LG Chocolate VX8550 user reviews (blue mint, Verizon Wireless)

Pros Sleek, Sexy, Great Features, Blue Mint is Killer

Cons No send button when closed

Summary This phone is almost perfect, but like the other reviewer here, there is no way to make a call when the phone is closed unless you go through the contacts. I had the previous chocolate phone and you could hit send on the outside when it was closed. This one you have to either slide it open or go through the contacts. I have over 500 contacts so it's difficult to do that. You don't always want to slide the phone open when your using it, so this is inconvenient. That is pretty much the only gripe I have with it. It is a killer phone, looks awesome and functions like a charm.

Pros everything. call quality is excellent, speaker mode, trace motion wheel, vibrate touch feeling, music player, battery life lasts 16 hours if listen to music only. much more.

Cons nothing so far i found anything from this sleeker look device.

Summary I love this phone and It's almost perfect. i fall in love with this device. Everything is good. and I just want to say to Cnet experts. They mention Speaker mode only working during a call. that's not true. When you close the phone, and then press and hold "Spk" key, it will turn Speaker mode w/o calling. I think cnet experts need to study before they say something like untrue....

Pros great phone / music player and good feature set

Cons text entry, burried menu options and limited mac support

Summary I have owned lots of phones so I feel I can speak with authority on this...

This is a great choice for anyone considering a music phone. The music quality is better than both the Palm 700p and also the Motorola Q (I owned both previously). It has the ability to group music in sub categories much like an ipod (which i also own). The option to play music in the background while using features like text messaging is also a great addition (there are probably other phones that do this but my LG V didnt). You can even browse mobile web 2.0 without causing a skip in the music playback (My Q and treo skipped when loading web pages).

The profile is very sleek and robust. The face does attract smudges easily (all high profile gadgets seem to) so you will need to constantly clean the screen. The user has the option to talk on the phone with the slider closed as well. When in the 'closed' position you can make calls by scrolling through contacts with the navagation wheel, take calls (you have to unlock the phone first) and even set the slider to prevent it from ending the phone call upon closing the phone so you can hide the keys after dialing.

Battery life is just ok... but that seems to be the story with small feature phones.

I like the UI on this phone because its not the standard boring Verizon menu setup. My only complaint is that everything seems to take one extra press. Its almost like LG wants to see how many extra key presses they can get a user to make to do a simple function. For example, if you are on a call with the phone in the closed position, you have to unlock the phone and then press the ok button two extra times to end the call. If you choose to unlock the phone with the ok button, you have to push it a second time to confirm unlocking the phone and then a second time to confirm ending the call for a total of 4 presses. Not a major issue, but annoying none the less.

All in all a good phone. I miss the full keyboard of a Treo or Q but decided paying $5 a month for a scaled down version of the web was better than paying $45 for a scaled down version of the web on verizon's current smartphones. (I mean seriously, the web on the smartphones looks better but unless you utilize the push e-mail service its not worth it. I can access my gmail account just fine on a regular phone without wireless sync). So if you use web based e-mail or want to catch the sport scores, this is a much better deal than the smartphone data package.

MAC users beware... I am one. There is limited support and connectivity options for us. And since I won't shell out $600 for an iPhone or go to AT&T this is the best choice for a music phone. I simply load up songs on a memory card before popping it in my phone. Also, you can send name cards back and forth using bluetooth between the phone and address book.

Pros navigation wheel, takes good & quick pics, attractive user interface

Cons touch-sensitive buttons too sensitive, buttons too small, call quality

Summary With such high reviews, I was expecting a spectacular phone... but was let down after only a few days. Like many reviewers have said, there are many good features -- good camera, user-friendly user interface, coolness factor of a sliding phone with a navigation wheel. However, upon using it only a couple of times, I noticed how extremely *easy* it is for your face to accidentally nudge the touch-sensitive buttons when talking. It's also annoying because every time you do so, the phone vibrates to remind you of your mistake. This stifles usability when you're talking on the phone (or listening to voicemail) because you can't access the phone's menu system (eg. to look into your contact list) or hit buttons to get around voicemail ("1" for new messages). Once you accidentally nudge one of the buttons with your face, then it's all over, as it sends you into some confusing menu options which make it hard to find exactly what you need. Even with the sensitivity turned all the way down, all it takes is the slightest nudge of your face. While this may be seen as a mere annoyance, I sure don't want to be dealing with this for the next two years.

Call quality is often not the best quality, especially when turning up the volume. I apparently sound very muffled at times as well. Sound can sometimes be tinny or piercing, even at a medium volume level.

It's hard to adjust the volume, as the volume buttons are tiny, flat, and hard to find when you're in the middle of a call.

I found it hard to hit numbers on the keypad, as the buttons are quite small. When open, the phone is top-heavy, so when I'm trying to hit buttons at the bottom of the keypad, I feel like the phone is going to fall out of my hands.

Overall, the hardware is decent. But since the main reason for having a phone is to talk, I find the above-mentioned limitations to detract from its usefulness to me. And who knows, maybe you will also return this phone after waking up from all the Chocolate's hype.