LG Chocolate 3 Cell Phone Review - Conclusion

Conclusion
No cell phone is perfect, and the Chocolate 3 is no exception. The new flip form factor is a bit of a disappointment since it renders the phone less unique and stylish. It does a decent job in imaging and handling multimedia, with better camera resolution than the previous Chocolate and it can play more video file formats than its predecessor as well.

It does well as a music player - its software is easy to navigate, allows you to create playlists, and see the album art when a song is playing. The ability to download music over the air from Verizon's VCAST music store is nice, though we don't like their prices. You can also get videos through the VCAST service, but watching them on the small screen can be painful and unfulfilling. Battery life for talk time is not the best and it lasts longer while playing music or browsing the web.

The Chocolate 3 doesn't have the best audio quality and web browsing is downright unpleasant.  The operating system embodies the expression "What you see is what you get" and can't be augmented by third-party software beyond the games offered by Verizon. But the price isn't bad at $99 when purchased online and it will generally meet the needs of those who want an uncomplicated phone that can double as a digital music player.

Who's It For

Business User
With no contacts or calendar syncing to speak of, nor a native email application, the Chocolate 3 is most definitely not for business users. Business users should move right along to some of Nokia's high-end offerings like the E71, a Blackberry Curve, or even Apple's iPhone 3G to get the core data management and email capabilities they need.

Budget Callers
At $129.99 in-store or $99.99 online, the Chocolate 3 isn't quite a budget phone, though it's not bad for what it includes in terms of music player functionality and overall connectivity. However, budget-conscious buyers probably don't need the music player capabilities and connectivity options the Chocolate 3 offers and could do better price-wise with other phones with fewer features.

Chatty Teenager
With the change from the slider form factor in the previous version to the current flip style, the Chocolate 3 may appear less unique and stylish in the eyes of the average image-conscious teenager. But with its increased internal storage, the teenager looking for a digital music player in their phone may be satisfied with the Chocolate 3 regardless.  While the phone's call audio quality isn't that great, it probably won't interfere with the average teenager's ability to communicate with it, though battery life may not be good enough to survive a chatty teenager who doesn't have an opportunity to charge it when needed.

Media Maven
The Chocolate 3 has a decent camera for impromptu pictures and video, but there are cell phones out there that are far superior for still and video imaging.  The Chocolate 3's music software is easy to access and use, the internal storage capacity is nice, and its music-playing capabilities are only improved with the dedicated external controls. With such a small screen, the Chocolate 3 will not be a favorite for viewing videos, so it will be best for the media mavens focused on music versus video or imaging.