Customer Reviews

LG VX8500 MINT CHOCOLATE VERIZON CDMA CELL PHONE

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I have long been a fan of the majority of LG products. My first cellphone was an LG (when they were still called Lucky Goldstar) half-flip. Every LG phone I have owed has been nearly problem free.

the mint chocolate, or chocolate in general, is a new design which will definitely take some getting used to, but is well worth it. The touch screen auto-locks when the slider is closed, unless you tap the same side button twice in rapid succession, which helps prevent it from making calls on its own. if you want more security than that, you can still enable "phone locked" mode which is available on every other phone. it has an awesome little camera and the sound quality is impressive.

if you have used an ipod in the last few years, you will quickly adapt to the LG chocolate interface. If you like the possible musica capability, this phone is definitely for you.

I've had my chocolate for a month now, and overall I would say that I'm a pretty satisfied customer. This is my second LG slider style phone. The first one I had was the LG PM325, and I liked it a lot until I broke it (which was entirely my fault, not a flaw of the phone). I'm going to do a handy pro/con list.

Pros:
-Pretty design, very shiny and sleek.
-Huge vibrant screen.
-Durable. I've dropped it once already and it didn't skip a beat, or send the battery pack flying in another direction like one phone I had.
-The only time I've been low on service was when I was out in the middle of the woods and no one else had service either.
-Sound quality is great, I can always hear people loud and clear, except for when their service is crappy.
-Decent battery life, lasts all day even when used for music.
-Speaking of music, I got a pair of Bluetooth headphones to go with the phone and the music sounds great. Pretty decent range as well.
-The touch buttons, although sometimes annoying (like when you are making a call and you hit one with your face) are responsive and fun to use, and they don't get pushed accidentally by things in your purse or pocket.
-MicroSD card allows flexibility of expansion that you don't get from something like an iPod. They aren't that expensive, so you could get a couple and have one with music for the gym, and one for travel music or something.

Cons:
-Seems to be vulnerable to scratches. I'd keep it in a case if I were you.
-If you are a Mac user, getting your own music on the SD card is going to be a bit of a hassle. To sync things directly you have to have WindowsMediaPlayer10, which they don't make for Macs, or you can use a card reader and drop music directly into a folder. Only problem with that is it seems really picky about which files it recognizes the song info (title, artist, album) for.
-If you are a PC user, getting your own music on the SD card is going to be a bit of a hassle. Chances are you already have WindowsMediaPlayer10, but now you are going to have to pay 30$ to get the Music package from Verizon, which includes the USB cable and drivers on CD (Or you can by the cable on ebay and find a download for the drivers). Then you sit through the clunky syncing process that doesn't always work how it should.
(Once you figure out a process, though, the music is worth it.)
-I personally don't care for the little flap that you have to open to stick in the charger.
-The camera seems to squish images vertically a little.
-The menu system takes some getting used to, it's definitely geared toward convincing you to buy downloads and such but once you learn where the things you actually want are it's easy navigation.

All in all, I'd say the phone has it's quirks but none of them were a deal breaker for me.

I've had this phone for a few months now and I couldn't be happier! I've previously had Kyocera and Audiovox phones and this LG is the best phone I've ever had BY FAR. I really don't understand why people have trouble with the buttons or programming in contacts; for me it's been far easier and more intuitive with this phone than any other. In fact, I use it for jotting down numbers that I would normally have jotted on a post-it, it's much easier to plug in, find, and retrieve later.

I've never had an issue with it dialing itself in my purse or pocket; it locks itself very quickly if it doesn't receive input immediately after hitting a side button. Texting and Pix messages are very easy as well. This phone is so easy and pleasant to use that my bill has been totally out of control! That's a user issue folks - sometimes I wish I didn't love it so much.

One thing I love is how you can switch to hands-free and slide the phone closed mid-call, and it doesn't hang up on your call in progress. Maybe that's a feature of all sliding phones, but my old Kyocera used to not only hang up on my call but turn itself completely off! The Kyocera was a piece of junk.

The only phone issue I've had with it is very minor; I tend to hold the phone too close to my face when listening to my voicemail and I accidentally activate the heat-sensitive touchpad. Not a big deal, it doesn't mess up my ability to listen to the voicemail at all. Just a minor annoyance.

The mp3-player capabilities of this phone are far above and beyond my expectations! It holds a zillion tunes and playback quality is great. It even creates playlists easily and shuffles my tunes if I want it to. It's lighter and smaller than my 60GB iPod, so it's my music player of choice for long walks and runs. Plus it pauses to receive calls REALLY easily then picks back up at the same spot in the song after the call. I use the mp3 feature of this phone a lot more than I thought I would! One drawback is the software that Verizon sells with the music kit; it doesn't work with Windows Vista!! So I had to burn some iTunes CD's on my laptop, then borrow a friend's computer for using the Verizon music software. Extremely inconvenient, but I feel that's a software problem, not a phone problem. Once the music is in the phone, it works perfectly.

Other Verizon features such as V-Cast and games don't get used too often, as they are expensive and I live way out in the country where I don't get an excellent signal. But, I have used them occasionally on this phone and everything works great. I love the ringback feature, and the ringtone selection is fantastic. The sound is great on the phone too!

As a camera it's not great - no flash. Fun for occasionally sending pix messages, but that's it. I'd be bummed out if it had NO camera, but it won't be replacing my pocket digital anytime soon.

Overall, the phone is extremely easy to use and packed with features that I LOVE and use all the time. I couldn't be happier with it!

Considering LG's Strawberry Chocolate is my first cellphone ever,I think I'm pretty adept at using the keypad and soft touch keys,but yes,I have had the phone accidentally make calls if you hit a wrong button by mistake. Sore point number two is the adapter that comes with the phone: it pops out easily if you have a snap-on case/faceplate over your phone. Thirdly,the phone should have come with headphones-why have an adapter if your standard 3.5 mm jack headphones can't fit? Another way for Verizon to take your money. I forked over $30 for the music accessories kit just so I could have headphones,and hopefully in the future,when I bought a computer,sync music to my phone. Well,I bought a laptop and to my chagrin Verizon's music essentials software won't work with Microsoft Windows Vista or Windows Media Player 11. With all the money they fleece off the customer,you would have thought they would have upgraded their software/firmware by now. Fortunately there's more than one way to skin a cat,and I just loaded music onto an SD card,but that's not the end of my problems. Songs freeze up on me and I have to pop the SD card out and back in again for music to play. It has to load all 212 songs I have before I can go back to the one that froze. What a pain! To say nothing of the battery life. This phone is no replacement for an I-Pod or mp3 player. I thought I'd be saving money,but I have spent more time and money than I could have ever imagined on this phone. Cute but demanding,just like a little princess.

This phone is not worth the hype. It has major flaws, such as freezing up; making calls on its own; key pad is way too small; your face will touch the screen during calls and will cause you to lose your call; if you talk on the phone more than 3 or 4 times per day (on an average call) your battery will have to be recharged; nevertheless, you have to recharge the phone everyday anyway (this phone has very poor battery life). Problems will occur more frequently after your 15 day trail period has expired and Verizon will only replace your phone with another chocolate phone. If you are fed up with the chocolate phone they will only replace your phone with a phone of their choice - even if you offer to pay the difference for the phone of your choice.

I have had this phone for a year now and it sucks. the touch screen no longer works, it calls ramdom #'s and then hangs up al the time. No one can hear me and if they can it sounds like i'm in a well. I would not ever own this phone again. I gave it to my 8 month old to play with at least its getting used now.

Yes, it looks cool, but other than that it's a terrible phone. The touchpad is difficult to use, the numbers are pretty small, the battery dies rapidly. In a word, awful. Even disregarding the fact that the sales woman assured me the phone could play itunes (which it can't and I should have known that) it's still a crappy phone. It makes calls on its own. I'm not sure about hitting the side key twice in rapid sucession, after just testing it, all I have to do is hit the key once and it's able to dial on its own. Additionall, the phone does not recognize when keystrokes are being used as part of the connection. Meaning, when I try to check my voicemail, the phone acts like I'm doing other things when I type in my password. That's an issue I've never had with another phone. It's really difficult to use call waiting. Find another phone to buy. I should have gotten a razor.

I have a perfect track record with cell phones, never losing or breaking one, so I bought this phone with the two year agreement at a Verizon wireless store in November without purchasing the extra insurance. It had a software error within two months, even though I kept it pristine. The warranty covered the phone, so it was replaced for free. Within another four months the phone was unusable again. I was told that it had water damage and that it was no longer covered by the warranty. I have never dropped a phone in water. Ever. The salesman told me "These phones are delicate. The humidity from the shower can cause water damage." That's ridiculous. Don't buy this phone. It's a complete waste of money.

My friend had this phone and I had the hardest time entering my number in. I put my name in and went down to where you put the number in and started putting it in. Somehow it got back on my name and started entering things. Also the number didn't even enter right when that was fixed