LG Chocolate 3 (1 GB) Cell Phone
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- Screen Size (Diagonal): 2.2 inch
- Installed Memory: 1 GB
- Connectivity: Bluetooth
- Performance: Dual Band
- Design: Mobile
- Style: Clamshell
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User ReviewRead All Reviews »
Simple, Elegant Phone and MP3 Player
Pros
Great reception, great call clarity, lightweight, skinny, and plays mp3's superbly.
Cons
Verizon software is always a pain...Not meant for web browsing or chatting. Poor FM transmitter.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
This is a great phone for making/receiving calls, while able to listen to your mp3's on the go.
Having been a previous owner of the original LG Chocolate, this phone is a vast improvement in terms of usability, reliability, and functionality. Built as a clamshell, this strays from what you would normally expect from a Chocolate, but has a very small profile, and very light. I would suggest going to the store and actually holding one to see how small (and skinny) it is, and how light it feels. This review will focus on my experiences using this, since you can view specifications and stats anywhere.
First and foremost, to me, this is a real phone. It has GREAT reception (I am in the NYC metro area), to the point where I've only lost reception a couple times in elevators. Calls come in crystal clear. I live about 1 mile from the south shore of Long Island at sea level, and still get 2-3 full bars consistently no matter where I am in my house. Can't say enough about how pleased I am with the reception. The speaker phone is also great. It's nice and loud, and my mp3 ring tones come in "decent". There's a dedicated speakerphone button.
The MP3 player is second most impressive thing on this phone. Plug in a regular pair of 3.5mm stereo headphones and you're good to go. The music quality is anything you would expect from any other mp3 player. The limitation most likely being how good your headphones are able to carry the sound to your ears. My headphones came with a mic, so switching to a phone call while listening to music is easy enough. The phone will stop playing the music, and play your ringtone. You can use the mp3 player in either normal mode, where you can listen to music, while still able to receive calls, or go into music only mode, to extend its battery life. A full battery probably lasts about 12 hours or so longer when switching to music only mode. Still very impressive. You can use the front wheel button to control your music so that you don't have to open the phone to use it.
The only issues I have with the mp3 player are the FM transmitter built-in is very poor. Although I wasn't expecting much from it, there was so much static, I stopped using it after a few tries. If you're in a less populated area, it may be better, but so far no luck with me. The good thing is, you're able to tune to any frequency, and have 3 channels you can pre-set to. It was a bit of a pain to navigate the menu to get to this option though. The other really sore point, was that you're required to use the Rhapsody software that comes bundled with the phone. This software (although it works) is absolutely the worst mp3 organizer I've seen. Maybe it works well with the Rhapsody service, but really annoying to use with my existing collection. The software had numerous problems identifying a lot of my music as valid mp3's and would simply ignore their existence. This prevented me from transferring some songs to my external micro-flash drive. Annoying. Don't know if there is an alternative to using this software, if there is, please tell me.
If you have Verizon service, you won't get a copy of the software CD either, unless you purchase some premiere package. But you don't need it. Just plug in the phone with the supplied USB cable and it will automatically download the software for you. If not, download it from their website.
The charger is a combination standard 5-pin mini-USB cable and wall plug, which I thought was very efficient. The USB cable can plug into either your computer or the wall adapter for juice. Nifty.
The camera works well enough. Don't have much to say on this. There's no flash, and I'm not a photographer, so I can't tell if the reason pics come out bad is my fault, but probably is. Got a few good pics when taken indoors, and clear enough looking at them on my computer.
One minor pet pieve I have with this phone, is that I find it....a little tough sometimes to open it with just one hand. The design is so skinny, that I usually find myself opening it with two hands because it's too thin to grab just the top part of the phone. I don't know, maybe it's just me...check it out for yourself.
In conclusion, great phone, at a great price. If you want a great working phone that plays mp3s like a champ, this is your phone. It has all the workings of a modern day phone, simple, easy to use, without being a small computer like a blackberry or an iphone.
First and foremost, to me, this is a real phone. It has GREAT reception (I am in the NYC metro area), to the point where I've only lost reception a couple times in elevators. Calls come in crystal clear. I live about 1 mile from the south shore of Long Island at sea level, and still get 2-3 full bars consistently no matter where I am in my house. Can't say enough about how pleased I am with the reception. The speaker phone is also great. It's nice and loud, and my mp3 ring tones come in "decent". There's a dedicated speakerphone button.
The MP3 player is second most impressive thing on this phone. Plug in a regular pair of 3.5mm stereo headphones and you're good to go. The music quality is anything you would expect from any other mp3 player. The limitation most likely being how good your headphones are able to carry the sound to your ears. My headphones came with a mic, so switching to a phone call while listening to music is easy enough. The phone will stop playing the music, and play your ringtone. You can use the mp3 player in either normal mode, where you can listen to music, while still able to receive calls, or go into music only mode, to extend its battery life. A full battery probably lasts about 12 hours or so longer when switching to music only mode. Still very impressive. You can use the front wheel button to control your music so that you don't have to open the phone to use it.
The only issues I have with the mp3 player are the FM transmitter built-in is very poor. Although I wasn't expecting much from it, there was so much static, I stopped using it after a few tries. If you're in a less populated area, it may be better, but so far no luck with me. The good thing is, you're able to tune to any frequency, and have 3 channels you can pre-set to. It was a bit of a pain to navigate the menu to get to this option though. The other really sore point, was that you're required to use the Rhapsody software that comes bundled with the phone. This software (although it works) is absolutely the worst mp3 organizer I've seen. Maybe it works well with the Rhapsody service, but really annoying to use with my existing collection. The software had numerous problems identifying a lot of my music as valid mp3's and would simply ignore their existence. This prevented me from transferring some songs to my external micro-flash drive. Annoying. Don't know if there is an alternative to using this software, if there is, please tell me.
If you have Verizon service, you won't get a copy of the software CD either, unless you purchase some premiere package. But you don't need it. Just plug in the phone with the supplied USB cable and it will automatically download the software for you. If not, download it from their website.
The charger is a combination standard 5-pin mini-USB cable and wall plug, which I thought was very efficient. The USB cable can plug into either your computer or the wall adapter for juice. Nifty.
The camera works well enough. Don't have much to say on this. There's no flash, and I'm not a photographer, so I can't tell if the reason pics come out bad is my fault, but probably is. Got a few good pics when taken indoors, and clear enough looking at them on my computer.
One minor pet pieve I have with this phone, is that I find it....a little tough sometimes to open it with just one hand. The design is so skinny, that I usually find myself opening it with two hands because it's too thin to grab just the top part of the phone. I don't know, maybe it's just me...check it out for yourself.
In conclusion, great phone, at a great price. If you want a great working phone that plays mp3s like a champ, this is your phone. It has all the workings of a modern day phone, simple, easy to use, without being a small computer like a blackberry or an iphone.
