LG Chocolate 3 hands-on

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 14th 2008 at 9:55AM

"Chocolate" is a storied word in the phone industry. In terms of brand recognition, it's right up there with RAZR and iPhone thanks to well-executed marketing campaigns by both LG globally and Verizon in the US, but more recently, LG has moved on to other marques -- Shine and Secret, to name a couple -- leaving Chocolate to trickle downmarket. We wouldn't exactly call the Chocolate 3 "downmarket," but its launch is definitely not being played up to the same extent as, say, the original VX8500's was; these days, those honors seem go to iPhone fighters like the Dare.

Gallery: LG Chocolate 3 hands-on

So is the subdued launch justified? In our quick testing, we came away really impressed with our unit, which happened to be black (light blue is also available). Though the inside's nothing to write home about, the phone's exterior is really attractive in person thanks to a glossy (almost double-shot) finish, generous landscape external display, and a raised nav wheel that we found really easy to use. It actually spins -- imagine that!

Sound quality using the 3.5mm headphone jack was excellent with minimum background noise, though the loudspeaker was pretty tinny -- we wouldn't recommend using it to play music under any realistic circumstances. If the jack had been moved to the top or bottom edge, this would be a near-perfect music phone (which is what it's designed to be), but its location on the side makes it pretty awkward to shove into a pocket with headphones attached. Still, the 1GB of internal storage, microSD expansion, and FM transmitter make for a compelling, pretty package -- and another device worthy of the Chocolate brand.

Filed under: Handsets, LG, Verizon Wireless, EV-DO, CDMA

Tags: chocolate 3, Chocolate3, features, hands on, hands-on, HandsOn, lg, verizon, verizon wireless, VerizonWireless, vzw

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

Alex @ Jul 14th 2008 9:59AM

It looks like a Slider at first, and then you flip it and your like....ewww...

Neutral

bolezhinkov @ Aug 7th 2008 10:38AM

normally something like that would yeild maybe a minor chuckle from me or something, but for some reason I really got a kick out of that and ended up spraying coffee onto my keyboard. thanks. its ok though, I have others.

Neutral

Riley Freeman @ Jul 14th 2008 10:15AM

im curious if engadget can go 1 day without mentioning the iphone in an article.

i notice a lot of websites and people mention problem with putting a phone in a pocket. am i the only person that uses a belt clip?

Highest Ranked

bobby bobby @ Jul 14th 2008 10:49AM

No, that one dude from Revenge of the Nerds does, too ;-)

Neutral

cl347bv @ Jul 14th 2008 10:57AM

I think they all mention pocketing the phones becuase the phones just dont come with slips anymore, and few marketing packages will include many accessories...

and, I really like this phone. i will be spending the next week or so with it, playing my 3.2 Gb of music I have on my memory card via the FM transmitter in my car.

An HD Radio transmitter would be nice... but thats just askin too much.

or is it?!?!?!

Neutral

d @ Jul 29th 2008 11:33AM

no, they can't.

yes, you are.

:-)

Neutral

bobby bobby @ Jul 14th 2008 10:49AM

Chocolate 3 Video:
http://www.phonedog.com/cell-phone-videos/video-lg-chocolate-3-vzw-unboxing-and-hands-on.aspx

Low Ranked

Squid7085 @ Jul 14th 2008 3:29PM

The Chocolates were cool for awhile, but they have gone the way of the RAZR, everybody has them. seriously. I was out to eat with like 5 friends, everybody had a chocolate but me, I had the iPhone. Plus, not making the third version of the Chocolate a slider is a serious fail on their part, as that quickly became the chocolates signature.

Highest Ranked

Rudiger @ Jul 14th 2008 4:47PM

"everybody had a chocolate but me, I had the iPhone"

You're so cool... Can I be your friend?

Neutral

Ypoknons @ Jul 14th 2008 6:01PM

Maybe a better use of brand equity would have bringing the LG KF700 touchcreen phone to the US as a chocolate. Its similar to a Dare but with a chocolate style keypad. Adds more luster to the chocolate name.

Neutral

Kutanks @ Jul 14th 2008 7:16PM

They Should of Called the Venus the chocolate, this phone is boring, but this is the only somewhat decent lg flig currently on vzw.

Neutral

Anonymous.Skull @ Jul 15th 2008 12:33PM

A Chocolate without a slide? I wonder how well this will do - it's like a Sidekick without the rotating flip - it's one of the main draws of the phone. I was never a bug fan of the Chocolate, but the slide feature was catchier than yet another basic flip phone.

Neutral

KeegdnaB @ Jul 16th 2008 12:52AM

I had an original chocolate VX8500 up until about a month ago when it broke (in no small part due to my own clumsiness) and I upgraded to an enV2. that thing was an amazing phone and I loved it to the end.....but this, i'm not so sure how I feel. In the end, people are gonna get thrown off since the brand recognition has always meant Chocolate = Cool Looking SLIDER.
It just loses something as a flip

Neutral

cl347bv @ Jul 23rd 2008 9:50AM

now that ive had a chance to play with the phone, i want to say that it kicks major ass.

the fm transmitter sounds suprisingly good, its very pocket friendly, although the holster from the red empire sucks hardcore its more of a plastic pouch peninsula... meaning that it only covers three sides of the phone, and that it slides in and out of it, quite easily. ill have to see what the aftermarket does for a holster.

the way i can view my inbox and my picture gallery on the outside screen was really cool. but got kinda annoying when i was in the gym trying to change the song on the outside, but the phone went into my gallery, or my inbox. but thats what my stereo bluetooth is for. i can change tracks from there.

all in all, great phone. cant wait to buy my own.

Neutral

redleader158 @ Jul 23rd 2008 2:46PM

i was kind of worried by the fact that the external screen was so small,

...then i saw it was a flip and im still worried

Neutral

betterthanyou187 @ Jul 31st 2008 11:50PM

People are way too judge too judgmental about looks. Now looking back at the previous two chocolates... They were very successfull marketing wise but mechanically they needed work. I have had the first two chocolate phones and I have personally liked both of them (never had a problem). I hear and see problems with these two phones to this day. Now if the first two designs for the handset were the same and niether of them worked then maybe a clamshell is a good test to see if this will make the difference. The chocolate was popular because it was almost revolutionary. It was an mp3 player phone that looked like an ipod ( yes I know there was others just like it but this is the first one to make a huge marketing launch).
The new chocolate3 may not be as attractive but functionality wise it has improved...The FM transmitter is fairly good but over all its a cool feature to have in a phone, it is expandable up to 8gb of removable sd memory which is way more than the previous two.The fact that they brought back reading text messages on the front screen along with some other menu functions is also a huge plus, and over all for the phone its self it has decent battery life large keypad easy to use... I would say you guys are over looking the phone and juding it by the way it looks. From what I have seen it looks and feels like a pretty solid phone but as we all know only time will tell...

Neutral

keno @ Aug 14th 2008 8:26AM

I just received my chocolate 3.

Is there a way in which I can transfer contacts from Outlook in XP Pro directly? I have the contacts in a comma separated file in Windows.

Otherwise, how is transfer made?

keno

Neutral

matua83 @ Aug 5th 2008 11:33AM

They've already made a Chocolate flip (although it wasn't marketed as a Chocolate). It's called the vx-8600. My complaints that model was that the speaker phone sucked huevos and it didn't have a 35mm jack. I now own the vx-8550 and the only problem I have with it is also the lack of the jack.

I think I might try the Chocolate 3 when I loose/break the Chocolate 2 I have. FM transmitters rock.

Neutral

matua83 @ Aug 5th 2008 11:36AM

*lose

Neutral

mun @ Aug 9th 2008 8:07PM

can you save the sound in a voice message or pix message and use as a ringtone? so you can record your own ringtones?

Neutral

keno @ Aug 14th 2008 7:53AM

Neutral

Jen @ Aug 31st 2008 10:38PM

I think its funny that everyone is judging the phone by its... "slider feature" that has nothing to do with the phone itself. the whole touchscreen is having issues.. if no body follows up and reads or hears it on the radio.. i don't know what to tell you.. but first of all the iphone has had several issues yet people still put it up there like its a "big DEAL" the chocolate has a lot to offer.. i actually have done a lot of research up on it. It has a sleek design and its not a huge bulky model either. LG itself has the best reception.. which p.s. iphone is through at&t.. that's the only provider who carries it.. so hello.. anyone ever had some service with at&t??? yeah.. my boyfriend has at&t and has the iphone.. yeah the thought of the iphone because its "apple" it seems appealing but try to use it.. very unappealing.