LG VX8500 Chocolate (black)

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Today's Review By: Richard Lambert

It's not uncommon for the introduction of a new cell phone to be preceded by a ton of hype. Take for instance, the LG VX85000. Otherwise known as the Chocolate, the VX8500 became the talk of the mobile world after its stateside debut last April at the annual CTIA show. Rumors flew back and forth regarding when we'd see it with a U.S. carrier, and finally this week, after being available in Europe and Asia for several months, the Chocolate has landed at Verizon Wireless.

After so much speculation, we were eager to find out just what type of chocolate the Chocolate really is. Is it Hershey's or Godiva? The answer seems to lie somewhere in between. By all means, it's beautiful and offers decent call quality, but the keys and controls take some getting used to. And though it has stereo Bluetooth, a megapixel camera, a digital music player, and support for Verizon's 3G video and music services, it doesn't do much that other cell phones don't do already. And more to the point, it lacks a speakerphone, something even the most basic cell phones offer.

On the upside, the Chocolate is fairly priced at $149 with service. From what we can tell the "Chocolate" in the LG VX8500's name comes from its basic shape. Sporting a sharply rectangular form factor, the all-black phone does somewhat resemble a dark-chocolate candy bar, but that's all the resemblance we could find. However, it is very sleek and sexy, and we love the cool slider form factor. The dimensions with the slider closed are average (3.8 by 1.58 by 0.69 inches; 3.5 ounces), but it will fit in almost any pocket and won't add significant weight to a bag. Also, while it's hardly as thin as the Motorola Razr, it nonetheless has a trim profile that will catch attention.

Much like a navigation toggle on a more traditional cell phone, the touch pad is divided into four quadrants for each direction (up, down, left, and right) with an OK button in the middle that also open the main menu. The four directional buttons can be set as shortcuts to four user-defined functions, while the left and right keys also serve as back and forward controls when using the music player. The other navigation keys consist of two soft keys that double as shortcuts to the messaging menu and the phone book, a talk button and a dedicated (but oddly marked) back key.

The LG Chocolate comes loaded with multimedia options, but I'll get the basics out of the way first. The phone book holds 500 contacts, which was below our expectation, but each entry holds five phone numbers and two e-mail addresses. You can organize callers into groups, assign them a picture, or pair them with one of 13 polyphonic ring tones. Other essentials include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, voice command and dialing, a calculator, a calendar, an alarm clock, a world clock, a notepad, a tip calculator, and support for e-mail and instant messaging. Bluetooth is onboard as well and, though in typical Verizon style most object exchange profiles aren't supported, you can use the Bluetooth to make calls, send a wireless business card to another Bluetooth device, sync your contacts and calendar with your PC, or connect to a PC for modem calls.

And even better, the Chocolate does have a stereo Bluetooth profile, which is still too rare on most phones today. Yet for all that hands-free functionality we were extremely disappointed to learn that the Chocolate does not have a speakerphone. Since even the most basic handsets on the market today, such as the LG C1500, have a speakerphone, its omission on the Chocolate is perplexing and frustrating. Verizon is pushing music as one of the core components of the Chocolate. Like all Verizon phones compatible with the carrier's V Cast Music service, you can download tunes directly to the phone. Most of the same restrictions and costs apply here as well: songs downloaded to a PC are 99 cents, while simultaneous downloads to a PC and the phone are $1.99 each.

Navigation through the round touch pad was easy enough, but the other keys proved tricky for the reasons I mentioned earlier. Features on the player include shuffle and repeat modes and an airplane mode. And as previously mentioned, the stereo Bluetooth support is a great touch. Besides downloading music wirelessly, you can transfer it from a PC using a USB cable and Verizon's software, or you can load tracks on the phone from a Micro SD card. None of these items comes with the phone, however, so you'll need to shell out an additional $30 for the Music Essentials Kit, which includes the software, a USB cable, and a stereo headset for making calls and listening to music. Unfortunately, the only in-box accessory with the Chocolate is an adapter for using your own 2.5mm wired headset (the Chocolate uses a proprietary plug). A Micro SD memory card is also a good investment, since the phone's internal memory caps out at 62MB for music and 66MB shared for other applications.