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1.5 stars
"Hyped Cellphone Won't Make You a Chocoholic"
Pros: Good marketing strategy
Cons: Read review from NYT
Summary: Review from the New York Times
Author: David Pogue
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/technology/circuits.html
Hyped Cellphone Won't Make You a Chocoholic
Chocolate, under the proper circumstances, can be a deeply satisfying treat for the senses.
It can also be a sticky mess.
Unfortunately, the heavily hyped Chocolate music player/cellphone (made by LG, offered by Verizon Wireless) resembles the latter more than the former.
What's nice about the phone: its looks. It's tiny, almost like an elongated box of Tic Tacs. It's shiny, clad in dark plastic. And it's a slider phone, meaning that the dialing pad is hidden except when you slide the halves apart.
The rest of the time, the front panel is supposed to look like an iPod, with a bright color screen above and a circular control pad below. The phone-call sound quality is good, and the price isn't bad: $150 (after rebate, and with two-year commitment), although you should also factor in the price of a Micro SD card to hold your music files ($50 or so for a 1-gigabyte card).
Music lovers should also note that the Chocolate is one of very few U.S. phones that can actually send high-quality music wirelessly to Bluetooth *stereo* headphones. And now, the sticky mess part.
Turns out the iPod dial isn't a dial at all; it's just four buttons arranged in a circle. That's OK in itself, but these buttons don't budge or even click when you press them; the only response you get, if any, is a reaction on the screen.
It's a bad sign that two pages of the manual are dedicated to listing warnings about these touch buttons. "Remove moisture from the surface of your hands," goes one. "Don't use the touch buttons in a humid environment." (OK, so what are we supposed to do when we're in Miami? Use a pay phone?)
"If you touch [a button] off-center, it may activate the nearby function instead."
And so on.
Listen up, LG dudes: I'm sorry, but if your primary control system requires seven warnings in your manual, maybe you should reconsider your system.
Sure enough, these buttons are a nightmare. They're balky, nonresponsive, slow to react and all-around infuriating (and yes, I tried all four sensitivity settings). The three people who tried my review unit had amazingly similar reactions, even after I told them to stop running their thumbs around the dial as though it were an iPod. One said he felt like throwing the phone "through the window," another "into the trash," and another "across the room."
More problems: The Send key is on the left of the front-but the End key isn't across from it, as on every other cellphone on earth; instead, it's a microscopic, vertically mounted button on the right edge of the phone. When the phone is sleeping, the screen goes completely black, so you can't even tell if it's on (you don't even get a clock). The phone works with MP3 and Windows Media files, but not with songs bought on iTunes and not with the Macintosh.
The camera is decent, but it's only 1.3 megapixels and you have to open the slider to use it. Worse, your picture gallery (and the Take Video command) are hidden, nonsensically, in the Get It Now menu, which is traditionally the cheesy commercial area of Verizon phones, where they try to sell you games, streaming video and so on.
And what kind of phone has a speaker this good, but no speakerphone?
Don't even get me started on the phone lock function, which disables all of the buttons after only *three seconds*. You can't use any of the buttons again unless you press a tiny side button twice. I couldn't find any way to disable this deeply annoying feature.
Whenever I review a product this badly designed, I just stare at the ceiling and try to imagine how it could possibly have gotten out the door. Haven't successes like the iPod and the Treo taught the marketers anything about making things work simply and well? It's stunning that nobody in a position of power at LG or Verizon actually tried this thing, tried pressing those infernal passive-aggressive buttons, and realized that the Chocolate is a usability disaster.
As it stands, people might buy this phone because it looks cool. But it's safe to say that not many of them will become Chocoholics.
- 8 replies to this review
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couple things to say about this opinion. first, don't penalize a phone because it has a different control mechanism-what?its a different style and you're not good at using it?NO WAY!second, despite the warnings,i've never had to do anything special to my hands to prepare them for using the chocolate.last, as its been pointed out,speakerphone functionality has been implemented.
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i have it and you get used to the touch pad. At first its kind difficult but after its easy to use. also the end key is on the side and on the front right bottom corner.
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THIS PHONE HAS SPEAKER PHONE YOU FREAKIN MORONS.
Jesus, learn how to operate a simple electronic device before ranting about it... if you have problems using this phone, you should go back to the Nokia 6010 -
I got a white chocolate phone for christmas. Can't deny, it looks SO cute! just like my ipod. However, it's not functionality. First, the OK key really gives me trouble everytime i try to touch it. Second, there's no OFF call button, which is really stupid! Third, which is the wrost story for me, is that the bluetooth doesn't support file transfer!!! Which means, if you wanna get stylish ringtone or wallpaper, you got to pay; if you wanna transfer pictures which u took from phone camera, you got to pay the email. More and more, just because the bluetooth doesn't function fully. (I guess that's how they make more money)
Well, it is a phone. But if you "only" wanna get a phone, I dont think it cost that much rite now.
So by paying at sameamount, I guess I can get something much better. at lease with fully functional bluetooth.
Overall, little pissed off. Planning to return it later. -
I got the Chocolate LG VX8500 in black for Christmas. How psyched was I to get a new gadget being hocked by Christina Aguilera? Pretty psyched, then came using the phone. I must admit that I hate talking on the phone so when I do, I like it to work. Not so, the chocolate phone. When put to my ear to speak, my cheeks kept wanting to text message someone, or if my cheek didn't like the person I was talking to, it muted my voice. Today, I will purge the chocolate from my system. This phone is not worth the iPod-like case it is housed in. And would someone tell LG that a touch sensitive pad on the phone is a bad a idea. How about disabling it when on the phone?
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check out your manual on the page that shows all the buttons. The speakerphone can be actvated by hitting the camera button on the side of the phone during a call.
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dude settle down its a cell phone... not a super computer... its ment for phone related tasks and it has some bonus material if it isnt perfect... oh well
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My friend has this phone and is now experiencing the "moisture" related damage scenario. IN TAMPA we have humidity, how can there be NO CASE that fits this phone and an allowable sale of even one unit in a state with more than 1% humidity?
Nice looking phone but it is worthless as far as a cell goes if LG or Verizon cannot find a way to seal up the phone from humidity or sweat.
Where to buy
LG Chocolate VX8500 - black (Verizon Wireless):
$48.99
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eCOST.com
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$48.99 | Yes |
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