall - The phone looks amazing and functions as a phone well. The camera is nice and takes pretty decent shots (For a camera phone of course - it's no powershot). How crazy is it for the power user? This i am not sure, but for someone where the phone is only for calling, texting, and the occasional pic this phone is working out nicely for me. uploading new ringtones + backgrounds has proven easy with bluetooth, etc.
note* I don't use / probably won't use the MP3 function on the phone so I don't have anything to comment on that. as just a normal user looking for a decent phone I found this phone to be quite nice.
I like Dark Better
Well, I have to agree with all the reviews so far. however, there havent been any reviews about soem of the bad things on the phone. Well, here is the scoop.
Can you transfer your phonebook? NOT YET! I went into verizon and they didnt have the cable to transfer my numbers from my razar to my LG. We tried doing the backup assist from one to the other but that didnt work. So I spent the last hour putting in 150 numbers into the new phone. Not abig deal but I wanted everyone to know.
Oh yeah the micra sd card is truly micra. I hope i dont lose this card.
So the charger cable is pretty small. Kind of fragile, I will have to be super careful to plug it in all the time. A headphone jack outlet on the headphones would have been nice. but the adapter will have to do.
Not a bad phone otherwise
VIDEO SUCKS
the chocolate, it has poor video streaming capability. If Verizon is going to launch it's technology to be able to watch TV LIVE -- i can't see myself signing up to a 2yr contract and watch poor tv. The keypads are horrible to use. And no spakerphone what's up with that. All of the hype for nothing. Verizon needs to get this in their heads -- Cellphones are a part of our lifestyle(s)! Get it NOW - Verizon.
Not the greatest
I got this phone with an upgrade. I had to have it exchange before the 30 days was up. The phone kept freezing on me everytime I would try to listen to my music. Unfortunatly it is still doing that, and also sometimes powers off on it's own. But I just don't want to hassel with replacing it again. It works for the most part.
**PROS**
-Small
-Cool colors
-good reception
**CONS**
-Freezes
-Hard to text
-Speakerphone not very loud, can hardly hear it
It's one of the best!!!!!!!!
People can say whatever they want about this phone negatively, but this phone has most of the features you expect from a handset. It's not perfect but it's not the worse. Styling wise is very eye catching and turn everybody's head. Get great reception where i live at ( Queens,NY ).It has most of the features i need. Besides not having speakerphone ( which i do not use at all or need ) I do not see any other cons about the chocolate. Phone gets great battery life, considering all of the features included in it. The service from Verizon is excellent in my area, and it's been almost flawless. If you are looking for a different alternative, this phone might be the one. But more importantly it does what a cell phone is supposed to do in a reliable way ( make & receive calls with great audio quality w/o dropping calls).
SUCKS
This phone is terrible..It doesn't hold a charge. Charged the phone for five hours and played like five songs and the phone was about dead. Phone is not loud like it should be if they are going to promote it as a mp3 phone. I used the sprint fusic and i love it great reception great battery. if you want a music phone go with the fusic.
"Sweet" little phone
I was a little skeptical of this phone at first, but now i love it. I'm a big fan of small phones. The touch buttons do take a little getting used to, but after a day or so it can be mastered. Putting music on the phone via a SD is very simple.
The sound quality that comes out the phone for mp3s is exceptional. The phone does have a loud ringer -- one con it is missing a speaker phone but you can turn the ear piece up loud and works just as well.
I haven't had a problem with reception with the phone and works great with a bluetooth - (I'm using the Motorola HS850)
pros:
small
good audio - music&earpiece
bluetooth works great
wallpaper
camera is excellent
loud ring tones
hidden charge port and sd slot
cons:
no speaker phone
can't use it(navigating through menus) while it is in a case
