Verizon and LG release Chocolate phone, stop the madness

With release dates galore, unboxing pics and of course a whole former life as Korea-only hawterness, you can understand if we're happy to be "done" with this one. Verizon has finally released LG's Chocolate phone, the VX8500. There's a mostly a dearth of surprises: sexy slider action in a 0.69-inch thick form factor, V Cast Music store support, 1.3 megapixel camera and some speedy EV-DO. The biggest news is that along with the release, Verizon is dropping the $15 monthly fee from their V Cast Music store, making downloads "only" cost the two buck fee for dual PC and phone downloads. So, if you haven't already bought one and sent us unboxing pics, you can pick up the $150 phone (after a $50 rebate) and be the coolest kid on your block for at least five seconds.

Read - Verizon launches Chocolate
Read - Verizon drops V Cast Music monthly fee

[Anthony @ Jul 31st 2006 11:27AM]

*The LG Chocolate supports the Headset, Handsfree, Serial Port, Dial Up Networking, Advanced Audio Distribution, and Object Push for vCard. It does not support all Bluetooth object transfer (OBEX) profiles. See Bluetooth for details. Accessories sold separately.

(details from http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/phonedetailpopup.jsp?item=packageItem&noprices=true&phoneId=2426 )

Doh!

[David @ Jul 31st 2006 11:40AM]

And VZW is finally (again) supporting MP3 with this LG. Good move.

[schmod @ Jul 31st 2006 11:59AM]

hmmmm

the question is: is it worth $150?

i'm switching to verizon, and am torn between this and the razr.... decisions, decisions.....

[Perrey Z. @ Jul 31st 2006 12:27PM]

Wait a sec. Wasn't "Chocolat" originally Brown in the first photos from Luxist.com? what the hell happened
there?

[alienhead_69 @ Jul 31st 2006 12:32PM]

Here's a much better link.

http://howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=905468

[alienhead_69 @ Jul 31st 2006 12:44PM]

oops...try this one.
http://www.verizonwireless.com/chocolate/index.html

[Todd @ Jul 31st 2006 1:20PM]

Mr. Miller you seem relieved that'll you don't have to post on the Chocolate any more...

...but when will the speculative postings about the mythical moto SCPL, replete with titanium housing, end?

[kenzo @ Jul 31st 2006 1:30PM]

I played with this phone on saturday. A verizon rep had it in circuit city. I don't know if this is true, but he mentioned that the phone does NOT play MP3s. He said when you upload MP3s to the phone it converts them (on the phone) into WMAs. He said the process takes about 35 seconds.

[Ben @ Oct 3rd 2006 9:50PM]

wma support only as far as i can tell, kinda disappointed when i got the phone about that point, everything else was great...touch buttons a little hard to get used to with american sized fingers...if mp3 upload is truely possibly can someone tell me how?

[Alex @ Jul 31st 2006 1:51PM]

Do I get the sexy PRS in the wallpaper as well?

[Matt @ Jul 31st 2006 2:30PM]

Hey schmod, don't get the RAZR V3m because it sucks. While phone conversations and reception are unprecedent compared to other phones, it has the worst battery in any 3G phone. Consequently, I can't reccomend it. Give the Chocolate a try, which is what I plan to trade my brand new RAZR for.

[Justin @ Jul 31st 2006 2:32PM]

Verizon has the worst phones.

Why can't they offer a slim phone. This thing is small and fat, I hate it.

They finally get the Razor three years after it was introduced, and then they decide, "Hey you know what would be good a next step. A really really fat phone. That's what people want. Something really uncomfortable that doesn't fit into pockets very well. That's gonna be a huge hit."

[LS @ Jul 31st 2006 2:48PM]

aside from the looks, i really cant see what the big deal is with this phone

n73 for the time being for me, ta

[shilena @ Jul 31st 2006 3:42PM]

It looks alright, but I'm not crazy about the size. I should probably check it out in action before deciding.

[Potown_Al @ Jul 31st 2006 4:06PM]

Does this mean that Verizon will restore the ability to transfer mp3's with Phone Tools to the RAZR V3M or will I still have to resort to some good ole' warranty voiding? wink wink.

[Colin @ Jul 31st 2006 4:35PM]

Completely awesome, but why does it have to be a slider?

[Q @ Jul 31st 2006 4:44PM]

If you want a thinner phone, the GSM version of the Chocolate is 15.2mm as opposed to 17.5mm of the Verizon CDMA version.

[JunkNugget @ Jul 31st 2006 5:21PM]

Kenzo, The Chocolate can play both MP3's and WMA's. I have one with a 1 gig Trans Flash card, and it's awesome! No converting MP3's into WMA files.

Justin, the Chocolate is really not that much thicker then the RAZR. If you hold them both side by side, you'll see that the Chocolate is not a fat phone. Not only that, but I carry mine in my pocket and I don't have any issues there. I used to use a leather pouch to carry my Chocolate, but the phone is too thin and kept sliding out, so I switched to my pocket.

[TangledThorns @ Jul 31st 2006 5:26PM]

I was very interested in the Chocolate till I read there is NO SPEAKERPHONE! Verizon will release the Motorola MOTOKRZR K1m in a couple of months so I'll get that instead.

[Michele @ Feb 13th 2007 2:46PM]

Luckily there is a speakerphone, but it's hard to find and the user manual SUCKS.

While ON a call... punch the "camera" button and this enables the speakerphone feature

Have fun with the CHOCOLATE ya-all!!!

[terrag @ Jul 31st 2006 5:41PM]

You can play mp3's from the phone. You do not have to convert them. The circuit city rep was wrong.

[LuminaireX @ Jul 31st 2006 6:36PM]

Same crappy interface I see. When will Verizon finally get it through their skulls that a baby with a crayon can design a better phone?

And what the hell is with the external touchpad? It was bad enough when my phone would manage to unlock itself and leave seven-minute voicemails, and when the camera key would get mashed down and take 30 individual photos of the inside of my pocket. Why would I look forward to the same phenomenon providing my testicles with the musical pleasure they deserve?

Screw that. When my contract is up I'm getting a Sidekick from T-Mobile

[Glenn @ Jul 31st 2006 9:01PM]

I just struck be that this phone style, having a dial, should actually be dialable by using a rotary motion. Something like the phones of old.

[Dave @ Jul 31st 2006 10:40PM]

Chocolate's out? That's grand.

Hurry up with the VX9900 already!!!

[JimD @ Aug 1st 2006 1:13AM]

Another week...another iPod killer. This is getting old.

[eric anthony @ Aug 1st 2006 3:20AM]

No speaker phone. That is a deal breaker! Nothing really wrong with the Razr v3m. It just has a smaller battery. Great reception and heck everyone has a car charger anyway it seems. I will wait for the krzr to replace my beloved e815.

[htmlgecko @ Aug 1st 2006 7:01AM]

The LG Chocolate phone has been out in China (Beijing at least) for MONTHS now. I don't see why it's capabilities are still such a big deal- despite what we knew about it from Korea...

Oh yeah, and the American marketing would have been much more effective if they kept their Chinese catchphrase, "I CHOCOLATE YOU!"

[yuppicide @ Aug 1st 2006 9:02AM]

This thing isn't that good. I'd rather just get something will a full keyboard.

[TxdoHawk @ Aug 1st 2006 5:19PM]

The phone looks slick but I have to agree with Yuppicide, my next phone is something with a keyboard, probably The V. I was going to grab the Q but I have heard countless complaints about its battery life. A pity, because like everyone else on this planet I loathe the garish crayon-red interface Verizon insists on slapping into all their phones.

[RD Gibson @ Aug 2nd 2006 1:37PM]

Either the Brit version is markedly different from the Korea/US version, or LG needs to demand a retraction.

I clearly see a micro SD slot on the photo of this phone, yet the CNET UK review of this phone (http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/0,39030107,49278642,00.htm)makes the following statements:

"...it's a shame about the lack of expandable memory"

"...no memory card slot"

"...the lack of external memory means this won't replace your iPod nano."

"If you want to take photos and store MP3s on the Chocolate phone you're going to need lots of memory and, as previously stated, you get 128MB of internal storage space. Unfortunately, that's it for memory space and unless you're happy with around 20 to 30 songs and a few photos on your phone, you're out of luck as there's no expandable memory card slot."

Can someone clarify?

[Ex505 @ Aug 2nd 2006 10:45PM]

Should i get the chocolate of the Q

[Hassan @ Aug 4th 2006 11:27AM]

I REALLY wanted the Chocolate, before Verizon ruined it. The O.G. Chocolates had that amazingly beautiful heat activated interface on the top that disappeared when it wasn't in use, and then would glow pretty red...so when it was in your pocket you wouldn't worry about it unlocking.

I hate their branding, I hate the fact that they don't carry ANY GSM phones...I do love my Q though. The battery life isn't bad at all. I just wanted something smaller and pretty to carry around with me at night when I'm boozin'.

[JMCobra @ Aug 4th 2006 11:33AM]

Too bad no speakerphone, that is a deal breaker for me as well. I will wait and see what this new Motorola MOTOKRZR K1m will be like! I like my e815

[Ron Wilson @ Aug 4th 2006 11:38PM]

Another great phone by LG.

[Todd @ Aug 5th 2006 10:46PM]

Just got my chocolate phone today and looks good so far.

Positives:
1) Slimmer than it looks in the picture and fits well in my pocket. Much smaller than my 60g ipod and thinner than my e815.
2) Music function is easy to use if you have mp3's on your computer already. I had it set up and listening to tunes in less than a half hour. (mp3's and wma's)
3) Stereo headphones are noise canceling and also have a microphone so you can use them for phone conversations and hear the caller very well through both ears in high noise. I like this alot.
4) The memory is upgradable to 2g (not sure how much yet) and you can get a small as 128mb.
5) I like the slider much better than a flip phone personally.
6) It is a very good looking phone also.
7) Alarm function works so that you can wake up to music.
Negatives:
1) Haven't figured out if there is a clock visible while dormant which I want.
2) Not really sure if I like the heat activated touchpad yet, it is kind of user unfriendly.
3) I don't like the lack of regular plugin for headphones. The adapter is just another gadget to lose and it is cumbersome sticking ou the side. The included headphones plug in directly but I have a set of Bose I like to use and would rather not have to keep track of another small piece of equipment.

Overall I like the phone so far, not unhappy with the money spent.

[Darren @ Aug 8th 2006 1:50PM]

I own this phone. The lack of speakerphone sucks, I may have to return it just for that reason. I wonder if this can be altered with a software upgrade in the future? The weird thing is, there is a speaker on the back of the phone. The touch pad is fine, although the middle "ok" button is a bit of the pain on my phone. My last phone was the Moto V710. One of the best features of that phone was when you used the T9word texting, it would give you a list of words to choose from when entering common numbers, for example, when entering "3663", that could be "done" or "food" and the phone would give you a choice of which word you wanted. This phone does not offer this, do any others out there?

[Lou @ Aug 8th 2006 3:50PM]

I'm currently with sprint which I hate mostly because of phone selection, this chocolate has caught my eye but I have been a long time hater of Verizon (I have home phone and dsl service)

Anyways, I'm curious how you get charged for using the mobile web 2.0? I don't think I'll be downloading any music directly from Verizon but would like to surf the web... Since Verizon's dropped the 15 dollar Vcast charge and the web portion isnt included with the text messaging charge I'm curious how web use is accumulated? (sprint lets you browse with its $15 text messaging charge) Any info would be greatly appreciated before I decide to dive into a 2 year contract with the big V.

Thanks.

[uhyeahsure @ Aug 16th 2006 4:56PM]

I just upgraded to this from the v710 three days ago. Initial thoughts:

1. Man, do I miss being able to set my own mp3's as my ringer.

2. Glad I can still use my own jpg's for wallpaper (no direct transfer via cable with the music kit, but that's why the transflash cards come with adapters).

3. Either I have a bad battery, or this phone has a binge drinking college student-like thirst for the juice. We're talking maybe 14 hours of time... ON STANDBY, with only a 15 minute phone call thrown in. I haven't even really used the mp3 player yet. I've changed some of my settings to kill the more energy-hogging things (always-on bluetooth, gps locator), and I called my Verizon salesperson, who agreed to swap out my battery for a different one, so we'll see what happens there.

4. The concerns about the touchpad leading to erroneous button-mashing in your pocket are unwarranted. In fact, I have the opposite problem; half the time, I can barely kick the touchpad out of standby before it seems to shut right back off, especially in the closed position.

5. You have to go in and set the phone to use word-prediction mode when messaging. It's not automatically set to do it. However, once set, you can skip through a list of words.

6. Others seemed to have an easier time with it, but I had a tough time getting this thing to sync with my computer to transfer my mp3's initially. The process seems quirky, even following the provided directions.

7. Is this an i-pod killer? I can tell you that I haven't been interested in getting an i-pod before, as I didn't want the pocket clutter, but being able to have my camera, phone, and mp3 player all in one sleek-looking package was an incentive to bite the bullet and get this. Much like the camera, I don't need the best mp3 player available, I just need one occasionally and conveniently available.

[LR @ Aug 25th 2006 4:25PM]

Does anyone know if the mp3 player in the Chocolate can be integrated w/ your car audio system? Or maybe there are some adapters available for this?

[Carole @ Aug 31st 2006 10:47PM]

I bought the chocolate phone and so far have spent 2 days trying to get it to sync to WMP 10. Device not found and the phone says connection failed..Has anyone else had this trouble and was able to resolve it. Other than this trouble, I LOVE the phone. But if I can't resolve the MP3 player trouble it will go back. I have 13 days left to decide...PLEASE HELP!!!

[kelley @ Jan 11th 2007 3:44PM]

Just to let you know if you are having issues downloading music on to the phone throw the book away, stay clear of verizon employees, and listen to me ... It will save you the month spent trying to work with these people that don't have a clue. You do not need that cord unless you want to do vcast music..

Step one: Download software
Step two: Stick the tiny micro sd disk into larger disk that goes into your computer
Step three: stick the scandisk into your computer
Step four: open microsoft media player (make sure that it's the upgraded version #10 or #11)
Step five: on the right hand side of the media player there will be a section that says sync music drag you music over there.
Step six: after choosing music push start syncorizing wait for it to complete
Step seven: open up my computer, then the removable disk file.
Step eight: media player will have setup a file called music were it has dumped the files
Step nine: take the files from music file and put them in my_music (they have to be the actual file not the folder)
Step ten: take disk out, take tiny disk out, stick tiny disk back into phone.
FINAL STEP: turn off phone and turn it back on they should load on to your phone !!!

[legbamel @ Jan 5th 2008 9:54AM]

Thank you, thank you, thank you to kelley. Your instructions worked perfectly, and now so does my phone. I already had a 1G card loaded for my mp3 player, but now I don't have to carry both (after I finish getting rid of hundreds of folders. bleh)

[David @ Sep 3rd 2006 4:57PM]

I am having the same problem better music from my computer onto the phone. Anybody know what to do?

[Danielle @ Sep 7th 2006 3:43PM]

My fiance and I are both having the same problem not being able to put songs on our new Chocolate phones. So far, Verizon has not been able to solve the problem and it has been 4 days of working with them. I'll post if we find a resolution.

[Jacques @ Sep 7th 2006 5:54PM]

How are you getting it to play mp3's?? I put them on my micro SD card and then put it on my phone and it won't recognize any of the files, the ppl at verizon said they had to be WMA's. They're phone USED to play mp3's but then stopped when they upgraded the software, I think they signed a deal with windows to try to combat the IPOD and apple...

[Jacques @ Sep 7th 2006 5:56PM]

if anyone knows how to resolve this please let me know, I'm tommysiL12 on aim tommysil on yahoo, thanks, Jacques.....

[billy jack @ Oct 22nd 2006 12:27PM]

speakerphone is only accessible when you're on the phone. camera button activates it.

[Tracey MIllford @ Nov 6th 2006 6:55PM]

yes, this is a very nice phone I know that young kids and teens with insist on having it, but as some others below wonder, I wonder with them. Is is worth as much as it cost? I think that if they lowered the price it really would be a world dominating phone. I may stand alone on this but this truly could help our everyday lives from e-mail to text nowadays. I can't believe this type of technology exist. You just can't beat it.

[kayla @ Dec 19th 2006 12:24PM]

this phone is wierd!!! the bottons are sooo sensitive and its kind of cheap. Get the song "Smack That" get on the floor! oh sorry.
Anyways i have the mint one and its pretty cool!

[Christine @ Feb 18th 2007 6:44PM]

I have a Mac OS X version Macbookpro, a cherry chocolate phone, and a scandisk 1gb memory card. apparently there isn't a windows media player version 10 or 11 that is compatible with Mac OS X, and my cherry chocolate can only read songs that are in the wma format... how do i get my songs transferred???