Comon now people, vzw has released the LG VX-8500 Chocolate on it's website for almost half a week now and there's been NO posts about it! So anyone have any info?! Don't let the guys at HoFo have all the fun!
Hurra. Knew you guys wouldnt let me down! Andy, i'm most concerned about the phone's ability to get and hold a signal. some reports says it comes with built in flash memory. other's dont list anything... keep us posted, I may have a new-every-2 candidate.... in like a year. =p Looks like a promising start to a whole new set of phones for VZW.
Went to a Verizon Store this morning and played with the phone. It is a really nice phone. It feels good in the hand and is easy to open and close with your thumb. It is not spring loaded but only a small effort is required to open it. Worried that since it works on friction that it may wear out after much use. I can really feel the weight and size difference to my SCH-A950. Keypad is easy to use. End key on side is no big deal, easy to get used to. The touchpad was a little inconsistent, one corner was a little more sensitive than the other. The display is beautiful, great colors and resolution. Made a call and volume is loud and clear. There wasn't any music files to sample but the flash UI is interesting. At least its different from the typical Verizon menu. But interfaces are completely subjective and one person will hate it while the next person will love it. Not due for new every 2 so if I really want it, cost is $360 retail.
Overall the phone not bad. The soft keys are something to get used to; there are times when I accidentally hit keys I didn't mean to hit like when scolling the menu. The display of the phone is just amazing; same goes for the camera. Pictures taken with the phone's camera look crisp and just awesome. Those are two things that are definitely done right. The Chocolate has a place to put a mini sd card in. I have a 256 mb one. Reception on the phones definitely is not as good as on my Moto E815. I noticed this during the first few hours of using the phone. The battery, at least for now, also doesnt seem to be all that great and the phone freezes for about 5 seconds when going into Vcast menu things like that. Overall, interesting phone, but some things like reception and battery life are not great, the speakerphone is missing and the ui is definitely something to get used to, even though it's not as bad as I thought it would be. Andy
I got the chocolate, and I must say I am loving it. The touch buttons are a little difficult to get used to...I find myself trying to rest my thumb over other keys like I did on my old phone, and end up going into menus I didnt mean to. I for one spend the extra $100 and got the upgraded music package from verizon, which comes with a 2gb memory card, the "music kit" (computer cd, usb cable, headphones), extended life battery, and bluetooth. I havent tried out the bluetooth headset yet, so I dont know how well it works with the phone but as far as using it as a music player it works pretty well. The chocolate has a little speaker on the back of the phone which can get pretty loud, so you dont NEED headphones to listen your music, but its not like its a stereo speaker or anything, so too much noise would obviously drown it out. The sound quality is surprisingly good for such a small speaker though. As far as battery life goes, I've been using the extended life battery which slightly larger than what comes standard with the chocolate, so its not exactly flush with the back. It's not intrusive though, and so far my battery life has been pretty good. I was playing music non-stop for about an hour at work yesterday, and I dont think the battery meter even lost 1 bar... The camera is one of the best camera phones I've ever had. It sucks not having a flash, but so far it hasnt been an issue...most places that I'm taking pictures in are well lit enough to where the camera can pick things up. The zoom on it is pretty good, you dont lose much quality when using it. Overall I love the phone, and it really is just great to look at. My only wish is that they made the crystal film protectors for the chocolate like they do for the ipod, because I am so worried about scratching up the chocolate's nice shiny surface...
I've had mine for a week and a half, and I can honestly say I hate it. In fact, I'm trading it in. Every time I try to enter my password to get to voicemail, I hit extra keys because they're so small. Enough is enough. I also don't like how my Bluetooth interacts with this phone. The menu "lady" sounds a million miles away, although the volume is on high on both my headset and my phone. And because the phone doesn't have voice recognition, it gets most names wrong when I use voice dial. Yeah, it looks cool, it's light, and it takes great pictures. But I need a good PHONE before I need any of these. BTW, the "Music Essentials" kit does NOT contain everything you need to play music. You'll still have to buy a memory card.
I honestly don't like the phone all that much after having it for a while now. The battery life really isn't all that great, and reception wise, the phone is horrible compared to my Motorola. However, the camera on the phone is the best I've ever had on a cellphone before; the keys are a little hard to get used to and I still hit keys in error and have trouble texting because of the small keys.
