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No phones are perfect. Ever. It’s because these days mobile phones are very complex devices - they do all sorts of stuff, and so it’s hard to ensure universal quality. With the Chocolate phone, LG has had a good go at doing their very best to minimise any errors.
Firstly, the name. Chocolate phone. ‘I have a chocolate phone.’ It’s a marketing technique, and it’s already worked well. Think Wii, Google, etc.
Style - excellent
The Chocolate phone is a thing of beauty. It really is a stunning device; and the girls just love it.
Sleek, smooth and simply cool, the chocolate phone really is one to show off (and I have been, a lot). I love its looks, and I’m one who is very picky about these sorts of things.
One of the best things about the ’style’ of the phone is its simplistic look when it’s not being used (that is, its in ’sleep’, waiting for a call or text). The sliding nature of the phone is really cool, too. It can stand on it’s side. Compared to an iPod shuffle.
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Hardware - very good
The hardware manages to do everything very well. Calls are clear and loud, the screen is nice and bright and can be used even in bright sunlight, and the camera produces pretty cool results.
The heat-sensitive touchpad is very nice; I love to point that little feature out as you can see it in action right away, but it could be a downside if you have ‘fat fingers’ a light touch is needed (and perhaps patience at the start). It doesn’t stand on the table upright, but it does sideways (and leaning).
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The slidiness of the phone is brilliantly done, and the keypad is even back-lit to perfection. One issue in the usability of the phone is simply the placement of the side-buttons. There are two on each side, all the same height along the phone. I do feel that they’re in an awkward position and you can’t use them when you hold the phone like a normal person.
While it’s hard to place them in a good place, at least them being on the display part of the phone would mean I could use them when the phone had the keypad out and I’m making a call. The ‘end call’ button is on the side, so really I must be able to press that with ease if I want to continue looking slender and elegant
Also there’s a flap on the side of the phone. It covers the power/data connection and it’s poorly made - it flops about if you don’t handle the phone correctly and can ruin the look of the thing. This is a bit ironic, as it’s made from the same silky material as the case and is meant to make the phone look better.
The earphones/handsfree kit it comes with is a bit of a joke - those earphones are megga gross and most of the buttons on the extra control don’t do anything.
It comes with bluetooth and can go on the ‘net, and can play MP3s very loud indeed which is cool for cooking and showing people new music. Its got a really good amount of memory, too (128MB), which is good for lots of 3G video footage and music.
Software - good
But not excellent, especially for someone who likes his computer. Products like this make me think I could have a great future in ensuring software is excellent before going out the door, because very quickly into using the phone a few holes appeared.
Picture sample - it’s a very high-res camera for it’s size.
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Video playback is excellent (and it can handle a 3.5 minute music video with ease) MP3s can be played, along with WMAs and AACs, so that’s a real bonus to many. The sounds this thing makes are lovely - very nice and a pleasure to listen to. I especially love that each key has its own note, and my Mum’s number makes a cool tune. So texting is interesting, too. It also comes with a Sudoku java game.
As a guy who needs to be woken up a lot, the alarms feature is brilliant - multiple alarms, multiple days for each, a variety of decent rings.
The general quality of the software is high - the look and feel of the menus is nice, and everything is solid (it hasn’t crashed or faulted, yet).
Bluetooth works very nicely with my iMac - transferring files is a doddle and it also plays 3G video files generated by QuickTime Pro.
The phone works and does many things pretty well but people who like their computers may find themselves frustrated.
A calendar and address book which won’t sync with my iMac’s better, easier to edit brother.
They include special software for Windows which will let you manage and back-up this stuff, but that’s no good; time was wasted making that and not supporting existing (well documented) standards which would be appreciated more. The phone is, after all, bluetooth enabled. (I’d be looking for someone to fire.)
Text input can be frustrating.
Unfortunately my main use for this phone will be texting, so it’s a shame that the predictive text software (T9 make this) is stupid (as in it doesn’t learn which word you use the most), and makes it impossible to edit a word you’ve already made (move on and you have to go back and do it again). Also when switching case inputs, ‘ABC’ should be followed by ‘abc’, not the other way around (this can ruin the ease of input). All these small little things are silly errors and, while they don’t make the phone rubbish by any means, they should have been dealt with.
The icons are poorly thought out, and the good ones are copies of OS X or Windows.
Vetting the designers work (or, properly briefing them) would have fixed this.
There is no loudspeaker option for calls.
I was actually stunned by this, as the speaker is loud but the phone just doesn’t let you. Why, exactly, I would love to know.
Some menus are non-intuitive.
Again, simply poor usability. Nothing you can’t learn after playing with it, though.
Other little niggles: silly animations are displayed when you play an MP3; I should be able to set what happens when I press the camera button twice (default is play MP3s); the screen should show what the final image will look like when I take a picture, not a cropped version of it (debatable, though); can’t zoom in to look closer at photos.
I find is quite sad that I have to write this list, because so many of the problems seem to come from people not thinking. But it’s not just LG doing this - all phones are flawed they’re just too complex not to be.
For what it’s worth, though, while I complain so much about all this stuff I still love the phone it just works, and that’s as good as any.
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Conclusions
This is a very good phone indeed. It does all the things you need it to. I know that I will be using it for the next year at the very least. It’s a strong player and feels like it will last.
While it doesn’t pander to my geeky tastes of perfect, usable software, it is more than good enough for me
The LG Chocolate phone has its real super-strength in the style department, without a doubt. It’s a stunner. But on top of being a stunner, it has the body of a premiership football player (nothing Olympic), and the brains of reliable-but-dim secretary.
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