I’ll be honest: The first thing I noticed about the VerizonWireless Chocolate cellphone is that it looks very, very cool. If you’re just trying to impress people, this phone fits the bill.
The LG Chocolate cellphone is a sort of hybrid cellphone and MP3 music player. While many cellphones have the ability to store and play MP3 and other music files, this functionality is often an afterthought, or made available on expensive phones.
But the LG Chocolate phone seems to have been designed from the ground up to have dual music and cellphone functionality. When closed, the phone even looks like a black iPOD, which I’m sure is no coincidence. When open, the Chocolate’s 12-key keyboard is available, and the buttons glow a snazzy red. Truly, the phone looks very nice.
During use, I liked several (non-music related) features. It’s designed to give easy and fast access to often-used features, like voice dialing and vibrate mode.
The iPOD-like center control panel is a touchpad. No buttons or moving parts are involved. Takes just a couple minutes to get used to it (and to adjust the sensitivity settings if needed), and then you’re off. It’s unique enough to set the phone apart from others, and most importantly, works well for screen navigation and music playback.
Music can be downloaded directly from Verizon’s V Cast music service, or synchronized with your computer. The songs are stored on a tiny Micro SD storage card. I was impressed with the fact I could store 256MB of music on a card no wider or thicker than my pinky fingernail. (Years from now, when we’re storing 3D movies using molecule-sized organic lasers, I’m probably going to regret saying that.)
As for the music itself: The LG Chocolate’s center touchpad and software design make V Cast music and playlists easy to listen to and navigate. The built-in speaker is surprisingly loud (though I’m guessing the 800 mAh battery won’t last long at full volume).
A cool perk is the phone supports Bluetooth for talking and listening. This comes in particularly handy for MP3 and music playback, as you can conserve the phone’s battery life while listening to music via wireless stereo headphones. I used the Motorola HT820 Bluetooth stereo headset, and was very impressed. I could crank the music as loud as I wanted with little or no distortion before the volume became painful. I didn’t notice any pops, clicks or anything indicating the headphones were picking up wireless signals.
If you don’t have an iPOD, or want to play music on a cellphone, don’t want a $500 superphone, and want a good dose of style, get the VerizonWireless LG Chocolate. It plays and works well. And it looks goood.