Binding: Wireless Phone Brand: LG Color: White EAN: 0652810813129 Feature: Supports both WMA and MP3 music formats for more versitility in music listening Label: Verizon Wireless Manufacturer: Verizon Wireless Model: VX8500 Publisher: Verizon Wireless Release Date: 2006-11-06 Studio: Verizon Wireless Variation Description: White
Features
Supports both WMA and MP3 music formats for more versitility in music listening With the expandable memory slot and optional 2 GB microSD memory card, you can hold up to 1000 songs Download and play amazing quality 3D games Make wires a thing of the past and keep your hands free with Bluetooth capability for wireless headsets Includes: Standard Li-Ion Battery, AC Travel Charger and User's Guide
LG's newest mobile treat, the VX-8500 Chocolate offers minimalist-inspired style and a silky-smooth slider design. Deluxe features include support for V Cast Music, glowing touch-sensitive navigation keys, a powerful integrated music/video player, a 1.3 megapixel camera/camcorder, stereo Bluetooth capabilities, and a microSD memory slot for extra storage. If you value extreme style mixed with powerful substance, this is the phone for you. And now, the VX-8500 is available in white chocolate.
The Chocolate's sliding keypad keeps it hidden until you need it (black version shown). See the phone in 3-D.
Design The phone features a seriously attractive open-faced design with an internal antenna and a vibrant 240 x 320 pixel, 262,000-color TFT/TFD display. A touch sensor click wheel, similar to iPod, and sliding design set the phone apart stylistically. Opening the slider reveals a numeric keypad, as well as the 1.3-megapixel camera and LED flash, which are housed on the rear of the phone. The volume and voice slide keys are on the left of the phone, while the music, camera and "end" keys are on the right side. A memory card slot is provided for MicroSD/TransFlash memory cards of up to 2 GB capacity (additional cards sold separately). The phone includes 512 MB of internal memory.
Calling Features The Chocolate boasts powerful calling functions, such as speaker independent voice dialing, which makes it easy to call contacts by simply saying their names. No prior voice training is required and you can even speak individual digits to the phone for quick dialing of numbers you know by heart. And because the Chocolate is Bluetooth enabled, wireless headsets can be configured with the phone for total handsfree operation.
The Chocolate's internal memory can hold up to 500 contacts for quick access to email addresses and phone numbers. The phone lets you easily assign pictures as well as ringtones to your most common callers. In addition to vibrating alerts, the phone supports polyphonic ringtones, and a number of ringtones come preloaded on the phone and more ringtones can be downloaded from Verizon's Get It Now service. Lastly, the Chocolate's GPS location technology pinpoints your exact location when you dial 911.
Diminutive size and incredible music functionality make this phone the complete mobile companion.
Messaging, Internet, and Tools The phone's support for multimedia messaging means that text, photos, video and audio can be sent with ease (Verizon messaging charges apply). When used in combination with the Chocolate's built-in camera, MMS opens up a whole new world of messaging fun. There's also a built-in web browser for downloads and mobile web browsing. Verizon's optional Mobile Web 2.0 package allows you to read and send e-mails, exchange instant messages and view your favorite web content on your phone. You can check your e-mail, trade stocks online, compare prices while shopping, access flight information, get movie listings and find directions to the theater. T9 text entry, which is a technology that makes it easier for people to enter words and text on handsets, is built into the unit--a plus for mobile email and text messaging users.
With support for the EV-DO high-speed data standard, the Chocolate is fully compatible with Verizon's V Cast service. With V Cast, you can download and stream high-quality video. Need news and weather? Get the latest Accuweather forecast delivered right to your handset, or stream CNN news headlines. ESPN sports updates, entertainment news from E!, and even Sesame Street content for the kids, are all available. V Cast also serves as a portal for enhanced 3D games, making it possible to have more fun with a new breed of realistic games.
Verizon's music service is another EV-DO-powered service that makes the Chocolate all the more desirable. With V Cast music, your phone is a music player, letting you jam out wherever you are. It's also a music store, and you can download songs instantly to your phone. Save your songs to a memory card with a capacity that's right for you. You can even pause to take a call without missing a beat.
A number of handy software tools are bundled with the Chocolate including a voice memo recorder that can record calls, a calculator, a calendar, and an alarm clock. You can even set the alarm to wake you to your favorite music. Also included with the Chocolate is Verizon's VG Navigator software, which allows you to get real-time, turn-by-turn audible directions as you're driving.
Imaging and Entertainment The Chocolate's is a 1.3-megapixel digital camera features a flash, as well as digital zoom, self-timer, night-mode functions, and brightness and white balance controls. The camera also offers up to one-hour of video capture. A built-in music player with stereo speakers and an equalizer, offering MP3 and WMA playback, lets you keep your music playing in the background. You can also take advantage of the Chocolate's Bluetooth wireless headset capability, allowing you to hook up a pair of Bluetooth stereo headphones.
EV-DO Wireless Broadband Coverage Learn more about where EV-DO coverage is offered.
Vital Statistics The LG VX-8500 Chocolate weighs just 3.53 ounces and measures 3.80 x 1.88 x .69 inches. Its lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 3.5 hours of digital talk time, and up to 384 hours of digital standby time. It runs on the CDMA 850/CDMA 1900 frequencies. The phone comes with a one-year limited warranty.
Note: The LG Chocolate supports the Headset, Handsfree, Serial Port, Dial Up Networking, Advanced Audio Distribution, and Object Push for vCard. It does not support all Bluetooth object transfer (OBEX) profiles
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: Hate this phone! Comment: I bought this phone because it was new and cute. It was cool for the first few months I had it, now I constantly want to throw it against a wall. The touch buttons either freeze CONSTANTLY making it hard to navigate the phone or is ultra sensitive resulting in random calls to people on my contacts or most recent calls list. The phone also calls when it is in my bag or in my pants pocket.. even with the LOCK ON! The sensitivity of the phone will also cause scrolling through contacts or text messages difficult because if you press too hard, itll freak and wont stop scrolling. The camera on the phone is also very fuzzy.
The only good thing about the phone is that I've dropped it accidently and non-accidently many times and it has managed to stay functional. Customer Rating: Summary: To Much of a headache! Comment: I will get right to the point...
My phone constantly calls people in my contact list daily (without my knowledge). The keypad freezes for hours at a time and I cannot use the phone at all! The screen goes crazy and just automatically scrolls out of control. I have had this phone for 8 months and had to replace it twice already! It really wears on your patience. You can adjust the touch sensitivity, but it doesn't help. I have had it! Most of the time I can't even use the damn thing! UGH!!! Customer Rating: Summary: Hershey, eat your heart out! Comment: Ive owned this phone since Memorial Day. I tryed the display model first before buying and thought the touch sensitive buttons were very annoying. But i adjusted the sensitivity of the buttons in the Settings & Tools menu, in the Touch Keypad option, then hitting Sensor Level, and picking from: Low ...Medium...High...and Super. I have it on HIGH, and now it doesnt bother me, and ive learned how to use the buttons.
The battery life on this phone runs out after about 3 hours or so of use, tops, when your talking or using the camera function, for either taking Pix or Flix (videos) In my experience, it doesnt last as long as id like. You might want to upgrade the battery, so it lasts longer.
And never charge the phone will talking on it. I heard that the best way to charge the phone is to when it has either one or no bars, shut the down, then charge it. And be carefull not to overcharge it, becouse that messes up the battery...so theres an option where you can have the phone make a sound when it has completed charging. Which you can find hitting OK for the menu , then under Settings & Tools...then Sound Settings...then hitting Service Alerts...finally hitting the Charge Complete option, either picking On or Off.
The camera this phone has is nice. It takes pretty high resolution looking photos, for a phone. Its pretty cool cuz you can choose between various resolutions: 1280x960...640x480...320x240...176x144...160x120.
Which is pretty awesome.
And taking videos is conveniant. You can adjust the time limit for the video, when youre in video mode and going into options and going into the time limit option and picking from either 15 seconds, or Available Memory, which time is only based on your phones own memory or a memory card, which you can choose between which you want your videos saved to by default. I thought that was cool.
The spin-wheel looking thing on the front of the phone, is actually just a directional pad for taping UP, DOWN, LEFT or Right...and OK, in the center. (The latest LG Chocolate the chocolate 2.0, actually has a metal type of spin wheel that actually spins for easier scrolling)
I didnt know if a slider-phone would feel comfortable while talking, but it feels normal. And it slides up and down easily, and feels like its sturdy and built well. And the ear speaker looks small, but is pretty clear and can be set to be pretty loud. It also has a SPEAKER PHONE, which is usefull. The micophone for talking into is sorta hidden and is tiny, but people can allways hear me loud and clear.
A word i think used a lot to describe the design of this phone is "MINIMALIST"...and i think less is definatly more becouse it looks awesome. It has that whole APPLE inspired look going on, which was no coincidense, im sure. It has this futuristic/retro look to it, and i think is pretty hot in WHITE. (the other colors like Strawberry pink and mint green, are sweet as well)
I mainly bought this phone for fashion and for its music player capability. Which i finally figured out how to upload songs to it, where it actually works. ( Make sure your downloaded music IS NOT copy protected. If you use a media player like WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER, i believe version 9 and up, offer and option within the TOOLS option and under either the Copy Music or Burn Music tab...there youll see a copy/song protection box....MAKE SURE THATS LEFT UN-CHECKED, or your phone wont allow you to play the song files, even if youre using your own music library.)
Speaking of the portable music player capability, the LG chocolate is my first mp3 player...ive never had one, and allways wanted an iPod, but i never could afford one, and my computer is too old and nothing ever meets system requirements. But with this phone i bought a CARD READER (A Sandisk brand Mobile card reader/writer called the "MOBILE MATE SD+ " which is compatiable with many different memory card types, including MICRO SD ,which is the memory card LG choclates use.)
The music player side of this phone gets the job done, and you can catagorize by PLAY LIST, ARTIST , GENRE, SONG, etc. Some of the options for the music player includes SHUFFLE, Repeat , etc.
The phone even has a button on the right side thats dedicated to accessing the MUSIC player,alone. (not to mention its own dedicated Camera button and END button for exits out of something or holding it down to shutdown the phone, or start it back up)
The ear phones adapter it comes with only fits 2.5 jack head sets. but you can buy a pair of ear buds by LG that has another adapter, and also a 3.5 adapter, which has a button on it for answer incoming calls. This 3.5 jack is essential cuz youll want perhaps better headsets or ear buds (the package is sold sepretly for around 20 bucks, and is worth buying since you need earphones anyway...since the LG does not come with earphones.
Until you get your earphones, the phone has a speaker which you can listen to your song files or whatever, with. The earphone adapter is a bit bulkly, but its not gigantic, just kinda ugly-ish, but it doesnt stand out that badly.
I really appreciate the Portable Music Player side of this phone, its a neccessity for me since ive collected the entire discography of QUEEN, MetallicA and AFI, among many other albums. So this makes the LG Chocolate the biggest selling point for me, besides the fact that it looks hott. Hotter than the iPhone ,in my opinion, but thats just on the looks, period.
The only weakness this phone has is the stock battery life (which is just ok) and the Touch sensitive buttons, that are about 80 to 90% dead-on accurate. becouse sometimes you usually find yourself pushing a button twice, or more. BUT it didnt take me long to get used to the touch screen buttons.
This is the best fashion phone ive seen, and it works pretty good too.
I recommend this phone for people who want to make a fashion statement,
and who also want a decent music player, and do other multi media.
I really like this phone, and it looks awesome. I love the white color.
Customer Rating: Summary: Battery sucks Comment: After a few months, my battery life dropped to 5-6 hours, a tech at Verizon told me I could purchase a "heavy duty" battery for a mere $50 or so. No thanks: would you buy a car if the dealer asked if you wanted to upgrade to a heavy duty battery?
Also, the touchpad on my chocolate goes brain dead intermittently, hope the replacement is better. In summary, I DO NOT recommend the chocolate. Customer Rating: Summary: Hot Chocolate Comment: I don't think people should buy advance devices or phones if you aren't planning on utilizing the features on the phone. It's like buying an Audi A8 but you walk everywhere???? I Dont get it??
