What's the length of the phone with the slider open?

3.7" closed, almost exactly 5" open.

Why would LG not include a speakerphone? I thought these days of Koreans not inlcuding them were long gone. Samsung stopped this idiotic practice more than a year ago. I knew the overseas LG Chocolate didn't have a speakerphone, but I thought at least the Verizon version would. Also, the round keypad is not tactile? What was the point of messing up with the oversea Chocolate's sexy black front?

360 for retail, i don't know if that is worth it

I'm curious how the phone sounds with just the basic "Music Essentials" headphones.

Your review mentioned this phone does not have a speakerphone yet on the Verizon website when you do a comparison it says it does. Can you verify if does and if so is it any good? Thanks.

There's no speakerphone. I was so surprised by this, I emailed Verizon about it. Their response: "It is more mobile music centric, hence it is designed for use with headsets." The basic Music Essentials headphones have a tendency to suck bass out of your music. I'd suggest going with a better pair of earbuds and Verizon's $14.99 adapter. tuolomne, awesome to see you here! By "not tactile" I mean "not clicky" - there's no physical response to tell you that you pressed one of the touch sensitive buttons.

Can you recommend any good 2.5mm headphones/earbuds to use with this phone (considering it has questionable bass)? I don't really want to get a 2.5-to-3.5mm adaptor on top of the whatever-to-2.5mm adaptor the phone comes with. Any help would be awesome.

How's the earpiece volume on this phone? The VX-8100 had the "auto-volume" feature that was very nice, however the VX-8300 doesn't have this, and subsequently, I feel the volume is fairly low. Is the volume on the Chocolate sufficient to use in a car with the windows down, or on foot in a noisy environment? Thanks!

I don't think we've ever actually reviewed any 2.5mm earbuds! Wow, we're audio snobs. I should talk to Kobrin about this. That said, I've been playing with the new Plantronics MHS-213 wired earbuds, and they seem to be a notch above the usual sets. The key is that they fit snugly into your ears, allowing for some passive noise reduction. They'll be available for $40 from Plantronics.com in September. The earpiece is really surprisingly loud. There's no "auto-volume," it's just loud. I don't drive, but I always test phones in loud outdoor conditions on foot.

I was looking online for a sweet phone to get, and the LG chocolates caught my eye.. but I had a question about the different versions that LG has out currently: the pink and the white ones. Do you have any idea when those are coming out in the US? I think I'd much rather get the white (possibly the pink) version b/c it seems more fresh, but I wasn't sure when I would be able to. Also, do you have any idea which one is better- I heard that the white version had lavender scented key pads but I'm curious about whether or not that is a plus or minus. Anyway, if you could tell me what you think about the white (or pink) chocolate LG and when they are coming out in the US, that'd be great. Thanks!

The sliding keypad - does it feel sturdy? If I drop it a few times am I doomed?

Small correction to the statement in the article: "No other Verizon phone offers stereo Bluetooth..." The Motorola RAZR V3m has stereo Bluetooth and was launched on June 7. The Verizon Wireless music essentials kit is $29.95 and 1G of Transflash memory was $69,95 at that time. I'm sure the menus are more intuitive on the Chocolate, but the Motorola RAZR V3m is a nice phone with great call quality, and nice feature set, and supports Bluetooth Stereo. Good Luck! Alan

The RAZR V3m that I reviewed on July 19th did not have stereo Bluetooth. It also doesn't support MP3 files in its media player, and the MicroSD card is in an awfully inconvenient location. Yes, the V3m is a slightly better voice phone than the Chocolate, but the Chocolate rocks the music chops. I'm not alone, either; various posters on HowardForums agree that their V3m's don't have stereo Bluetooth, either: http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=969605 Do you have a V3m with stereo Bluetooth? Where did you get it? Re: Slider - yes, quite smooth yet sturdy. But this phone would scratch EASILY if dropped on, say, concrete. So I wouldn't drop it a lot. If you're going to drop something a lot, get a Motorola E815 or something. Re: colors - I have not heard about ANY other colors being released on the US market, and I don't get a chance to look at non-US phones.

if i have a few MP3s of my own stored on my PC, can i transfer them to my chocolate for free (without paying anything to verizon)? how?

^^ i'd like to know the answer to that as well!

I ugraded with Verizon to a RazrV3m (returned) and was not totally impressed-especially with the speakerphone (low) and the keypad (too may incorrect digits due to finger overlap.) I am looking for a good, snmll phone with excellent call quality, a decent speakerphone (like the one on my old Motorola V60s,) good battery-life and an easy keypad. What can you suggest? I've done a lot of on-line comparisons and have tried phones at the Verizon store. Should I wait awhile for new entries?

How hard is it to sync music to this thing from a Mac? (Assuming unprotected mp3 files).

I was curious how you feel about the small switch from the rectanglish metal bezel frame that's on the front of the Chocolate in the European/Korean version vs. the iPod-like touch wheel? To me it looks aesthetically better, but I was wondering if, with the slider retracted, the phone looks completely dark, with only the circular frame visible? That was my favorite part about the older/original design, but I can't find any pictures of what the US design looks like with the lights off. Also, in another review, it appears that the top section is wobbly when the slider is extended. Have you experienced this. If so, does it make the phone seem cheap. Is the connection weak here or does it cause you any concern? Thanks a lot!

MP3s - If you don't want to buy Verizon's $30 USB cable, or you have a Mac (the cable is only for PCs), you can put your MP3s in the my_music folder on a MicroSD memory card and the Chocolate will play them just fine. Of course, you'll need a MicroSD memory card and a card reader for your computer, and this isn't really "syncing," it's dragging and dropping. Jeff - You didn't like the keypad on the RAZR? The RAZR has bigger keys than almost any phone I can think of. If call quality and speakerphone are your priorities, just get a Motorola E815. No other Verizon phone has ever matched that one on call quality. The Samsung A950 also has an unusually loud speakerphone. Vernon - I've never used the non-US Chocolates, so I can't comment on that. With the slider down, you can still see "OK" and four white directional arrows with the lights off. And the slider isn't wobbly at all; the phone feels well built to me.

are you able to take mp3s (that i upload, not vcast) and save them as ringtones? i just bought a LG VX8300 and was disappointed at the lack of that feature and hoping the chocolate will support that.

i just had a question after reading over all of these posts. is the speakerphone you talk about the external speakers? or an actual speakerphone input device. are the speakers on the phone sufficient enough to not horribly distort a song when someone calls you? thanks!

I main reason I did not get a RAZR phone was because it did not have vibrate and ring at the same time. Does the chocolate phone have this feature? If so, then I'm set on buying it.

Yes the Chocolate has the vibrate ring function. I just got my Chocolate yesterday. It took awhile to get used to the interface. (moving from a Moto V60i) The lack of speakerphone is annoying. Esp. cause it has a built in speaker, the phone even asks for voice commands over it. The built in speaker sounds like it might be a little "tinny" for music listening but I have not tried it yet. -

can you not sync this phone via bluetooth? also, you can use a bluetooth headset w/it, right?

So I'm not as computer literate as I would like to be... if I was to go the MicroSD reader route vs. buying the LG USB cable, do I just create a folder named 'My_Music' on the MicroSD card? I assume that is the folder VCAST will be looking in to find music right?

can i use mp3s i upload via sd card or usb cable as ringtones?!! :(

do you know when the pink and white chocolate phones are coming out to the US.

whats the retail price?

Ed, you're correct. You cannot load music via Bluetooth - only by cable. But Bluetooth stereo headphones work well. You can load your own MP3 ringtones with the free Bitpim program at www.bitpim.org using a USB cable. The current Chocolate is the only model I know about. The price is on www.verizonwireless.com.

How does the music sound? Since it's on a phone i could not imagine it sounding as good as a real MP3 player such as the creative's vision:M (i dont use ipod as an example bc i think the sound quality is horrible on it). Im curious bc this could make or break my decision to buy it.

Has anyone tried plugging the USB cable into an apple?

How's the call quality? Also, I keep hearing the battery life is not so great, but exactly how is it? Do you have any approximate times yet?

What is the best stereo bluetooth that is both music and call capable for the Chocolate

Did you try creating mp3 ringtones with BitPim on an Mac as well as a PC? Are any other formats supported than Mp3 and WMA? Does the music player let you search by song title, album, and artist and playback in Random like a iPod would?

I left my Chocolate at the office, so here are the answers I can do from memory. The rest will have to wait until Monday. But keep 'em coming ... * Bitpim on Mac - no, didn't try it. I just tried plugging the USB cable into a Mac, which didn't recognize it as a valid device. MP3 and WMA are the only music formats. NOT AAC. For stereo BT headphones, I've been using the Plantronics Pulsar series. The biggest problem with those is the big, flashing blue light on the side of your head that says "mug me." For call quality, battery life, and music quality, read my review on PCMag.com ... it's all in there.

Did anybody have a problem with the microSD card getting stuck in the RAZRV3m ?

can you put songs into the chocolate from a mac?

Have you found any way to sync the Chocolate with iCal on a Mac? I have the phone and have been able to get it to sync with Mac's AddressBook fine via Bluetooth. But haven't found a way to sync it with iCal. It's calendar features seems pretty good, but typing them into the phone is kindof a pain since there is no keyboard on the phone. So I would like to sync it with iCal. Is it possible?

It seems that there is no real "headset/headphone" jack -- is that right? So, with the clunky dataport adapter you can use a set of 2.5mm wired buds, and if you add a 2.5mm-to3.5mm you can use regular headphones? If this is music-centric it seems that a 3.5mm jack should be standard...

if you get a microSD card and the card reader can you get the muic off of itunes?

Are you sure about the lack of AAC support? Google "lg chocolate aac" and you'll see lots of articles claiming that AAC is supported.

I'm having a lot of trouble getting my VX8500 to be recognized by my PC. I installed all of the software that came with the USB cable, but the phone is not recognized either as a storage unit by windows or as a "sync"-able device by Windows Media Player. Is there a trick to this that I'm not aware of? I don't yet have my MicroSD card, but I'd like to make use of the 128mb of space in the phone itself if I can.

If larger microSD cards come out, say 4 or 8GB or larger will this thing support them or does it top out at 2GB?

Hallelujah - Mac BitPim DOES work with this phone. But ONLY over Bluetooth. Not over USB! That emans you can (clumsily) sync iCal by exporting from iCal, importing into Bitpim and writing from Bitpim to the phone. The Chocolate will top out at 2GB, but so will all MicroSD phones nowadays. 4GB and greater will require a new standard called MicroSD HC that no MicroSD slot supports yet (or so Sandisk tells me.) Beckster - You have to go to Menu -> Get Tunes and Tones -> My Music -> Sync Music on the phone after plugging in the USB cable. Then your PC will recognize it. jab - The FOREIGN Chocolate supports AAC. The VERIZON Chocolate doesn't support AAC, neither as .aac or .m4a. Different music player software on the two versions of the phone. bennie - The Chocolate doesn't sync with iTunes and can't use iTunes' AAC music format. But if you have MP3s on your system, you can drag and drop them from the iTunes window onto a memory card. Taylor - You can drag and drop your MP3 files onto a memory card from a Mac just like on a PC, but you can't directly sync music the way Windows Media Player does. M. Alan - I don't find the little headphone attachment nubbin too bothersome. But if you do, use Bluetooth headphones. Also, remember I am comparing this phone to the universe of Verizon phones, not to all the phones in the world or to an ideal phone. The phone isn't ideal, but it's the best Verizon has right now.

I'm looking at this phone, the LG VX8300, and the LG VX9800. I use a Mac, and these phones all support mp3. I want to be able to sync iCal, address book, and use mp3s with my Mac, and I also want a decent camera. These phones all seem very similar to me, but you say the Chocolate is the best Verizon offers. What makes you say that? Do the other phones not support 2GB cards? It seems to me like all of those phones are about the same. I've read your reviews on all 3 phones.

I have a LG VX7000 and bought a USB cable for that phone. I was wondering if this cable will work for the LG Chocolate? I know that it works for VX8000 but I have not seen the Chocolate phone in person. Thanks!

was happy to learn you can sync with iCal over bluetooth using BitPim. Any chance you can add songs and ringtones to the VX8500 over bluetooth using BitPim on a mac? Also, are you using an intel Mac?

So a device that Verizon is calling part mp3 player, part phone, doesn't even have the 3.5mm stereo jack that has been used on every portable music player for over a decade. That seems odd. I know they are trying to push the bluetooth ($$$) but will we really have to use the adapter from dataport to 2.5mm to another adapter to 3.5mm to plug in a pair of old headphones? Anychance they'll release a dataport to 3.5mm adapter? Given that this is supposed to be a music player and 2.5mm headphones never really took off and the adapters add chunk with suspect quality, this seems like a real inconvenience.

Jim - Dunno. I can ask LG. Oscar - I have a Power Mac G5 tower. You can add ringtones using Bitpim, but not songs. For songs, you have to do the drag-and-drop-to-SD-card routine. Kathy - No, the Chocolate uses an entirely new set of connectors - the old LG cables won't work. Braden - Your ideal phone is probably the Motorola E815. It's fully iSync compatible (over USB out of the box, Bluetooth if you hack it a little), best sound and reception on Verizon ever, the camera's eh-OK, and it does play MP3s, if clumsily. After that, the 9800 (slightly better camera, nice loud speakerphone, no stereo Bluetooth) or the Chocolate (stereo Bluetooth, cool MP3 player interface, no speakerphone.) I say the Chocolate is the best music phone because of the Windows Media Player syncing (which doesn't affect you), the support for both MP3 and WMA in the flashy player, and the stereo Bluetooth. But that DOESN'T MEAN THE 9800 MIGHT NOT BE BEST FOR YOU. Remember 90% of my readers run Windows. The 8300 would fall in third place for me, especially because it doesn't play MP3s - only WMAs. For all the LGs, you're going to have to use Bitpim to do your calendar connectivity.

does the chocolate get scratched easily? and is it durable?

Alright, thanks for all your help, I've just got a couple more things. I read reviews on the e815 and was wondering what the card size is limited at for that phone. Is it 256? I'd like to replace my iPod nano with a phone, and I need my phone to handle 2GB. Does using wired headphones give stereo sound with this phone? One person mentioned they only got mono with their headphones. Also, does this phone support analog? What about the chocolate, 9800, and 8300? You mentioned the 8300 only supports wmas. A Verizon representative told me you could choose mp3 on it, and I've also heard there a simple hacks to do it. Has that maybe changed since it first came out? The stereo bluetooth at this point is not important to me given the price of bluetooth headphones. I'm mainly interested in a phone that can replace my nano (by supporting 2GB cards), has a relatively good camera, preferably has good reception (and analog), and can sync my calendar AND address book from my mac, even if I need to use Bitpim. I'm neutral on the speakerphone. Based on what I've read, the e815 mp3 player might not be good enough for my needs, and I'd be willing to sacrifice the ease of iSyncing for replacing my nano and still being able to Sync, albeit not as efficiently. I would love to be able to use iSync (or maybe Missing Sync in the future), but I'm not sure about the E815's mp3, and would love if you could clear that up for me. If it's not good enough, I'm at a draw on the chocolate vs. the 9800, and would probably have to weigh out price vs. size. Sorry for the very lengthy post, ignore it if you want, I've appreciated your help so far! You know way more than Mr. Verizon Representative. Thanks!

I just remembered reading the VX9800 only supports up to 1GB cards, so unless that has changed that phone is essentially out of the running for me. If the 8300 still only supports WMAs it's down to the chocolate or the E815. I'd still like the answers to my other questions, but if the 9800 only supports 1GB I'm not going to mess around with syncing difficulties, and you can ignore the questions about it in my previous post, if you choose to answer it. Thanks!

Great info throughout, thanks are HUGE since I have a Mac. I'm using SWITCH to convert m4a's and aac's to mp3's which works well but it's s..l..o..w.. to convert 2GB. Click and drag works great, it's just not as convenient as Windows MP 10. I thought it was great trying out the old corded cell phone headset and finding out that you could listen to music through them so I was psyched to try out the Plantronics model320 Bluetooth wireless headset, which I do understand that they make the dual piece headset but for all around town functioning single works best. It beeped as I was negotiating in My Music, and when I went to play music it came out of the back of the phone! Is there something that I'm missing here? It "should" work right? Also it's too bad about the lag on button pushing to screen action when the card has more than a GB on it of music and your trying to nagivate through it. Another issue I'm having or is it legit?

I downloaded SWITCH to convert some AAC files to MP3 but it does not convert. Reading through the FAQ on their website, it states that AAC files that are protected can't be converted - I assume that since I bought these songs from iTUNES, its protected. Anyone know of a converter or way to get around this so I can convert protected AAC's to MP3's?

If you go into Preferences for iTunes and click on Importing there is a place that says Import Using where you can change it to MP3 Encoder, also after that you can highlight (select), what songs you want to convert and go into Advanced from the main screen and there is a spot that says Convert Selection To MP3. I'm not sure if it will convert actual purchases off of iTunes though, but you can try these few things. I just haven't bought anything off of there. Mac likes to keep their things, their things. Also if you have bought alot or are trying to convert alot, it will take time just like SWITCH but it seems a little faster. Happy hunting!

I'm curious to know if any more battery tests have been completed? Especially some sort of test that could take into account listening to music for a good amount of time and still being able to use the phone throughout the day.

Hi! I am really clueless when it comes to all this cell phone stuff. I got the chocolate yesterday and I was reading all this information about bitpim and how you can transfer your ical and ringtones. Someone above said you can do this with a mac using bluetooth. I downloaded bitpim but it is not detecting my device (I turned blue tooth on) and so I can't transfer anything! So basically can someone tell me the steps needed to connect my chocolate via bluetooth and bitpim to my mac? Thanks so much!

Sascha, you said on Macs, "You can add ringtones using Bitpim, but not songs". What is the difference? Would you mind explaining? Given what you have said above, I am assuming that whatever is done via Macs, is done via Bluetooth. Is that correct?

Clueless, In the bluetooth drop down menu, click Open Bluetooth Preferences, go to Devices, Select your phone, click Edit Serial Ports, add your phone, and make sure port type is "RS-232" and click apply. I have not tried bitpim on my mac here at work, so I am kinda guessing but given that bitpim on a pc works off serial ports, that should work. If not, get a PC, Macs are useless.

So we've established that iCal and ringtones can be transferred via bluetooth & Bitpim, and songs you can drag-and-drop, but what about Address Book? Can you sync contacts from Address book too? Someone near the beginning of this said you could, but I haven't heard anyone else mention that. Note to ACP: Macs are useless? Kind of like all those not-so-old PCs I have around that work better as doorstops?

Thank you for your response ACP. I followed your instructions but bitpim is still giving me the same message: "Failed to autodetect the port to use. I couldn't detect any candidate ports." As I LOVE my mac and would not like to get a PC, any other ideas how to show bitpim I am using bluetooth? thanks again!

Hi, I just got the Music Essentials Kit, and connected the Chocolate to my PC via USB cable. However, when I open up Bitpim, it doesn't detect the Chocolate as VX8300. Instead, it says, "Other CDMA phone on COM5 - Detected". Am I doing something wrong? How do you get Bitpim to detect it as a VX8300?

Hi, I just got the Music Essentials Kit and connected the Chocolate to my PC via USB cable. However, when I open up BitPim, it doesn't detect the Chocolate as a VX8300. Instead, it says, "Other CDMA phone on COM5 - Detected". Am I doing something wrong? How do you get BitPim to detect the Chocolate as a VX8300?

Braden: On your chocolate, go into bluetooth, select you Mac, and if you hit ok, it should take you to your contacts. Export away--the default location for sending these is Documents on your mac, drag them from there. If anyone knows a better way to "sync" with Address Book, please share. I'd love to get into a Mac v. PC debate, but I don't think it would be very useful for either of us. Clueless: No problem, hopefully Sascha has some tips.

Sascha, now it is saying "The phone is not responding while transitioning mode from none to brew." I am sorry about all this, I just really want to figure it out!

Graham - the one other battery test I did was straight music playback, no calls: 8 hours 20 minutes. Amy - It doesn't seem fragile to me. But my electronics generally don't get scratched. You might need to speak with someone more ... scratch-prone. Ed - You can't convert protected AACs purchased through iTunes to ANY other format without the anoying routine of burning them to CD, and then re-ripping them. If you need to play iTunes Music Store stuff on a phone, you have to get one of the iTunes phones: the Motorola ROKR or the upcoming Motorola V3i, both of which are exclusive to Cingular (sorry.) ACP - Verizon phones use two separate databases for ringtones (which are played in the ringtone player) and songs (played in the V Cast Music player.) Bitpim can touch the ringtone database but not the song database. But that's OK, because you can add songs by dragging and dropping them into the my_music folder on the SD card, so it's not like Bitpim *needs* to deal with it. Braden - I'm at home now and need to check some of your questions at the office, but I'll also be out of the office tomorrow testing something you'll see reviewed next week. Can you email your questions to me so I can make sure I have them all in front of me? A few answers I know - I am playing MP3s off a 2GB card in an E815 RIGHT NOW :), but remember you have to format it as FAT16 on a PC first (or, oddly, use a Chocolate to format it) ... I don't *know* about any update to the VX8300 but that doesn't mean there isn't one, I'm bad with keeping track of updates because I'm always dealing with new equipment ... no EVDO phone on the planet supports analog, because Qualcomm's EVDO chipsets don't have analog. Bitpim - DON'T use Bitpim's autodetect function. Mac users, pair the phone with your Mac using the "Set Up Bluetooth Device" option on your Mac's "B" menu on the upper right hand side of the screen. Remember to go into Bluetooth settings on the Chocolate as well and make the Chocolate discoverable. When you run Bitpim, go to Preferences and pick LG-VX8300 under Phone Type. Next to Com Port, pick Browse. Look for a port called "Serial (/dev/cu.LGVX8500-BTDIAG-1)" Pick that port, hit OK, you should be rolling. ACP's thing about adding a serial port should not be necessary. This comment thread interface is really lousy for long messages. If you email me I can send you step by step. PC users, you need to go into Bitpim settings and force it to be an LG VX8300. Do not autodetect! Autodetecting is usually the cause of most Bitpim problems here.

It worked! yay! Thanks soooo much!

I must be doing something wrong with how I converted my m4a files to mp3 because I can fit half of that on my 2GB microsd card. Any ideas Sascha?

Just got this phone today and it does not have the "vibrate, then ring" feature? What gives? Do people not like this feature?

I'd like to know if anyone else has been experiencing this kind of issue with battery life: So I've had my chocolate since Sunday (8/6) and in the morning both today and yesterday the phone was fully charged. I used the phone for calls and texting as I normally do for personal and business calls. On Monday by around 10pm the battery was completely dead and today on Tuesday it was dead by around 7:30pm. This is starting my day around 8:30 - 9:30am. My previous phone was an LG VX6000 with a battery that had lost a lot of its life and that phone was able to keep up with that schedule without dying in a day... I feel that with a brand new phone and battery that it should last longer?! This usage is with playing one song on my phone two times on Tuesday. So I would expect any prolonged music listening to kill the battery even more.... Maybe a bad battery issue? Comments?

Before I exchganged it for the chocolate, I had purchased the Samsung A930 and had the same problem. I was going to bring it back to Verizon but after about three days it straightened out and was lasting for a normal ammount of time. Make sure when you charge your phone that the charger is in completely because that can also effect it.

Shwany- Most likely you made your mp3s bitrate at 128 kb/s. If you do that, you'd get about 500 songs on 2GB. If you want to fit close to 1000 you'd have to drop the bitrate to 80 (lower quality, test it out see if you notice). Apple advertises "1000 songs in your pocket" for the 4GB iPod, and that's at 128 kb/s, so 2GB would be about 500 songs.

Sascha, thanks for all the help you've provided on this site. I finally went to the verizon store yesturday and looked at the phone in person. It was smaller than I thought it would be. very nice. I found the touch screen very easy to use (all you have to do is touch it!). I don't think that will be difficult at all to adjust. The first phone I looked at in the store was completely frozen on one of the menus and they had to get e technician out to fix it (you couldn't even turn the phone off). so that had be a bit concerned. they had another chocolate there that was working great, no lag between menues at all. It looked like a sturdy great phone, I'm definetly going to get it, and hopefully, thanks to your help, get it working with BitPim2. I'll be endulging in Chocolate this weekend. Thanks for you help.

One last question for anyone using the Chocolate with their Mac. How easy is it to use Bitpim and sync with iCal, Address Book, and send ringtones over Bluetooth? The ease of that is most likely going to make my decision between the Chocolate and the iSync-compatible but less mp3-friendly E815. Thanks!

Okay, so I followed all of the instrutions from the earlier post to "clueless" and I am still getting an error saying that "The phone is not responding while manipulating the filesystem." I have been trying to figure this out for days now and I can't seem to get it to work...please help!

Sascha, Thanks for all your help here. I don't think there is another place where you can get so much information from such an independent source. With the Macs and Bitpim, you can get to the ringtone database, got it. Does that mean you can upload mp3s as ringtones from a mac using Bitpim? Or is it some other type of file you have to upload to use as a ringtone? Thanks.

It IS possible to put Mp3s onto your chocolate via bluetooth I have been doing this since I got the phone!! No speakerphone V annoying!! Message tones are VERY quiet and you cannot change them to Mp3s or anything other than the 4 standard tones that come with the phone. 2 of my friends also have this phone and all 3 of us have experienced problems with it freezing up. Taking hte battery out and cleaning the sim seems to work... but we shouldn't have to do that with a 300 quid phone should we?! Looks smart though.

I was wondering how you get the protected wma files on the card since you said that it can play them, or is that not the case?

I have the same problem as "frustrated!" I recieve the message "The phone is not responding while manipulating the filesystem" whenever I try to send anything to or from my phone. I am not sure if my phone is connected correctly to my computer through bluetooth. When I check my Mac's Bluetooth menu for the status of my VX8500 it says: Paired: Yes Configured: Yes Favorite: Yes Connected: No Serial Port: Yes Maybe the fact that it is not "connected" causes my problems with bitpim. I followed all of the instructions to connect using bluetooth yet my phone only shows the icon for when a bluetooth connection is searched, not the icon when paired (page 89 of the user guide). Could this also be the problem?? Ahh.. this is so annoying. I wish I would have known that Chocolate isn't very compatable with Macs before I bought it. I would consider going with the other phone Braden. Chocolate looks nice and is a decent phone, but don't expect to easily sync it with your Mac. Thanks to everyone out there who has provided us with very useful information so far (esp Sascha Segan!) ...this site is a lifesaver!

when I try adding a wallpaper, bitpim automatically resizes my picture file to 176 x 184 size - regardless of how big the original picture file was. then, when I set the resized picture as my wallpaper, the 176 x 184 doesn't fill up the entire screen. is there any way to upload pictures/wallpapers via bitpim that DOESN'T have to be 176 x 184? thanks!

A few things to keep you guys updated. As Sara notes, I've seen that battery issue on all sorts of phones. Sometimes it's a problem with the battery. Sometimes it's just that the battery isn't "primed" - try charging it and running it down fully for a few days before taking it back. But it seems to happen with all sorts of devices. Protected WMA - you use Windows Media Player 10 to sync them over into the V CAST Music player on the phone. Windows PCs only. Jen's comment confuses me. The Chocolate doesn't have a SIM. It's a CDMA phone. Do you mean you're cleaning the battery contacts? Or are you using some foreign GSM version of the Chocolate? You can't bring assumptions from the foreign Chocolates over to the Verizon Chocolate - the Verizon one has totally different software. ACP, yes, you upload MP3s as ringtones using Bitpim. Braden, I would not say Bitpim "syncs" with iCal. Rather, you can export your iCal data to Bitpim and import it into the phone. It is a somewhat clumsy operation, and one I personally wouldn't bother doing daily, but it works. More Bitpim stuff ... tomorrow. Unless some other Bitpim Mac expert can pop in and take over! :)

Or rather ... it does sync, but it's not the swift one-button solution one thinks of "syncing" as. It's rather a multi-step, somewhat clumsy, Rube Goldberg kind of syncing. Is Bitpim even AppleScriptable? I'd love to know myself. Someone should start an "LG Phones and Macs" Web page.

What's up with all these people with macs? I don't think I'd use one if it were given to me for free. The only reason I am asking about them is because I am stuck with one at work . . . sigh. Anyway, I thought it was common knowledge that it's hard to use third party devices like cell phones on macs. The capabilities are limited at best, and even with the capabilities, there are usually, well, anti-seamless. It's easier to connect many cell phones like this with Windows 98 than it is on a new Mac.

Following up, just look at the bitpim capabilities for this phone. Bitpim can access the ringtone database, not the music database . . . ? While it's probably bitpim who hasn't put as much effort into designing their mac software, why would you wanna deal with that? They are just one of many software developers that make second rate software for Macs. Sorry for rambling, it's just a discussion I have w/ my g/f, and she still has yet to give me a convincing answer.

While LG cell phones dont work great with Macs, many others do thanks to iSync and various plugins that make iSync work, even when Apple says it wont. As far as other devices not working well with Macs, 99% of cameras, printers, webcams, etc etc etc out there just work when you plug them in, it's a huge selling point for Macs. You don't have to download any drivers or install any software, they interface seamlessly anyways. Obviously there's the added benefit of not having to pay for or mess around with free security programs. My family has PCs, and almost everytime I'm with them (a few times/year) they need me to fix something, clean out a hard to get virus/adware, or reinstall Windows for it's yearly wipe to speed it up a bit. I never have to do that with my Mac. The biggest argument against Macs is their inability to run Windows only programs, but even that has been changed with Intel Macs being able to boot Windows. Is that a convincing enough answer? Like you said before, this isn't exactly the place to get into this debate, but since you asked, I decided to answer. Obviously Macs aren't right for everyone, but I think for the large majority of people they are and have become even moreso with Windows capabilities.

does the chocolate come with 2 GB space or do you have to buy that extra? if you do then how much memory space does it come with? thanks

I have WMP 11 and it says that there is an error in syncing and it won't allow it to change is that just because it is WMP 11 and not 10? So is that my understanding that it will not work with MTV Urge Music Service? Is there anyway to get this to work with WMP 11? If not thanks for trying anyway.

You need to purchase the 2GB of storage, or however big of a card you want to purchase up to 2GB. I believe Verizon has a package including a 2GB card, a USB cord, and the software for $100 or so, but don't quote me on that.

Since I couldn't figure out how to link my laptop using bluetooth I found a new way to get custom ringtones. 1. Use BitPim to edit my music 2. Save custom ringtone from BitPim to my desktop 3. E-Mail ringtone on my desktop to your10digitcellnumber@vzwpix.com 4. Open e-mail that I sent to my phone and save it as a ringtone Hope this helps some people!

Has anyone found any good accessories for the chocolate? I am looking for preferably a cute case and a screen protector. My last slider's screen got very scratched up after awhile and it was hard to see what was going on.

I was able to pair my chocolate with my motoroloa H350 bluetooth and load a batch of mp3 files onto a microSD disk and play them on the chocolate through the internal speaker. However, they are not playing through the bluetooth even though it is definitely connected - I can hear the button clicks and tones from the keypad and touchwheel. Sacha- you've gotten me this far - am hoping you continue to be the chocolate goddess!

Two questions. First, if you buy a third-party microSD card, will it work? ie: Does the card need to be specially formatted to work with the phone? Secondly, Sascha. You said you got 8 hours out of the battery when only using music. Was that in standalone mode? I assume that the phone uses less battery when in standalone mode (turns off RF) and was curious if the 8 hour test was with RF on.

As some have noted, getting bluetooth to work between the LG Chocolate and the Mac can be a bit buggy to say the least. I get the same errors that have been reported here I have been able to connect via USB by accessing bitpim preferences and selecting the USB connection under COM Port while the phone is connected. I don't know if you have to select the PC Connection settings on the phone or not. FYI, this is using a 15" MacBook Pro. I have been able to transfer MP3s as ringtons this way and have also been successful in adding photos and importing iCal calendar items. btw, I have also been able to send Address Book entries via bluetooth but only one card at a time (lame).

Hey guys. I am really swamped today so don't have time to troubleshoot much. Hopefully some of you folks can help each other. posaune - No, that wasn't in standalone mode, but it was without making any calls, and it was in a strong signal area. I've been using SanDisk SD cards with my Chocolate. Starfire - the Chocolate will only play music over a -stereo- Bluetooth headset, i.e. not the H350. David - You're ahead of me! I don't have any machines with WMP 11 - it's a beta, and it's only officially launching with Vista. No official word on WMP 11 support, for good or ill.

Sorry for the repeat post, but I am struggling with ringtones and bitpim. I open bitpim, plug in the USB, sync my phone, and hit COM 5, detect VX8300. Then all I get is an error message saying, "COM5: Could not not open port: (2, 'createfile', The system cannot find the file specified.)" Any ideas? What am I doing wrong? Thanks in advance.

So can you use mp3 files as ringtones????????? someone email the answer to me or post it please! my email is drework@knology.net Thanks!

Braden, Thanks for your thoughtful response. It helps. I guess I was under the impression that someone trying to use bitpim would have the wherewithal and knowledge to protect their PC and be able to quickly troubleshoot the occasional problems that you say your parents have. Yes, I agree, that people like your parents may be better off with a mac, but if you are trying to use software like bitpim, you should know how to protect your computer and how to fix little bugs that occasionally occur.

T-Dog, This may be a stupid question but did you install the driver for the phone? If so, try reinstalling it. Andrew, Take the time to read the above posts.

How usable is the MP3 interface for common use. Is it worthy of replacing my ipod? Does it have playlists?

How usable is the MP3 interface for common use. Is it worthy of replacing my ipod? Does it have playlists?

does anyone know what color the keypad lights up ??

does anyone know if you can transfer songs/audio from one chocolate to another? and if so, how do you do it? is it through bluetooth or do you need some kind of cable wire?

Speakerphone - Since the phone does not have a speakerphone, does that mean we cannot listen to MP3s without a headset? Since it can play mp3 ringtones, I'm assuming it can also play the MP3s aloud? Ringtones - If I want to load my MP3s as ringtones, will BitPim automatically put them on the onboard memory? If I run out of onboard memory, can I not store ringtones on the microSD? I wanted to have a song as an MP3 but also as a ringtone. Would I have to have duplicates (one for ringtone and one for MP3 music)? Thanks!

Sascha, you've been such a huge help, thank you so much. My question about the ringtones is this, when you purchase the ringtones and they are put onto one phone, like I had the LG VX6000, is that it? Can I put them onto my Chocolate? Is there an account on V Cast that after you buy them that it stores them so that you can access them anytime from any phone, or is it a one shot deal? Thanks again!

For those having problems connecting to their chocolate through bitpim: when you get where it says "other cdma phone on COM5", go to the settings page change it to lgvx8300, click ok, do NOT search for phone, just start sending files. worked for me.

I'm not sure if this question has been answered yet but I heard the Chocolate (vx8500) has 512mb of internal memory already built into it. Is this true?

I just got the phone in today and I am having problems syncing the phone to the pc. It keeps giving me an error message "Connect Failure Please check your cable connection to the PC." Did anyone else have this problem? If so what did you do? Thanks

if you're having trouble connecting the phone to a mac via bluetooth, double check the following: You phone/computer are paired The phone's PC Connection is set to Bluetooth and not USB (This is done by going to Tools/Settings, Option 6, then Option 7) You have serial port "LGVX8500-BTDIAG-1" (was the default name when I created mine, and I did have to create the port because none already existed for my phone) Bitpim is set up for the VX8300, and you have placed the port "LGVX8500-BTDIAG-1" in the Com Port slot, using Browse (the full name through bitpim will come out /dev/cu.LGVX8500-BTDIAG-1) th