LG Chocolate 3 Cell Phone Review - Software
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Marianne Schultz Published on September 02, 2008 Comment on this |
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| The Chocolate 3's interface will be familiar to Verizon subscribers and doesn't offer anything spectacular, but it is functional and can be customized a bit to make it more pleasing to your eye and suit the way you want to navigate to certain areas. The web browser is still not enjoyable to use, with no improvement over the last incarnation of the phone. |
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OS (3.5)
As with its predecessors, the Chocolate 3 runs a proprietary operating system that is focused around enabling users to download multimedia content directly to their phones using Qualcomm's BREW platform. The Chocolate 3 is not a smartphone, and as such, its operating system is not expandable and is only customizable along the built-in parameters defined by the operating system in terms of soft keys, wallpapers, etc. It is fairly easy to navigate, and we like how easy it is to get to the Music application and getting content through the VCAST service is indeed easy as pie. We have fixed scores set for the more advanced smartphone operating systems, but score proprietary systems based on our impressions of their stability and ease of use up to a maximum of 5 points. The Chocolate 3's operating system has not changed much from that of its predecessors and we're scoring it accordingly.
Home Screen Score (5.0)
As on the previous Chocolate, your standard signal strength, connectivity, and battery strength information is shown at the top. The date and time is shown at the bottom of the wallpaper image. Right below the date and time is a status bar that shows small icons to indicate other status items, such as small icons to represent when the phone is vibrate mode or an upcoming event in the calendar. Your soft key and Menu shortcuts are shown below this status bar. By default, they are Message and Contacts, but you can change them to suit your needs. The default home screen wallpaper is an animated one with a music theme. You have the ability to change it to a saved picture or video, or one other built-in animated screen image. You can also set Album Art from your music collection to be shown while music is playing. Overall, the home screen is reasonably informative, customizable, and straightforward and has not changed from the last Chocolate.
Extensibility (1.0)
While the operating system's BREW platform facilitates the downloading of multimedia content directly to the phone, it's still a closed system that does not include any third-party applications that extend the functionality of the phone, so we don't award any points for this. Java applications like Opera Mini or Google Maps cannot be downloaded to the Chocolate 3.
Customizability (3.5)
The Chocolate 3 can be customized in many of the basic ways most users want since you can change the wallpaper, ringtones, the way the menu is shown, and there are even a few built-in that can change the look of the menus and icons. There is also some flexibility to change font sizes. Beyond this, you can't load your own themes or re-arrange, hide, or delete applications, as with most phones that have proprietary operating systems. With no significant changes from the last version of this phone, the Chocolate 3 earns the same score in this area.
OS Responsiveness (7.0)
Like its predecessor, the Chocolate 3 is fairly responsive. There's an occasional lag when going from the closed unlocked state to the main menu, but everything moves pretty smoothly after that. Using the keypad to select menu items really makes things fly. Using the browser is good, and the same goes for the music application. The only slow area is the VCAST store, but this is also largely dependent on the speed of your cellular connection depending on your location. With the last Chocolate we reviewed, there were problems viewing some videos that resulted in significant lags and crashes, but we did not experience this with the Chocolate 3 and its responsiveness score has consequently improved.
Browser Features (6.0)
The Chocolate 3's browser can view WAP and HTML sites, but cannot view Flash or Javascript content, nor can it handle frames. It also cannot save images or other files from web pages, handle RSS feeds, manage site passwords, or automatically fill in fields for you. It can store cookies and handle encryption. The Chocolate 3's browser is really very basic and works best for quick hits of WAP sites that are built with fewer graphics and with small phone screens in mind, and it hasn't changed from the last Chocolate.
Browsing Interface (3.5)
Non-WAP web pages are not rendered well in the Chocolate 3's browser. On such a small screen, the pages viewed sometimes bear little resemblance to how they appear on a computer screen. But, this is normal for a device that is not meant to be a smartphone. You can only use the D-pad to navigate, and it jumps from link to link sequentially, so link-heavy sections can take a little while to scroll through. You can only view web pages in portrait orientation, unlike the video player where you can choose landscape orientation.
Each item on the start page and every Favorite you designate is assigned a number, and using the numeric keypad to enter the number of the desired item is the quickest way to navigate in the browser. Other than this, there are no shortcut keys to help you get around, nor can you set any.
Browser Access (3.33)
For this, we count how many steps, in term of the number of key presses, it takes to get to the browser and navigate to a specific website. We don't time how long it takes for a page to load since this is largely dependent on network signal and can vary greatly. The up button on the D-pad is designated by default to take you to the web application, and even with using this shortcut, it took 12 key presses to get to a website. This is no change from the previous iteration of the Chocolate but is disappointing in comparison to the iPhone 3G that takes only 4 steps and the Sony Ericsson z750a with 5 steps.
Steps to Browse to WirelessInfo.com
Gaming (2.0)
The Chocolate 3 does not come with any games, even trial versions, out of the box. A game can be a nice time killer when you're stuck waiting in line somewhere and it would have been nice to see something come with the Chocolate 3 to fill this minor need. As with music, Verizon makes it very easy for you to spend money to get games, with a link to "Get New Applications" at the very top of the Games menu. Games can be purchased with a subscription, where you pay monthly to use it, or for unlimited use for a higher price.
We downloaded the unlimited version of Tetris with a price of $7.99, which would have been $3.99 for a subscription. Your primary navigation tool for games is the D-pad, and it works reasonably well though requires firm presses. One thing we noticed with the D-pad is that key presses result in an audible click, so if you like to play your games in quiet places, you probably won't go unnoticed.
Calculator (7.0)
The Chocolate 3's calculator is interesting - you are presented with a blank box that shows the numbers you enter for calculation and a legend showing the function of each portion of the D-pad. The common functions - addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division - are easily accessed. You can also enter exponents and do nested calculations. There is no full scientific or financial functionality, but this application will work for you easily in a pinch.
We should also note that the Chocolate 3 comes with an EZ Tip Calculator as well. It's set up for you to enter the bill total, the desired tip percentage, the number of ways the bill should be split, and then calculates the total amount to pay and the tip to leave. While it's specific to a certain task, the inclusion of this calculator is a nice touch.
Alarm (4.0)
The Chocolate 3 includes an alarm clock that lets you set up to 3 alarms at once. You can set it to repeat daily, Monday through Friday, or on weekends and give it a specific ringtone sound. You can't name an alarm, add more alarms, set it to go off on a specific day in the future, set a different repeat schedule, or add any notes to an alarm. This alarm clock will work for you if you're traveling and simply want to set a wake-up time or something similar, but it won't be useful if you have any complex needs where you need reminders on specific days each week on an ongoing basis.
Document Software (0.0)
The Chocolate 3 does not include any software to view or edit documents of any type.
Other Software (0.0)
The Chocolate 3 does not include any software that significantly adds to the feature set of the phone.
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