Verizon, LG intro new Chocolate

We'll spare you the "even sweeter the second time around" punnage that Verizon couldn't help crack and get straight to the point here. Following up its hit VX8500 last year, Verizon has introduced a new Chocolate to its lineup, the aptly-named VX8550. The re-upped model gets very slightly trimmer by shaving a few hundredths of an inch off every dimension from its predecessor, a new keypad with touch feedback, and something LG is calling "Trace Motion" -- some sort of lighting that works in conjunction with the new nav wheel. Carried over from the original Chocolate are the 1.3 megapixel cam, microSD slot, and wealth of music-related features, though sadly, the rumored 3.5mm jack ain't here. Look for it in stores July 9 in your choice of "Black Cherry" and "Blue Mint."

[NHAnimator @ Jul 5th 2007 11:08AM]

"We'll spare you the 'even sweeter the second time around' punnage..."

Aren't you actually NOT sparing us the punnage by saying that?

[Dinraj @ Jul 5th 2007 11:12AM]

Chrome Edges, chrome edges. iPhone copy, iPhone copy

[neilksos @ Jul 5th 2007 11:47AM]

eh.......the first chocolate in Europe had chrome edges........and that was out how long b4 the iphone.......?

[mustharshid @ Jul 5th 2007 12:59PM]

not only chrome edges, it has a touch screen - iphone copy, no doubt.

[Dinraj @ Jul 5th 2007 1:17PM]

My-o-my! Think my post got completely missed. I meant sarcasm there. iPhooney guys would pop in and shout iPhone copy. Thats what i meant!

[ScOObyDoo @ Jul 5th 2007 11:16AM]

Can we please ban the first person that whines that it isn't an iPhone?

Oops. Too late.

[gibber9583 @ Jul 5th 2007 11:20AM]

I dont think he was whining it wasnt an iphone....


I think from now on, any phone that has any feature,design,etc that the iphone has, then its clearly copying the iphone..

Oh wait...its a phone!!! it must be copying the iphone!

[Jack Ballz @ Jul 5th 2007 11:29AM]

LOL @ this piece o' crap phone.

iPhone put the benchmark out of this world. Buying anything else will get you LEFT IN THE DIGITAL DUST.

Lovin' my iPhone, also posted this from it.

[aalqadaffi @ Jul 5th 2007 11:37AM]

lolz @ u for saying digital dust.

And the iPhone didn't put anything out of this world except maybe the price for a phone w/ a two year contract.

There's a huuuge market of people (albeit mainly teens) that love the chocolate and this will surely be a hit among them.

Now go makeout w/ your iPhone since you're clearly in love with it.

[Snuks @ Jul 5th 2007 12:38PM]

The iPhone maybe the upper echelon of phones, but it caters to a different market, like the Chocolate and other similar phones cater to other markets.

Lay off man. You got yours. Why are you so concerned of what other people are getting? I love Apple and I have many of their product. I'd love to get an iPhone, but I choose not to. Why? Cause Verizon is waaaaaaaaaay better in the area im in. I can well afford that 600 dollars that you and 700,000 other people shelled out, but why do it and get no reception?

Quit being such an asshat.

[M Burke @ Jul 5th 2007 2:11PM]

I hated, HATED my chocolate phone, from the easy-to-scratch plastic to the continual pocket-dialing and mis-keys the device was a complete waste of money and time. Returning it to the Verizon store nearby, the cs rep there confided that she hated her own chocolate as well. I accepted an LG 8600 as a replacement but had to buy a separate contract for it. I told them there was no way I was walking out of there with a chocolate.

[Carol @ Aug 11th 2007 7:16AM]

OMG did you camp out to get it???? Some of us can't afford that and it's BIG, I love my FREE chocolate the new version you can lock the front so it doesn't go off like apparently it used to, open your mid to us poor people would ya'? It's GREAT phone I have a greta 17' MAC laptop, don't need to carry it with me..... :-)

[Carol @ Aug 11th 2007 7:19AM]

OOps on the spelling, can you say dyslexic????

[Jack Ballz @ Aug 11th 2007 4:16PM]

U should have waited for the iPhone Nano that's coming out in November.

Enjoy your Choc. phone though, for what it's worth. But think about what the Choc. phone is imitating, the iPod. LoL. Sorry, but I take the originator over an imitator. Especially when the imitator is so cheaply built and will be obsolete in 3 months.

Just because you'll be left in the DIGITAL DUST, that doesn't mean that you can't get an iPhone later. It's so cool, but like the Matrix, you have to see it for yourself...

[7of7 @ Jul 5th 2007 11:40AM]

That's a damn nice looking phone I say.

[sinhumane @ Jul 5th 2007 11:42AM]

wow.. i sent you this over a week ago... damn iphone crud.


iphone iz n ur blog space, takin up ur n00z.

[sinhumane @ Jul 5th 2007 11:44AM]

the phone should be out sometime in teh next month, i have the rebate form for it in my hand... it does infact come in black cherry, blue mint and black...

also, as a tidbit, the rizr z6tv (vcast tv phone) is slated for relaes in the same timeframe.

no word on the q9m...

[Tibwolf @ Jul 5th 2007 11:52AM]

I have the older Chocolate.

Touch controls != ease of use, or at least on this phone. The inclusion of an actual send button looks nice though. Now if only this newer version wouldn't always freeze on the user...

[VZWguy @ Jul 5th 2007 11:56AM]

lol @ digital dust

the iphone introduced...MP3 player? web surfing on the phone? HAHA oh wait, it turns sideways...oh no the 6700 did that 2 years ago. no, it didn't bring anything but a fancy touch screen. all be that very good, it doesn't really add "digital dust" to the spectrum. the Iphone add NOTHING to the table that wasn't already out 4-5 years ago with many carriers.

so save that crap for the uneducated masses who buy into apple's overhype.

the chocolate brings 4 GB MP3 player, a phone(that works ALL over the country), and bluetooth audio(something the Iphone does not have). The chocolate is not by any measure the "answer" to the Iphone, but it offers everything that the Iphone does minus a fancy touch screen interface.

The more you know...the more you can see through the hype.

[sola6loria @ Jul 5th 2007 12:37PM]

Because raw features >>> an elegant interface, amirite?

[FAUguy @ Jul 5th 2007 12:41PM]

Review:
http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/LG-VX8550-Chocolate-Review-review-r_1776.html

[marcomera @ Jul 5th 2007 1:04PM]

Just an off topic observation but how come Americans use metric for input/output jacks? example- "3.5mm jack." Here in Canada I mostly here people us standard- 1/4" or 1/8" jack. Seems like a roll reversal to me. Sorry I'm very sleep deprived.

[marcomera @ Jul 5th 2007 1:06PM]

sorry that was supposed to read "hear people use" again with the sleep deprevation

[Calvin @ Jul 5th 2007 3:16PM]

I like it. :) It's not something I'd buy, because I live in Canada and Telus ruins LG phones, but I like it.

[Sabeer Kibria @ Jul 5th 2007 3:53PM]

Man, when's the shine coming to the US. As a fashion oriented phone, it kicks butt all across the iPhone. If you only need a phone that has a good camera and an MP3 player built in, the shine's the way to go!

[Matt E. @ Jul 5th 2007 4:19PM]

Man, the LG Shine is one hot phone. Which means we'll never see it here in the states.

[[e-mail] @ Jul 5th 2007 6:10PM]

This phone does look promising.

Almost all the problems that the original had a major issue with are fixed on this. There is a physical slide lever to lock and unlock the phones buttons. Also, the send and end are INSIDE the phone. Very important.

The scroll-wheel button is actually a button also.

I hated the old chocolate, and always dissed it - but I actually think this version will be fairly reliable.

[Leonard Nimrod @ Jul 6th 2007 10:43PM]

LG does an admirable jobs with their desgins and I like how they don't try to do crazy things like "diamond shaped buttons".

"Trace Motion" sounds cool and actually seems like an aesthetic element that would more commonly come from Apple's design team.

Is this phone available for sale now or is just being introduced as a model coming down the road? If the latter, they picked a poor time to introduce it as it will surely get overshadowed by the still fervent iPhone hype.

[miggy45 @ Jul 7th 2007 2:11PM]

I'LL BE GETTING A RAZR2 INSTEAD!

[Jamie @ Jul 14th 2007 5:11PM]

I got one with my new every two, and I absolutely love it. My only worry is that the front won't stay polished, but hopefully there'll be a round of accessories to come out for it. The redesign is great- everything's intuitively placed, and I can't get over how impressive the speaker is. So yea, the first one wasn't that great, by any means. But in this one they seem to have corrected their mistakes well.

[Carol @ Aug 11th 2007 7:09AM]

I just got one for FREE with my 2 year renemwal, which I had planned on doing anyway, so who cares if and what it copies, I love it and the price is not $600.00! anyone who pays that for a friggin phone has too much $$$$ Please send some! and I am a MACer so having not read the instructions yet, not sure if I can use itunes on Mac but have frineds with Windows if not I'll but tunes for FREE I love it!!!!

[Jack Ballz @ Aug 13th 2007 9:41AM]

Shut your dumb @ss up.

You sound like a moronic peon of a pusspuss.

Get out of here BALLMER. Learn how to spell, not everyone can read hieroglyphics.

[Carol @ Aug 13th 2007 11:25AM]

Hello?? Can you like GET A LIFE!!!!! What a waste of time you are and sorry, I'm disabled and have a problem typing once in a while Look in the mirror! what do you see??? Jesus I feel sorry for you obviously an iphone person, I'm not saying it isn't a COOL phone but for those of us that can't afford it jack @SS this is a good one NOW not a year ago!!! Have a great day idiot and please don't write back, I have a life!!!

[dave @ Aug 14th 2007 10:15PM]

I just bought an chocolate for my girl. Does anybody know how to get mp3 files from itunes (mac) onto the chocolate and get it to work?

[Johnny @ Aug 15th 2007 11:17PM]

I just got the Blue Chocolate and I like the design and the whole button lock feature is very cool. My sister in law has the older model and I think it looked nice but I kept hanging up on myself everytime I talked on it. I bought the 2G card and it stores I think 16 albums, very good sound quality too.

[Alyssa @ Aug 18th 2007 11:52PM]

I'm considering getting one of the Strawberry Chocolate phones, but from what I've heard i'm having second thoughts. What are the pros and cons of it?

Thank you

ps
the iPhone is flashy but i think that it is way overpriced, even if it does have all of thosee 'features'

[Linus Hollis @ Oct 2nd 2007 2:50AM]

My daughter's LG Chocolate 8550 broke on the inside despite riding deep inside her backpack or in her purse. The insurance deductible is $50, but a
6-week-old phone should not break! Could California's [car] lemon law apply? I wish!