LG Chocolate VX8575 - Silver (Verizon) Cellular Phone

Pros: Good feature set for non-smartphone with email, Facebook, Twitter, Opera Mini, and has touchscreen; touchscreen is pretty accurate; 3G is definite plus; bubble-style texting interface is handy; includes predictive text feature for a decent keyboard.

Cons: Touchscreen can be a pain when scrolling through menus; Hello UI hard to get to, therefore kind of useless; keyboard layout not great; game selection sucks unless you are willing to pay; data plan priced like smartphone; Sprint's network; camcorder

Summary: Verizon has its Envs and Sprint has its Rumors. LG and Verizon obviously have a decent partnership, because the Rumor Touch is not the Env Touch. However, the Env Touch was an editor's choice, so it's pretty hard to be as great. That being said, the Rumor Touch is pretty decent in its own right.

User Interface (Touchscreen):

The touchscreen is not bad for a resistive one, but it is still resistive. Scrolling through menus often results in the accidental selecting of an icon, and keep your fingernails long. All in all, though, it is responsive enough for all but those who have been using capacitive screens since 2007. And let's face it, if you have been using capacitive screens since '07, you're probably not going to buy this phone anyway.

Overall, the UI is simple enough to understand and navigate, and the menus are easily customizable in an intuitive and simple way. The Hello UI is cool, but it's really hard to get to, and so I, for one, never use it, which is a real shame because it is a great concept, just poorly executed. Still, BREW (Qualcomm's OS, used on the phone) is simple and straightforward and will appeal to the heavy texter, and even the average one.

Features

The Rumor Touch has a great feature set for the most part, with dedicated Google Maps, email, Twitter, and Facebook apps. It also has both a default browser and the excellent Opera Mini, which is speedy and easy to use and great over a 3G connection. The email app is far from spectacular, and only works with Yahoo! and Gmail (so I couldn't hook up my Verizon account), but hey, it's there, and most people I know use Yahoo! and Gmail anyway. Still, it's really not a Blackberry. The Twitter and Facebook apps are similar to the email in that they are far for great, but they're there and that's a bonus any day on a feature phone (P.S.--I don't use Facebook and Twitter, so I really haven't used them except to see what they were--you should get a second opinion on them.). Google Maps is an awesome app that works as a GPS; it's kind of slow, but it will help if you are completely lost and need help, which is really what it's supposed to do.


Media

There is a microSD slot on the phone that can support up to 32gb microSD cards, so if you use it, you can put all the music on it you want, provided you buy the card. The multimedia is not bad. Sound quality is good, and videos are pretty much what you would expect from a 240x400 screen--kind of watchable.

Wrap-up

There was really nothing about this phone that really blew me away, but there was nothing that made me cringe either. The good things about this phone definitely outweigh the bad, and the few bad things are really mostly minor and hardly deal-breakers.

For everyone except heavy smartphone users, this phone will be great.

LG Chocolate Touch Specs

The LG Chocolate TOUCH for Verizon Wireless is the first touch screen in the popular Chocolate line-up. The feature-rich media player is supported by fast 3G speed capability and Dolby Mobile speakers for enhanced listening. Listen to V CAST Music with Rhapsody, watch the latest shows using V CAST Videos on Demand, enjoy video clips on YouTube, or tune into your favorite radio station with the FM radio tuner. The multitasking Chocolate TOUCH lets you send text messages, surf the web, update your social networks and more, all while the music player continues uninterrupted. When words can't express enough, use the 3.2 megapixel camera/ camcorder to capture videos and photos to share online or with multimedia messaging. The Chocolate TOUCH is a music lover's dream, with all the communications and social networking tools you need.
Highlights
Highlight-A Candy Bar Shaped Touch Screen With Feature-rich Media Player, Web Browser and More
Highlight-Social Network Shortcut Keys For Quick Access To Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and More
Highlight-A Multimedia Enhanced Phone That Supports V CAST Music With Rhapsody and V CAST Videos
Highlight-Find Your Way With Integrated GPS That Is VZ Navigator Capable For Turn-by-turn Directions
Highlight-Advanced Player For Listening To FM Radio and Music On Dolby Mobile Speakers Or Stereo Bluetooth
Highlight-3.2 Megapixel Camera/ Camcorder With Intelligent Shot, Panorama, Facial Makeover and More
Highlight-Surf The Web Or Watch The Latest YouTube Video With Fast 3G Data Speeds
What's In The Box
Additional Items Included-Battery, Wall Charger, Purple Backplate
Messaging Features
Multimedia Messaging-Yes, Send and Receive Picture and Video Messages
Text Messaging (SMS)-Yes, Send and Receive Text Messages
Instant Messenger-Yes, IM Chat Using Your Favorite Mobile Instant Messenger Service
Email Client-Yes, Supports Corporate Email and Popular, Web-based Email Services
HTML Web Browsing-Yes, Surf The Web For The Latest YouTube Video, Your Favorite Sites, and More
Entertainment
Ringer Profiles-Yes
Customizable Graphics-Yes
Twitter-Yes, Pre-installed
MySpace-Yes, Pre-installed
Facebook-Yes, Pre-installed
Custom Ringtones-Yes
Customizable Faceplates-Yes, Purple and Black Backplates Included
Games-Yes, Downloadable
Picture Caller ID-Yes
Polyphonic Ringtones-Yes
MP3 Ringtones-Yes
MP3 Player-Yes, Advanced Music Player Supports Playlists, FM Radio, Song ID, Manual Equalizers, and More
FM Radio-Yes
Streaming Multimedia Support-Yes, Supports Streaming Sites Like YouTube As Well As V CAST Videos and V CAST Music
V CAST Enabled-Yes
V CAST Music Player-Yes
Digital Camera
Capture Modes-Yes, Multiple Including Color Effects, White Balance, Panorama, Intelligent and Facial Makeover
Camera Megapixels-3.2 Megapixels
Dedicated Camera Key-Yes
Digital Camera-Yes, 3.2 Megapixel Camera/ Camcorder With Advanced Features
Video Capture / Camcorder-Yes, Record Video Clips To Share Online Or Via Multimedia Messaging
Editing Tools-Yes
Self-Timer-Yes
Zoom-Yes
Advanced Features
Voice-driven Menus-Yes
Bluetooth Stereo Headset (A2DP)-Yes, Stream Quality Music Wirelessly With Stereo Bluetooth Capable Headphones (Not Included)
Bluetooth Wireless Technology-Yes, Connect Wirelessly To Bluetooth-enabled Devices Including Car Kits, Headsets, and More
Direct To Printer Printing-Yes, Print Directly With A Bluetooth-enabled Printer
PC Synchronization-Yes
Use This Phone As A Modem-

Pros:
-solid design & build
-great touchscreen layout & response
-good call quality & battery life
-good array of tools/apps
-exellent 3.2camera quality
-EXCELLENT mp3 player & sound quality w/ EQ...sweet!
-FM radio a VERY cool addition...should be on EVERY cell!...who needs an xtra mp3 player to lug around anymore
-GENEROUS on-board memory for music w/o sd card installed (almost a gig!)
-stellar LG quality
-solid contender

Cons:
-virtual keyboard somewhat hard to use (smaller fingers help!)
-smallish feel in the hand (kinda better as "girlish" ;) phone!)
-also a little bit slippery to hold on to!
-has some COMPLETELY worthless/gimmicky music apps!!!
-MAJOR personal peeve here, but STRONGLY dislike the fact rear battcover MUST be removed to remove/install sd cards!...cover itself is kinda a pain to put on/off anyway, & wears on the engagement clips that hold it all together...oh, well, just dont exchange sd's i suppose...

...feel the 8575 is a really great little performer (even though i think they secretly built it for the galz specifically!) w/ alot of sweet features that most will find very useful & satisfying!...for such a cute little guy, there is ALOT of capabilities built in!...i REALLY have to rave again on the mp3 player, it is SWEET! wish all phones had this kind of fidelity!...im spoiled w/ music & actually have the motorokr hd bluetooth headset i can pair w/ the phone, crank it up & mow the lawn!!! look ma! no wires!!! SWEET!...also use this setup when i blaze trailz on my mountainbike, its really a great setup!!!...all in all, there are some small quirks, but i believe the pros far outweigh the cons in this case and give the chocotouch a solid two thumbsup!!!...ranks right up there w/ my enVtouch, and weighs/size a WHOLE lot less!!! Cheers!

I decided to buy this phone because of the large & brightly colored display and the general sleekness of the device. I am picky when it comes to the appearance because if you aren't in love with it, you're stuck with a phone you dislike for the duration of your contract. Loved the large screen! the brilliant colors and themes of the phone were very cute, and it had great sound quality.

However, I owned this phone for less than a week. I had the hardest time with the touch screen. I was constantly clicking the wrong buttons by accident and I would spend what felt like eternity editing & composing just ONE text message. I was sending one-sentence text messages and it drove me crazy that I could not type up a text message as quickly as before with other phones. To be fair, I previously owned an LG Voyager which had an actual tactile QWERTY. After discovering how difficult it was to text or make calls or do anything using the touch screen on the phone, it had to go back to Verizon. I switched to an LG env3 which also has a full QWERTY.

PROS:
Brilliant and beautiful screen.
Great sound quality and MP3 player-like features.
Nice overall phone appearance.
Clear pictures with camera.

CONS:
Very irritating touch screen. Felt a bit flimsy.
Back cover was not even remotely scratch resistant (buy a phone cover!)
Hard to text. If you are looking for a phone to do a lot of texting with,
I suggest you try it before you buy it, like I should have done.

This phone is very nice and unique. It is well made, the battery is decent and the screen is beautiful. The features are great as well, add the memory card you have a 1st class deal.

However, I found using this phone awkward at times because of the rotating screen. It is strange dialing and using for everyday use sometimes but is still nice for texting messaging compared to other standard phones.

The rotating screen would be much less of an issue if I had constant access to mobile tv like I used to when I travelled more. Now I am at home more and I have no access to the service so the phone became a little annoying.