iphone

The designers have replaced the problematic touch-sensitive navigation wheel on the front of the phone with a shiny, mechanical scroll wheel that features a middle selection key. Four vibrating touch-sensitive keys are positioned outside of wheel and exude a warm red glow when the phone is activated. The scroll wheel also has a trace motion light that makes it look like it's shooting off red sparks as it spins. This light can be programmed to illuminate in patterns when there's an incoming call or can be turned off altogether.

The touch-sensitive buttons on the front of the phone respond to a gentle touch with a slight vibration to cue the user that it's responding. To the right and left of the scroll wheel, two soft keys near the top provide quick access to the message and contacts menus. Chocolateers will appreciate the touch-sensitive speakerphone key on the bottom left corner of the phone, a feature sorely missing from the original version. A touch-sensitive clear key on the bottom right corner of the phone enables users to back out of functions without opening the slider. When pressed, the top, bottom, left and right points of the scroll wheel also act as shortcut keys.

On the left side of the phone, users will find the volume up and down keys near the top and a voice activation key and charger port towards the bottom.

The right side of the phone houses a microSD slot, a lock function and a music shortcut key. One of the biggest complaints by users of the new Chocolate is that they have to unlock the phone if a call comes in when it's closed or when a user is on a call, a task that quickly becomes a chore.

The Chocolate's lustrous sheen resembles a piano finish which attracts fingerprints easily and is available in three colors, or rather flavors: Blue Mint, Black or Black Cherry.

Out of the box, the LG Chocolate (VX8550) comes with a standard 800 mAh Li-Ion Battery, AC Charger, Headset Adapter, and User Manual. Verizon also offers a Chocolate "Music Set," featuring additional accessories such as a Stereo Headset, Music Manager Software, USB Cable, and a 4.0 GB microSD memory card and adapters.
Basic Features

The dual-band Chocolate (CDMA 800/1900) runs on Verizon's Wireless digital networks and transmits data using high-speed EV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimized) frequency. City dwellers who are covered by the digital network will experience great reception and download speeds. However, in rural areas that lack digital coverage, users won't be able to connect.

The Chocolate runs with Verizon's Flash UI, which displays a circular menu layout and offers a variety of menu color choices, themes and animations. As was mentioned above, the Chocolate's developers have added a speakerphone, a feature lacking in the original Chocolate. Pressing a touch-sensitive button on the front of the phone activates the speakerphone. Even though the speaker sits on the back of the phone, speakerphone quality is clear and loud.

Since the VX8550 doubles as a music player, it offers a handy feature for airplane travelers called Music Only Mode, which turns the radio frequency off except for Bluetooth.

The Chocolate's auto lock kicks in when the slider is closed or when the phone is inactive for 17 seconds (or 25 seconds if the display backlight is set at 15 seconds), requiring users to unlock it to answer or make a call. Sliding down the lock key on the right side of the phone or pressing "Ok" twice unlocks the phone. Although the lock was designed to protect the phone from activating when it gets jostled inside of a pocket or a purse, unlocking it quickly becomes tedious.

The comes with a set of convenience tools including Voice Command for dialing, Calculator, Calendar, Stopwatch, Alarm Clock, Notepad and Tip Calculator.

According to LG, the VX8550's 800 mAh Li-Ion battery provides up to 250 minutes of usage time and 350 hours of standby time. That said, actual battery times will vary according to performance variables such as the downloading and playing of video and music, which will consume battery energy at greater rates than talking.

Other features of the phone include support for TTY/TDD and English and Spanish language settings. The Chocolate supports Verizon's VCAST music services, which offers a library of 1.5 million songs that can be purchased and downloaded to a PC or directly to the phone. For $1.99, users can download the songs directly to their phone. (Verizon also sends a copy to the user's online account for downloading to a Windows XP PC.) Thrifty users can also download songs to a PC for 99 cents and transfer them to their Chocolate via a USB cable or a microSD card (sold separately).

Users should note that besides the cost of the song, the airtime they use when downloading songs will be charged to their bill, unless they subscribe to the VCAST "V-Pak" plan.

The Chocolate is one of the few Verizon phones that plays unprotected MP3 files. (This frees Mac users from having to purchase all of their music from Verizon and them an option for getting music from their computer to their phone.)

Users can import MP3's to their phone by syncing their computer with their phone or "sideload" using a memory card. Synced MP3s are automatically converted to WMA format. Only unprotected MP3s can be sideloaded. Protected MP3 files have to be synced (converted to WMA's) in order to be played on the phone.

Verizon also provides software for their VCAST Music Manager, which searches for and plays music in a library and connects to the VCAST music library for shopping.

A dedicated music key on the right side of the phone provides easy access to the music library, which automatically lists music according to genres, artists, playlists and albums. Users can store up to 4 GB of music on removable SD memory cards, which provide ample tunes for long road trips.
Connectivity

The Chocolate supports up to 20 Bluetooth pairings, including headsets for handsfree talking without the hassle of dangling wires, as well as Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) stereo headsets for listening to music. Use Bluetooth to access phone books, transfer files or send pictures.

Bluetooth's Object Push Profile (OPP) lets users swap V-cards, while the Serial Port Profile (SPP) can turn the Chocolate into a fax machine.
LG Chocolate (VX8550) Features

* Improved touch keypad with vibration feedback and navigation wheel with trace motion light
* Built-in 1.3-megapixel camera, multi-step zoom, and video clip capture and playback capabilities
* Bluetooth compatible with devices that support the headset and handsfree profiles including A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution) profile for wireless music listening
* Speaker-independent voice recognition to call, send message, check status, lookup names, and access My Account
* Flash user interface themes for personalization
* Personal Tools including Calendar with Scheduler, Alarm Clock, Notepad, plus World Clock, Calculator and Ez Tip Calculator tools
* MicroSD external memory port to store pictures, videos, sounds and music
* WAP 2.0 compliant browser with EV-DO for high-speed data transmission including VCAST video and music on-demand

LG Chocolate (VX8550) Specs

Technical Specifications
Network: CDMA 800 / 1900
Form Factor: Slide
Dimensions: 98 x 47 x 17 mm
Weight: 92 g
Antenna: Internal
Navigation: Navigation Wheel (Trace Motion Light)
Battery Type: 800 mAh Li-Polymer
Talk Time: 4.17
Standby Time: 350
Memory: 64.0 MB
Expandable Memory: microSD / TransFlash

Imaging
Main Screen: 262000 colors (TFT)
240 x 320 px
External Screen: No
Camera: 1.3 MP / 1280 x 960 px / 2X Zoom / Video Recorder

Audio
MP3 Player: VCAST Music
FM Radio: No
Speakerphone: Yes
Push-To-Talk: No

Multimedia
Wallpapers: 240 x 320 px
Screen Savers: 240 x 320 px
Ring Tones: MP3
Themes: Yes
Games: BREW
Streaming Multimedia: VCAST Video

Messaging
SMS: Yes
EMS: Yes
MMS: Yes
Email: Yes
Chat: AOL / Windows Live / Yahoo!
Predictive Text: T9

Applications
Phonebook Capacity: 1000
Calendar: Yes
To-Do List: Yes
WAP: 2.0
Voice Commands: Yes
Calculator: Yes

Connectivity
Bluetooth: 1.1 (A2DP / DUN / HSP / HFP / OPP / SPP)
Infrared Port: No
High-Speed Data: cdma2000 1xEV-DO
Wi-Fi: No
GPS: VZ Navigator
PC Sync: Yes