LG Chocolate 3 Cell Phone Review - Hardware
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Marianne Schultz Published on September 02, 2008 Comment on this |
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| The Chocolate 3 doesn't have any touch-sensitive buttons like its predecessor, and all of its buttons and keys offer good tactile feedback, though key presses can take some effort and may be too noisy for quiet environments. The dedicated buttons for many functions are welcome and make using some aspects of the phone much easier sight unseen. The amount of internal storage on the Chocolate 3 is fabulous and we like its ability to be a tethered modem for your computer via Bluetooth. |
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Text Words Per Minute (6.09)
To test words per minute, we enter a standard set of text and time how long it takes, and we used the Note application in which to enter this text. Using the predictive text setting is the fastest way to enter text that must be written in complete words, so we turned this feature on for each note we created and timed. As previously mentioned, the keypad does require a firm press and a fair amount of travel before registering input, and we achieved 30.46 words per minute on the Chocolate 3, less than the 38.49 words per minute of its predecessor. Not all phones can have a QWERTY keyboard that would make text entry a relative breeze, but long text messages and emails could be quite an exercise unless you have exceptional manual dexterity and smaller fingers. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.
Words per Minute
T9 and Auto Complete (5.0)
The Chocolate 3 does have a predictive text entry mode, but you can't select it to be the default text entry mode globally - you must select it each time you are creating a new note or text message. This predictive text mode allows you to enter a word using only one key press per letter and it does do a decent job of guessing the words you are typing, but without a word completion function, you must still enter the entire word.
One-Handed Typing (5.99)
To test one-handed typing, we enter the same text as used in the Text Words Per Minute test using only one hand. Enabling the predictive text entry mode helps with one-handed use a great deal and being able to hold on to the phone with one hand while typing with the other allowed a firm grip. With one hand, we were able to type 29.96 words per minute. This is a tad faster than the previous Chocolate but still slower than the other comparison phones. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.
Words per Minute
Keypad Backlighting (8.0)
The keypad backlight on the Chocolate 3 is white with a purple tinge and is fairly even across the entire keypad and illuminates every item on every key, facilitating its use in dark settings. The phone's default settings leave the keypad backlight on for 7 seconds after the last key press, but you can change this to 15 or 30 seconds, or select to leave the backlight on all the time, or to never come on. Though it's not described in the user guide, the Chocolate 3 does appear to have an ambient light sensor above the left soft menu key, prompting the backlight to dim or brighten depending on the amount of light in your environment.
D-Pad/Joystick (5.5)
The main D-pad allows movement in 4 directions and has a center "OK" button to select the item. It offers very good tactile feedback with an audible click, but does require a firm press to register. Unlike the previous Chocolate, this D-pad does not have a scrolling feature such that it can be free rotated and is fixed in place. The external D-pad is more like the previous Chocolate's main D-pad in that it does scroll freely and can really help get through long lists, such as a long playlist in the music application. This D-pad does have some play and you can accidentally turn the scroll wheel while attempting to press on one direction. The score for this section is only for the main D-pad since it is the primary one you'll use to navigate to make use of all of the Chocolate 3's features.
Touch Screen (0.0)
The Chocolate 3 does not have a touch screen.
Jog Dial (0.0)
The Chocolate 3 does not have a jog dial.
Soft Buttons (5.0)
The two soft keys on the Chocolate 3 are above and to the left and right of the main D-pad. They are actual buttons, unlike the previous Chocolate's with its touch-sensitive soft buttons, and like the D-pad, have good tactile feedback both physically and audibly and require firm presses. Since they flank the D-pad, they are within easy reach and pose no problems at all in regular use.
Volume Control (5.0)
The Chocolate 3 has two volume control buttons on the left side, and both offer good tactile and audible feedback when pressed. Their placement is clearly meant to facilitate their use while you're using the phone as a music player and it's in your pocket or bag and you need to adjust the volume. As long as you recognize the orientation of the phone in your pocket or bag, it's easy enough to select the correct button - the top one adjusts the volume up, and the bottom one adjusts the volume down, as expected. There are no raised markings on the buttons so you can tell which one is which by feel alone otherwise.
Power and Standby (5.0)
The Chocolate 3's End button does double duty as the power button as well. To turn the phone on or off, you simply hold it down for a few seconds, longer than if you were using it merely to end a call. As with the D-pad, it does require a firm press and offers good tactile feedback. There is no dedicated button to place the phone into standby mode, as it does so automatically once you've left the phone alone for a few moments. As with the previous Chocolate, there is no menu setting to adjust the amount of time before it goes into standby mode.
Other Buttons (9.0)
There are 3 other buttons on the exterior of the Chocolate 3: the Voice Command, Lock/Unlock, and Music buttons. The Voice Command button has two functions - a short press brings up the voice command menu, and a long press opens the voice recording app. The Music button operates similarly - a short press opens the Music application and a long press begins playing music immediately. To the left, right, and immediate south of the main D-pad are 3 more dedicated buttons - the one on the left activates the speakerphone function for phone calls, the one on the right opens the camera application, and the button below the D-pad takes you back one level in the menu system and also serves as a delete key when typing text. All three of these buttons offer the same feel as the D-pad, though none of them can be re-assigned to other functions, however.
Primary Screen Gross Resolution (8.0)
The Chocolate 3's primary display has a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. This is no different than the previous Chocolate and is the same as on the Sony Ericsson z750a and LG enV2.
| Cell Phone | Resolution | Score |
| LG Chocolate 3 | 320 x 240 | 8.00 |
| LG Chocolate VX8550 | 320 x 240 |
8.00 |
| Apple iPhone 3G | 480 x 320 | 9.00 |
| Sony Ericsson z750a | 320 x 240 | 8.00 |
| LG enV2 | 320 x 240 | 8.00 |
| Samsung M520 | 176 x 220 | 4.00 |
Primary Screen Pixels per Inch (9.09)
Pixels per inch speaks to the depth of color and amount of detail that a screen can show - the higher this number, the more color, depth, and content can be shown on a screen. The Chocolate 3's main display has 181.82 pixels per inch. This is slightly less than the previous Chocolate at 200 pixels per inch, and better than the iPhone 3G with 164.80 pixels per inch. The detail of small text and pictures look good on the Chocolate 3's main screen, a testament to its decent number of pixels per inch.
Pixels per Inch
Screen Physical Size (5.5)
The Chocolate 3's main display measures 2.2 inches diagonally. This is an increase over the previous chocolate of .2 inches - generally, the larger the display, the better since it makes it easier to enjoy videos and pictures and see more of web pages, so we have no complaints at all about this change.
Screen Size Diagonal (inches)
Screen Brightness (7.2)
The Chocolate 3's screen is very bright at 104 lumens, almost twice as bright as the previous Chocolate at 55 lumens, though still almost half of the iPhone 3G's screen brightness. Like the iPhone 3G, the Chocolate 3 relies on an ambient light sensor to adjust the screen brightness automatically. Unfortunately, there is no setting to adjust the maximum brightness level, unlike the iPhone 3G - such an adjustment is nice since it can be a way to help you save battery power if you reduce the maximum brightness possible.
Screen Brightness (lux)
Screen Bright Light Performance (2.0)
To evaluate the screen's performance under bright light, we place the phone under a light emitting 3,000 lumens and see how easy it is to see the screen and navigate through the menus. The Chocolate 3 does not perform well here despite the screen's brightness - the default theme turns the selected icons on the menu red, and these completely wash out in bright light so they're almost impossible to see and read. Unselected icons are white and can be read with some difficulty under bright light. The screen is quite shiny and bounces back a lot of glare that doesn't help.
Color Depth (8.0)
The Chocolate 3's main screen can display 260,000 colors, exactly the same number as the LG enV2 and negligibly less than its predecessor.
| Cell Phone | Colors (thousands) | Score |
| LG Chocolate 3 | 260.00 | 8.00 |
| LG Chocolate VX8550 | 262.00 | 8.00 |
| Apple iPhone 3G | n/a | n/a |
| Sony Ericsson z750a | 262.00 | 8.00 |
| LG enV2 | 260.00 | 8.00 |
| Samsung M520 | 262.00 | 8.00 |
Secondary Screen (8.5)
The Chocolate 3's external screen measures 1.76 inches diagonally and can show up to 260,000 colors and has a fairly high pixel density for a secondary screen at 159 pixels per inch, superseding the pixel density of the secondary screen on the LG enV2. While it's not large, it is sufficient to view your playlists and the other applications that the menu system gives you quick access to while the phone is closed, and is typical of current flip phones.
Power & Data Ports (2.0)
The Chocolate 3's combined power and data port uses a Micro USB connector on the phone and standard USB on the end that connects to the AC plug or your computer, and the phone charges in both situations. While we appreciate that this cord plays double duty to charge and enable syncing, the Micro USB standard is not popular enough at this point to make it as easy to find as a standard USB cord, and the Chocolate 3 earns fewer points because of this.
Headphone Compatibility (8.0)
The Chocolate 3 has a standard 3.5mm headset jack, and this is great since you can use almost any pair of headphones you may already have or easily purchase new ones. It would be really nice if the Chocolate 3 came with a pair in the box since it is a music-oriented phone, however. With the included stereo Bluetooth profile, also called A2DP, the Chocolate 3 is capable of using Bluetooth headphones for listening to music in stereo. This Bluetooth functionality is even something that the iPhone 3G does not include, though it is becoming more and more prevalent in cell phones.
Internal Storage (5.0)
The Chocolate 3 has 1 gigabyte of internal storage available to the user, and this is split into two separate sections that store different things. The phone portion is allotted 140MB for contacts, calendar entries, photos and videos not saved to a Micro SD card, and other data. The remainder is set aside to hold music. This is a big improvement over the previous Chocolate that had far less memory, and is a welcome addition for a phone that can so easily download music over-the-air from Verizon's VCAST service.
Expansion Slot & Format (9.0)
With a Micro SD slot that can accept cards with up to 8GB of storage, including High-Capacity cards, the Chocolate 3 is well-positioned to carry a large portion of your music collection, if not the entire thing.
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