LG Chocolate VX8550 Cell Phone Review - Intro
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Mark Brezinski Published on July 27, 2007 Comment on this |
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With its sleek design, uncluttered face and unusual form factor, no one can deny that the LG Chocolate VX8550 is a great-looking phone. And it has a set of features that mean it's not just a pretty face; a 1.3 megapixel camera, fast EVDO data connection, great music features, and a redesigned control system that deals with many of the previous version's faults. But it's far from perfect; the camera took only lackluster images with inaccurate color at low resolution, and there's limited support for e-mail. The interface is still also somewhat awkward; we found the new scroll wheel to be an improvement on the touch-only interface of the old Chocolate, but we did find ourselves accidentally scrolling sometimes and selecting the wrong option on a menu. The VX8550 is the sequel to the popular VX8500, taking what worked for the original and improving on many of its faults. It has more responsive touch buttons and a much better d-pad. The End key has also returned to a more standard position at the top of the keypad, as opposed to its previous location at the side of the phone. The placement of buttons has also improved, and pressing them feels more natural. The Chocolate still uses the standard Verizon BREW interface, which means users of the old Chocolate will feel comfortable at the reins, but Java and Flash applications aren't supported.
But the new Chocolate has a lot of strong features that make it a great pick for teenagers, who tend to value aesthetic appeal and multimedia functionality over organizational features. Conversely, business-types will probably want to steer clear of the Chocolate; it's no BlackBerry killer.
The Chocolate remains a Verizon exclusive, and is available for $99.99 with a two-year contract, after a $50 mail-in rebate.
Here are brief summaries to the different areas of our review. Click on any of the titles to read the full section.
Tour & Design - The Chocolate is well designed, and has a very sleek look. Though it feels sturdy, its screen is exposed and could be very susceptible to scratching.
Audio Quality - We found audio performance to be very good. The frequency response was well within the limits we test against, so voices should sound clear and easy to hear.
Imaging - The camera captured images with poor resolution and bad color representation that looked awful; the camera will only be good enough for casual snapshots.
Making/Receiving Calls - Dialing on the Chocolate can be difficult due to the small keypad. The keypad has a good positive feel, though; you definitely know when you've pressed a key.
Messaging - The Chocolate doesn't have e-mail software, but it does have adequate SMS capabilities.
Organizer - The organizer offers little functionality; you get a basic calendar, but no to-do list or task management. There is also no way to synchronize this data with a desktop application.
Multimedia - While the media player software is good, the Chocolate does not make organizing your audio and video easy.
Software - The Chocolate is equipped with the standard Verizon BREW interface. Its OS is nothing flashy. There isn't much in the way of included software, and only a limited number of third part applications are available.
Battery Life - Battery life was above average, with more than four hours of talk time. The music playback time was downright exceptional; more than 15 hours.
Connectivity - The Chocolate supports both US CDMA bands, a good amount of Bluetooth profiles, and connects via high-speed EVDO.
Hardware - The hardware is certainly an improvement over the previous model, sporting more user-friendly touch buttons and a respectable d-pad.
Other Features - The Chocolate claims it can be used as a wireless modem, but we were unable to get this function to work. There are a few extra software applications, none of which are noteworthy.
Value & Comparisons - A two-year contract will net you a Chocolate for $149.99, which is a decent price for a mid-range phone. After $50 mail-in rebate, that price drops further to $99.99.
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