Trendy iPod Wannabe
Written: Apr 09 '07
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Pros: Decent call quality, can play music, slim profile phone.
Cons: Frustrating controls, sub-par music playing capabilities.
The Bottom Line: 50-50 shot. I have mixed feelings about this phone. It's really up to the type of person you are.
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| critic27's Full Review: LG Electronics VX8500 Chocolate |
I've had this phone since August 2006. It's been replaced once because of damage to the proprietary jack that is used for: the charger, USB cable and headphones. I think it's OK as a phone, great as a tethered modem (using Bluetooth or USB cable), and a sub-par music player.
Overall, the phone has almost equal amounts of positives and negatives, making it a so-so choice as a phone. The Chocolate really does not replace an iPod/mp3 player. I know because I'm using it as one now since my mp3 player died. This is a very poor mp3 player but (barely) adequate for the time being and I will be replacing it SOON as a music player.
PROS
1. Decent call quality. People I speak to have no problem hearing me. I do have issues when I’m speaking to someone on the Razr and Palm Treo phones (all VZW customers). I can’t hear them. These particular people admit that they are in a bad coverage area whenever I speak to them, so it could be that. They are the only people that I have problems hearing, so it could be the bad coverage or their phones. I think it’s their phones because I’ve traveled with them and I’ve had problems hearing them whenever they call me.
2. Decent photographs from the camera phone.
3. You can record video with the phone but it looks like a 1970s home video. The controls to this are buried in the phone menu, so I never use it.
4. EVDO-capable so Mobile Web is fairly speedy in EVDO covered areas. I’ve heard that this also causes the battery to drain because the phone is always searching for an EVDO signal, but I am happy with it so far, with the extended battery on the phone.
5. Use the phone as a modem. I am able to tether the phone as a modem via Bluetooth without issues. This phone does not have the speed as the PC cards sold by Verizon Wireless because it is not on a data plan. Depending on Verizon Wireless' coverage in your area, the speed can be anywhere from a bit faster than dial-up to really, really slow.
6. Decent music quality.
7. Phone is fairly compact with a large bright screen, which I really like. Even with the extended battery.
8. You can program four “hot keys” for fast access to phone programs you would use the most. To use, you press one of the four directional touch keys.
9. Has a loud speaker phone. Originally, my phone did not have a speaker phone (phone firmware v. 3). The replacement phone has the updated firmware (v. 4) and added the speaker capability. It's a nice feature. The phone outside speaker is fairly loud, and I've used it on the ski slopes and could hear the phone with my helmet on.
10. Has Phone book name or phone number announcement before the ring. If you set the phone to announce before the ringtone, the phone will announce who's calling (the name of the person in your phone book, the phone number if it's not in the phone book or if it's a restricted call). Very neat feature.
11. VCAST capable. I don't subscribe to this but you can use the VCAST service if you want to.
CONS
1. Touch buttons on the phone is so sensitive at “medium” setting that it beeps if your cheek/face touches the phone while talking. The low setting is not sensitive enough. The touch buttons does not respond if you’re wearing gloves.
2. Proprietary headphone jack makes it difficult to use average headphones with a 3.5-mm jack. The phone includes an adapter for a 2.5-mm jack. You can buy a 3.5-mm to 2.5-mm adapter from Verizon Wireless that includes long cable with a “push-to-talk” button/clip, microphone and volume slider so you can answer calls and control the volume of the headphone. It does not control the phone volume. The added length of the adapter to your headphone length makes it unwieldy to use the Chocolate as a music player: cable management becomes an issue and if anything touches the “push-to-talk” button, the phone will call the last number you dialed.
3. The headphone from the “VCAST Music Pack” does not block out ambient noise like the Shure E3c headphones. You have to crank up the volume (and do some damage to your hearing) in order to hear the music. This headphone has the proprietary jack attached.
4. Placement of the headphone jack is at an awkward place on the phone, and sticks out on the lower left side of the phone, making it difficult for you to place the phone upright in a phone holster (in a bag that has a slot for a phone). The jack sticks out too much for it to fit in a holster.
5. Proprietary jack. The headphone jack also is used for the USB cable and the AC adapter to charge the phone, so if anything happens to this jack from plugging and unplugging the AC adapter, headphones, USB cable, you are screwed.
6. So-so battery life. Especially if you have Bluetooth on, use the music player and use Mobile Web. That combination drains the battery pretty fast. (My guess would be about two hours with the combo use I mentioned.) I would have to charge the battery every night after normal usage: play a bit of music (half-hour), make/take a few calls, surf the web a bit. I had to buy the extended battery so it would last a week.
7. No Bluetooth OBEX file transfers. This is an issue with all Verizon Wireless Bluetooth-capable phones, not just the Chocolate phone.
8. Flimsy slot covers for the micro-SD card and for the proprietary jack. I broke one of two hinges for the micro-SD slot and really stretched the two hinges for the proprietary jack.
9. Tedious phone controls to create play list for your songs. Also, the phone only lists the song title, without the artist, on the play list. If you’re like me and do not memorize the names of all the songs on your list, this is a huge disadvantage especially if you have many songs. You cannot use Windows Media Player to create play list for your songs, but you can use it to sync your songs from your PC using the USB cable.
10. Play list maximum song limit is 50 songs. You can call this a music player that looks like an iPod, but it sure is a very poor copy of an iPod in terms of it's ability to control your music play.
11. Shuffle does not work well. I put my play list on shuffle and find that the Chocolate does not know what shuffle means. It will play the same song, back to back, or play song 1 again after playing song 2. Very, very annoying.
12. Voice recognition for voice dialing does not work well. Especially voice dialing by name, which never works. Voice dialing by number works 50% of the time, but who wants to memorize your speed dial list?
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 80.00
Recommended for: Stylish Trendsetters - Hip and Trendy
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Epinions.com ID:
critic27
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Reviews written: 30
Trusted by: 0 members
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