LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 – play virtual drum-“Join the Band”
For:
Responsive touch-screen, 3.5mm headset jack, EV-DO Rev. 0 network, 3.2-megapixel camera, impressive music player
Against:
Annoying Web browser.
The Whiz Kid Speaks:
The LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 is a music centric phone with touch-screen. It is based on CDMA2000 1X technology and supports dual-band of CDMA2000 1X 1900/800.
The supported wireless interface is Bluetooth 2.1 EDR. The Chocolate Touch supports video formats of WMV, MPEG4, and 3GP.
3 inches touch-screen has a resolution of 400×240 pixels that supports 18-bit (262,000) colors. The 3.2-megapixel features 1.6x digital zoom, self timer and video recorder. It can take picture in five different resolutions: 640×480, 800×480, 1280×960, 1600×1200, and 2048×1536. The video recording resolution options are: 320×240 (QVGA), and 176×144 (QCIF).
The additional highlights are RSS feeds, EV-DO Rev. 0 network support, BREW platforms and full HTML Web browser. The 1000mAH lithium polymer battery has a life of 306 minutes talk time and 470 hours of standby time.
Razzle Dazzle:
The LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 is 4.3 inches tall, 2.2 inches wide, and 0.47 inch deep and weighs 4.2 ounces. It is housed in a reflective shape and there are four geometric shapes on the back sides, which are covered with soft-touch material. The reflective part is enough shiny to be used as a mirror.
Inside Dope:
The LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 is a predecessor of the previous – Chocolate VX8500. Actually, the company has launched two different Chocolate models featuring touch-screen – LG Chocolate BL40 and the Touch VX8575 for Verizon Wireless. The BL40 features cinematic 21:9 image ratio display, 5-megapixel camera, various impressive capabilities, and multi-touch. We are disappointed that this model is available only in Asian and European markets; but not in the U.S. In contrast, the Touch VX8575 is a music centric phone that features virtual drum kit, FM radio, and Dolby equalizer. Not only this, but it also offers 3.2-megapixel camera, full HTML browser, and EV-DO Rev. 0 support. The LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 costs $79.99 with two-year Verizon contract. It looks like other LG touch-screen phones like LG Dare and the LG Vu. However, its browser is an annoying one that does not provide good experience. The LG also ships two changeable back plates – one in black shape, and other in purple. You can use these plates to add a bit more style to the Chocolate Touch.
Design
There are three physical keys located beneath the display: Send button, Clear key, and Power/End button. The Clear key also works as voice record shortcut with long press. You will find the speakerphone key, volume control, and charger jack on the left side. The screen lock key, music player shortcut, and camera key are located on the right side; while 3.5mm headset jack is on the top. The camera lens sits on the back; whereas micro-SD card slot is behind battery cover.
Display
3 inches LCD display of the LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 has 400×240 pixels resolution that supports 262,000 colors. It exhibits colorful images and sharp text. You can change the dial font size, menu font style, clock format for home screen, charging screen, and backlight time. The display features inbuilt accelerometer to rotate the display on tilting the phone, but this works only in certain applications. The touch-screen is quick responsive and provides haptic (vibration) feedback. We like that the Touch VX8575 allows adding sound effect for your touch. You can adjust the accuracy via touch calibration wizard, vibration intensity and feedback length.
There are two icons on the right side of home screen that corresponds to music player and shortcut bin respectively. On tapping the shortcut bin displays a menu of media files and application shortcuts including widgets for memo pad, calendar and the clock. You can drag and drop these icons to the home screen. You will find the favorites contact screen, the contacts list, the main menu, the phone dialer, and inbox at the bottom row.
QWERTY Keyboard
The full virtual QWERTY keyboard will appear in the messaging application. Its keys will magnify on tapping and there is a dedicated @/.com key. You can rotate the phone to access the virtual alphanumeric keypad in portrait mode. We will prefer the full QWERTY keyboard in landscape mode as it provides more accuracy.
Phonebook and PIM features
The LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 can store 1000 contacts in its phonebook. Each entry can save five phone numbers, one instant-messenger name, two email addresses, and one street address. The callers can be organized into caller groups and paired with one ring-tone and a photo. The basic feature set includes threaded text and multimedia messages, a drawing pad to make sketches for MMS, a tip calculator, a calculator, a notepad, a stopwatch, a world clock, an alarm clock, voice messaging, and speakerphone that can be activated even before calling.
There is a Social Network Shortcut key that opens customizable shortcut menu. You can use this menu for updating photo or status at some social media Web sites including MySpace, Twitter, and Facebook. Need more – you can also update the social network Web sites through MMS or SMS.
Advanced Highlights
The advanced highlights of the LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 are Bluetooth, voice command and dialing, GPS with Verizon VZ Navigator, music player, EV-DO support, and USB mass storage. The supported Bluetooth profiles are file transfer, stereo or A2DP, dial-up networking, and hands-free calling.
The email features are mobile Web mail for browser access to Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail, RemoSync for corporate calendar and email synchronization, and mobile-email. Verizon has also provided the its services like V Cast Video for streaming video content, and V Cast Music with Rhapsody to buy and download on-the-air songs with PC version.
Music Player – Star Feature
The music player has its independent interface and does not look like V Cast Music store. It allows creating and editing play-lists and sorts them as per genres, albums, and artists. It features album art, playback controls, shuffle and repeat modes, and Dolby Mobile equalizer with six presets (Manual, Classical, Vocal Boost, Treble Boos, Bass Boost, and Flat). The advanced features are visualizer effect with rhythmical beat that vibrates the phone with the song. We especially like the “Join the Band” feature that shows a full drum kit and 88-key scrolling keyboard that allows you to play with music. There is also a FM Radio with 12 settings and song ID service.
Camera
The 3.2-megapixel camera features self-timer, and video recording; but there is no flash to improve picture quality. The still capture options are special shot modes including Intelligent and Panorama, three focus modes, five color effects, five white balance options, and five resolutions. The overall photo quality was good while testing. The images were colorful and sharp in bright light, and remained average in low light.
Web browser
The LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 has a full HTML Web browser that features bookmarks, Bing search, zoom in and out with volume rocker or magnifying glass, search the page, and full-screen. It is very annoying that there is no address bar, so you have to go back for URL-entry page.
Games and Personalization
The Chocolate Touch VX8575 comes with Sims 3 and Rock Band games. It can be personalized with available ring-tones, and graphics. You can download more options and games through Web browser.
Call Quality
We made few calls through LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 via Verizon Wireless for testing. The overall call quality was good. We received clear, natural and loud sound at our end. The callers received loud sound with a bit background noise and harsh sound. The speakerphone call quality was good with loud volume, but the callers noticed some echo effect.
Music Quality
The music playback quality of the LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 was impressive. You could easily notify the difference between each equalizer presets on the speakers. We will recommend using the headset for better quality.
Streaming Video Quality
The EV-DO Rev. 0 network speed was good, but not so fast like EV-DO Rev. A. The streamed video from the V Cast Video buffered instantly and then played back without any further buffering. The overall streaming video quality was average with blurriness, and pixelation.
Battery Life
The battery life of the LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 is 5.1 hours of talk time and 19.6 days of idle standby time. Its digital SAR is 1.47 watts per kg in accordance with FCC radiation tests.
Verdict:
If you need a terrific music phone with good features, but do not mind the absence of flash for camera, then buy – LG Chocolate Touch VX8575.
