My new phone every two years deal with Verizon came up and I wanted to switch from my LG VX-6100 to a LG Chocolate Mint VX-8500 mostly for the bluetooth capabilities.

I absolutely loved my LG VX-6100, loved the battery life, the ability to customize easily, the functionality and the ease of use. Since the Chocolate Mint was also the LG brand I assumed it would perform as my last phone. However this is not the case.

Things I didn't like:
WHAT YOU GET: In the box, you get the phone, ear phone adaptor, and the charger. That's it!! I was hoping it would have at least a belt clip, but I guess more and more phones are not coming with that. And what's up with the ear phone adaptor? This is a piece I'm sure I’ll lose after time. It's so small and such hassle to carry around if you would ever need it.

BLUETOOTH: The Bluetooth has its ups and downs. I was able to use Bitpim (free software) and transfer customized ringtones (my own cut of 30 second song clips) via Bluetooth. However, Bitpim does not transfer large songs or pictures. I was able to back up my contacts and my text messages using the Bitpim software.

I have had two different Motorola H700 Bluetooth headsets and it does NOT work well with the Chocolate VX-8500. It will be working one minute and the next it goes silent with it still showing connection to the phone. This is tricky, because if you have an incoming phone call, you answer then you hear nothing and the caller hears nothing…very frustrating! I know 3 people that have the Motorola H700 Bluetooth headset and they do not have this problem. Apparently, when I told the Verizon employees about my situation, they said that many people come in complaining about the compatibility of their Bluetooth headset with their LG Chocolate. He suggests only using a LG Bluetooth headset with the LG Chocolate VX-8500. I do not like any of the current LG Bluetooth headsets and plan on getting a Plantronics to see if that works.

BATTERY LIFE: The battery life is horrible. The manufacturer claims 3.5 hours talk time. I hardly get that, it’s more like 2 hours talk time with me. It could be because I have my Bluetooth on most of the time. When it runs out of battery, I believe it has two warning beeps before automatically powering off while you hang up on someone. It doesn’t beep in your headset so if you’re not looking at your phone or it’s far away, then the phone will just hang up and you’ll be clueless while your call has ended. There is an extended battery available; I’ll probably have to buy it.

HARD TO HOLD: The top part of the phone slides up to reveal the keypad. I think the phone is hard to hold. I tend to multitask a lot and I have problems balancing the phone on my shoulder with my cheek resting on it. Good news, the buttons that touch your face will disable after a few seconds so you won’t accidentally push buttons with your face. I recommend getting a Bluetooth headset to fix this problem.

USER INTERFACE: The phone is not initially user friendly. This took about 5 hours of playing with every option. For instance, when you are in the contacts list and you go into edit mode pushing the back button could be disastrous because I have deleted digits and accidentally hit the OK button to save. Thank goodness I have a backup of everyone's number. I definitely hate using the contacts list because if I'm in a rush and am not consciously thinking about what I'm pushing I will delete parts if not all the digits of someone's number and save.

IPOD BUTTONS: The IPOD looking buttons on the front are quirky. There is an option to change the sensitivity (4 levels), but I have mine on the medium setting. No matter what sensitivity level I put it one, I realize I cannot push the buttons with thin gloves on, or when I do push the buttons with my bare fingers there is a hesitation of the menu to change, it's comparable to typing on a computer and having that small delay before the characters appear, it's quite frustrating.

END CALL BUTTON: The end call button is located on the right side of the phone. I am right handed and hold the phone in my right hand. In the 13 days that I've owned this phone, I have accidentally hung up on 3 callers out of my possible 200 calls I’ve made.

SIDE BUTTON FOR MENU: In order to access the phone when a caller calls, you have to touch a side button before you can get to the main menus. I hate that I have to do an extra step before answering the phone, or switching between menus while in a call.

CHARGER COVER: I don’t like the fact that there is a cover that needs to be removed in order to charge the phone. I can see me breaking that within the next two years.

SMALL BUTTONS: Some of my friends who have made phone calls from my phone complain about the small buttons on the keypad. I have small fingers so it doesn’t bother me much.


Things I DO like about the phone
TRENDY AND GENEROUS LOOK: I like the overall artistic design. Looks very trendy and has a big screen, good for reading text messages, viewing pictures, and viewing lists in the command menus.

SPEAKERPHONE: Everyone keeps saying there isn’t a speakerphone but there is!! When you’re on a call the camera button turns into a speaker button and you can toggle the speaker on or off via that button.

SOUND QUALITY: The sound quality is really good. Everyone says they can hear me clear. Playing ringtones via the speaker sounds pretty good and even talking via speaker phone is great. When I’m on a call sometimes the sound quality is too good and loud that others around me can hear the conversation so I have to turn down the volume.

MATERIAL: The phone is made of a plastic that doesn’t scratch under normal use. I tend to shove things in my purse and get a lot of things scratched up from my keys. There have been many opportunities where my phone should have scratched by now, and it hasn’t. Unscratchable (under normal conditions) plastic is a great thing!!

CAMERA: The camera is very nice. On my old phone the camera had a nasty resolution, but the LG VX-8500 has a decent looking quality of pictures that I will definitely use more; warning, there is no flash on the camera.

CUSTOMIZABLE BUTTONS: I love that you can customize the arrow keys on the top of the phone. Under the Settings, you can make all the arrows go to a certain application. I have my left arrow opening the Bluetooth menu, the up arrow to my messages, the right arrow to my alarm clocks, and the down arrow to my calendar.


I should also note, since the LG Chocolate Mint VX-8500 has become my only line of communication, I will not be using it for music listening purposes. I have no comments to make about the music part of this phone.

Overall I am still debating whether to return this phone. I hate that the Motorola H700 Bluetooth set doesn’t work well with it, and I will be angry if only the LG Bluetooth headset works with it. I am not too fond of the button layout, but the quality of sound makes the phone well worth it.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 99.00
Recommended for: Stylish Trendsetters - Hip and Trendy