LG Chocolate VX8500 Cell Phone Review - Hardware
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Alfredo Padilla Published on March 16, 2007 Comment on this |
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Keypad
Text Words Per Minute (5.0)
Using the LG Chocolate’s predictive text system we entered a sample piece of text in 5 times using 2 hands. The average time to write out the piece of text was 38.4 seconds, which works out to 25 words per minute. This is a poor score for a phone, and it is definitely impacted by the small size of the keypad. Compare this to the Motorola Razr V3m, which has a much roomier keypad and was able to write 29.4 words per minute. We found ourselves making quite a few mistakes as we were practicing for the test, and those with large fingers will find the keyboard to be especially cramped.
T9 and Auto Complete (5.0)
The LG Chocolate includes predictive text entry, allowing you to type out words by spelling them out on the keypad, rather than hitting keys multiple times to get the exact letter you want. Unfortunately, there was no support for word completion, meaning that you better know how to spell the entire word, because you won’t get any help from the phone.
One Handed Usability (4.7)
To test one handed usability of the keypad we entered a sample piece of text 5 times using the LG Chocolate’s predictive text system. It took an average of 40.54 seconds to enter this text. This works out to 23.7 words per minute. You can see that compared to the score of 25 words per minute using two hands you don’t lose much moving to one handed text entry.
Keypad Backlighting (6.0)
The keypad backlight on the LG Chocolate is a dull white. It does a good job of providing even backlighting and legible numbers and symbols, without being overwhelmingly bright. There is no light sensor for the LG Chocolate, however you do have control over how long the backlight stays on. On many phone these controls are tied to the screen backlight, and we were pleased to see separate controls for the keypad backlight on the Chocolate. This is a feature that is missing from the Treo 700p for example.
Controls
D-Pad/Joystick (1.0)
One of the distinguishing factors of the LG Chocolate are the touch controls used for the D-Pad and surrounding buttons. The D-Pad is arranged in a circle with the select key at the center. The surrounding directional keys are ridged in concentric circles, with slightly raised dividers between the 4 directions. Although we applaud LG for being innovative, we must say that the D-Pad on the LG Chocolate is one of the worst we have ever used.
Needless to say that tactile feedback is poor. We found ourselves hitting the wrong key constantly. It was especially easy to hit one of the directional keys when going for the center action key. , Beyond that we found that the touch controls were extremely unresponsive. It sometimes took us half a dozen presses before the phone recognized our key press. You can address this by going into the settings and increasing the sensitivity for the touch controls. Even with the increased sensitivity though, the D-Pad on the LG Chocolate could not be called anything but frustrating to use in the long term.
Frankly no one has really succeeded in making touch controls easier to use than real buttons (something Apple might want to think about in the iPhone) and we will be extremely happy to get back to a regular D-Pad when this review is done.
Touch Screen (0.0)
The Chocolate does not have a touch screen interface.
Jog Dial (0.0)
The LG Chocolate does not have a jog dial.
Soft Buttons (1.0)
Like the D-Pad, the soft buttons on the LG Chocolate are touch sensitive. Many of the same concerns apply here, with the added issue that not even an attempt has been made to create some kind of tactile feedback. If you run your finger over the screen and down towards the soft buttons, at no point will you be able to distinguish by touch where the buttons begin. We found the soft buttons to be difficult to work with, although the fact that they are well spaced from everything else did reduce mistaken presses when compared to the D-Pad.
Volume Control (3.0)
The volume keys on the LG Chocolate are placed on the left side of the phone. There are two distinct keys rather than a rocker switch, however they are placed very close together. The gap between them is so slight that it is easy to miss it by touch. Add in that the keys themselves are fairly small, and it easy to miss them. When pressed they provide limited tactile feedback. Overall the Chocolate’s volume keys did not impress us, we liked the ones found on the Razr V3m better, even though they are harder to reach.
Power and Standby (4.0)
The power key on the LG Chocolate is the same as the end key, and all of the comments we made about it previously apply. The biggest issue is that the key is small and can be difficult to find by touch. These are not major concerns for a power key however, and as the Chocolate is a slider you will not be using it very often.
Other Buttons (6.0)
In addition to the standard keys above, the LG Chocolate has 4 additional buttons for your use. On the left hand side there is a dedicated voice command button. This button is also used to unlock the phone, and a long press will launch the voice recorder.
On the front of the phone you find a back key on the lower left, in the place where you would expect the end key to be. The back key will simply take you back to the previous screen, except for when you are using the browser, in which case it will take you to the previous web page you were on. On the right side of the phone are dedicated keys for the music application and the camera. A long press on the camera key will take you to the camcorder, while a short press takes you to the stills camera.
Display
Primary Screen Gross Resolution (8.0)
The LG Chocolate comes with a QVGA (320 x 240) resolution screen. QVGA is becoming the standard on mid to high end cell phones, and we are glad to see it on the LG Chocolate. It is a step above the 176 x 220 pixel resolution display found on the Motorola Razr V3m.
Primary Screen Pixels per Inch (10.0)
The LG Chocolate’s screen packs an impressive 200 pixels per inch. This makes for very high detail and deep colors. 200 pixels per inch is very good for a phone, for example the Motorola Razr V3m only packed in 125 pixels per inch.
Screen Physical Size (5.0)
According to our measurements the LG Chocolate has a 2 inch diagonal screen. This is slightly smaller than most cell phone screens, which run 2.1 inches in size (for example the Motorola Razr V3m), but not significantly so. It is of course not a patch on the large screens found on phones like the Treo 700p or Cingular 8525.
Screen Brightness (2.45)
The LG Chocolate’s screen measured an 49 lux in our test. There is no way to reduce the brightness level on the Chocolate manually. There is also no sensor that adjusts the brightness automatically. We were disappointed to see these feature missing as your screen can have a significant impact on your battery performance.
Screen Bright Light Performance (7.0)
To measure bright light performance we shine a light on the screen at 3000 lux, which is roughly equivalent to bright sunlight. We then gauge how easy it is to view items on the screen. We found the LG Chocolate did very well under bright lights. We got minimal glare and the menus and text were very readable. The phone did much better than the Blackberry 8703e and slightly better than the Sanyo M1.
Color Depth (8.0)
The LG Chocolate displays up to 262K colors. Colors on the Chocolate’s display are rich and deep, with high contrast and true blacks and whites. It is significantly better than the colors found on a phone like the Motorola Razr V3m, which displays only 65K colors.
Ports & Storage
Power & Data Ports (2.0)
The LG Chocolate uses a proprietary port for both charging and data connections. The phone ships with a wall charger, but not a USB cable. You can purchase a USB cable from Verizon as part of its music essentials package for $29.99. We were disappointed to see a phone like the Chocolate, which is begging to interact with the music on your PC, ship without a USB cable. We would have also preferred to see a standard Mini USB port, like that found on the Motorola Razr V3m.
Headphone Jack and Compatibility (1.0)
The same port that is used for power and data is also used for headphones. The LG Chocolate does not ship with headphones, which is unacceptable for a handset that’s marketed as a music phone. Again, you get a pair of headphones with Verizon’s music essentials kit for $29.99. The LG Chocolate does ship with an adaptor that will allow you to plug in headphones or a headset that uses a 2.5mm jack. Still, if you were going to include an adaptor why not make it compatible with the higher quality 3.5mm jack that is used on almost all standard headphones? Proprietary headphone jacks are all the rage these days as manufacturers try to lock you into their accessories. We can’t say that we like this trend.
Internal Storage (1.0)
The LG Chocolate comes with 128 Mb of built in storage, which is shared between multimedia content, contacts and other phone functions. According to LG there is enough room for 1,000 photos, one hour of video or 500 contacts. This is a generous amount of storage for a mid level phone, for example the Motorola Razr V3m has only 23mb of available storage.
Expansion Slot and Format (6.0)
The LG Chocolate has an expansion slot for the MicroSD/Transflash standard. This is the smallest of the SD card formats, MicroSD currently tops out at 2 gigabytes of storage, although at the time of this writing 4gb cards had already been announced.
Getting to your card is meant to be simple, with a hot swappable slot on the right side of the phone. This slot is protected by a plastic cover and is spring loaded, so you can easily get your card in and out. The only difficulty is a result of the small size of the media itself. MicroSD/Transflash has become a standard for mobile electronics, and the vast majority of new phones are supporting it.
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