LG Chocolate 3 Cell Phone Review - Organizer
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Marianne Schultz Published on September 02, 2008 Comment on this |
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| The Chocolate 3's organizer capabilities are quite limited. You'll be able to keep track of appointments, manage some short notes, and capture quick voice memos, but that's about it. You won't be able to synchronize much of your data, if any, with your computer or manage a very busy schedule and record tasks. |
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Synchronization (0.0)
In the Chocolate 3's Settings menu, there is a "USB Auto Sync" option which allows you to choose between syncing music, syncing data, or "Ask On Plug" when connected to a USB device. The User Guide describes this feature only in relation to syncing music with your PC, with no mention of how data syncing works. When plugged into a PC with the included USB cable, the phone appears as a "Mobile Device" in Windows Explorer, but you cannot view its file structure or any other data. When plugged into a Mac, the phone is not visible through the Finder at all, which is not surprising since the User Guide says the USB Auto Sync function only works with Windows XP or Vista. On connection to both the PC and the Mac, there are no prompts on the phone itself to do anything, and no menus change to indicate any syncing option with contacts, calendars, or anything else, despite what the User Guide states. It would have been helpful had the User Guide provided additional information on what the USB Auto Sync feature does regarding data, to say the least. LG does make a Data Transfer Software Suite that allows you to sync contacts, calendar entries, and other items, but it's not clear if it's compatible with this latest version of the Chocolate yet.
Alerts (5.0)
There is no native tasks application on the Chocolate 3. There is a native Calendar application and it is possible in which it is possible to set alerts. There are preset times that can be selected for the alerts, ranging from two days prior to the event up to the set time of the event itself. You can use any sound from the list of available ringtones, and/or choose to have it vibrate. Once an alert goes off, you have the choice to view the event immediately, which turns off the alert, or you can choose to view it later, and the alert will then repeat in 5 minutes. There is no option to change the alert snooze timing. If you miss the alert, it will continue to sound off for 1 minute every 5 minutes until you acknowledge the alert.
Over the Air PIM Sync (0.0)
There is no over-the-air syncing with the Chocolate 3.
Adding Contacts (4.93)
It took an average of 20.28 seconds to add a new contact, including the first and last name and one phone number, on the LG Chocolate 3, starting from a phone closed state. This is a hair faster than its predecessor, for which the average time was 20.5 seconds, and about 2 seconds slower than the average of all the phones we've tested. Using a numeric keyboard can be slower to enter contact names than using a QWERTY keyboard, but a primary factor is also the menu system and how quickly it is to get to the contact addition dialogue. On the Chocolate 3, the right soft key is set by default to go immediately to the Contacts application, which facilitates this task. Looking at other flip phones we've tested with standard numeric keypads, the Razr2 V8 took 13.33 seconds and the Samsung SLM took 19.02 seconds. Comparatively, on the Nokia E71, a phone with a full QWERTY keypad, it takes just 11.14 seconds to create a contact. Unless you're regularly racing to enter contacts into your cell phone, doing so on the Chocolate 3 won't be a time-consuming chore. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.
Time to Add Contacts (sec)
Looking/Sorting/Search (2.5)
In the main contacts list view, there is only one way in which your contacts are presented - alphabetical by first name. There is no way to select to view your contacts by last name alphabetically or by their business name. If you have assigned your contacts to a group, you can view your contacts by group only by going through the main menu, not through the right soft key shortcut. You can search for your contacts while in the list view by starting to type in the first name of the contact, though you cannot search by last name alone.
Fields (2.2)
There are 11 fields automatically available for all contacts: Name, Mobile 1, Home, Work, Email 1, Group, Picture, Ringtone, Mobile 2, Fax, and Email 2. You cannot edit these fields, or add new ones, custom or otherwise. While it's nice to be able to add a custom ringtone to a contact so you can know who's calling before you answer the phone, this is becoming a common feature on most cell phones so the Chocolate 3 offers nothing special in this area.
Speed Dial/Voice tags/Voice command (5.67)
Its spec sheet says that there are 999 speed dial slots on the Chocolate 3, though we stopped counting at 100, which should be more than ample for most users already. Though voice tags cannot be added to contacts, the Chocolate 3 does have voice recognition software for dialing and other tasks, like starting a new text message or playing songs in the music application. The quickest way to trigger the voice command feature is through the dedicated button on the left side of the phone. In our tests, the voice command function for dialing contacts worked very well - it recognized all of our test contacts without issue, and even repeats them back to you for confirmation in a slightly stilted computerized voice.
Adding Calendar Items (13.41)
At first blush, the calendar application is a bit buried in the menu system by default. You must go to the menu, then Settings & Tools, then to Tools, and the Calendar is the fourth option in this list, so it can take a little time to finally get there. But there is a shortcut set by default - you can go directly to the calendar by pressing the down button on the D-pad. This shortcut helped in our calendar entry testing - we time how long it takes to enter an appointment, starting with the phone in a closed, unlocked state. The Chocolate 3 posted some speedy times in this test at 7.46 seconds on average, not far behind the previous Chocolate, which also had this D-pad calendar shortcut.
Time to Add Appointment (sec)
Calendar Views (4.89)
The calendar can be viewed in 3 ways - by month, week, or day. There is no tasks application to incorporate into the calendar to give you an agenda view. The default view is monthly, regardless of the last view you selected when you were last using the calendar application. In this view, a date with a scheduled event is shown in red text, versus the standard white text for other days with no events. The current date is shown in magenta text. When you select a date that has events in the month view, you see a list of the events sorted in ascending order by time. This list view shows the event start time and the title of the event, though it will only show the first 20 characters of the title if it's a long one. The event title field is limited to 32 characters total, and you'll get an error message if you try to enter something longer. When you view an individual event, every field that was visible when it was created is visible, including any fields that were not filled in or selected.
The week view shows the most information about your general availability since busy times are blocked off in blue and open times are left blank. The week view shows the current week from Sunday to Saturday, and there are no options to change this.
Fields (6.0)
There are enough calendar item fields to keep your day on track, but not many more. Beyond giving a calendar item a name and start and end times, you can set it to repeat regularly, specify the timing of an alarm before the end and select a ringtone for that alarm, and set whether or not it will vibrate for the alarm as well. And that's it. You can't invite anyone else, include an address or location, assign any groups or categories, add a note, link it to a contact, or anything else. The Chocolate 3 is not a smartphone, and its Calendar application clearly demonstrates this.
Adding ToDo/Task (0.0)
Like its predecessor, there is no To Do/Tasks application on the Chocolate 3, so there are no scores for this section.
ToDo/Task Sorting and Prioritizing (0.0)
Not applicable.
Adding Notes (3.05)
We time how quickly a note can be added to the phone to gauge how easy it is, starting with the phone in the closed, unlocked state. Our times were a few seconds slower than with the previous Chocolate - the predictive text function is off by default though taking the time for the extra key presses to turn it on still led to faster times than using multi-tap to enter letters and we averaged 16.42 seconds with our test note. The Notes application is buried in the menu system near the Calendar application, but with no handy shortcut set to get to it by default. It is very basic, allowing you to save text notes with a character limit of just over 300. Typing on a full keyboard is usually much faster - entering notes on a Nokia E71 and an iPhone 3G took 9.96 seconds and 11.20 seconds respectively. Turning on the predictive text feature will save you some time, but it is a bit annoying that you can't set this feature to be the default entry mode. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.
Time to Add Note (sec)
Note Interface (5.0)
The Note application interface in the Chocolate 3 is the same as it was on its predecessor, which is to say that it has been unchanged since the first iteration of the LG Chocolate. The only view available is a list of notes saved showing their date and time of creation and the first 21 characters of the note. There's no change to the search function and it operates the same way as it does in the Calendar application.
Note Formatting (0.0)
It is not possible to change the format of a Note on the Chocolate 3.
Voice Memo (6.0)
As with its predecessor, it is very easy to create voice memos on the Chocolate 3. If you press and hold the dedicated Voice Command key on the left of the phone while it's open, you can begin recording a voice memo simply by pressing the select button on the D-pad to start and end it. The only setting in the Options menu is the maximum memo length - you can choose 1 minute or 60 minutes as the maximum. Recorded memos show up in the My Sounds folder, which is accessed through the Media Center/Music & Tones menu. When you view your recordings in the My Sounds folder, you can choose to send it to others as a multimedia message, save it to an online album, rename it, lock it so it cannot be deleted accidentally, or see more information about it, including the file size and full name.
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