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) the biggest problem that I had connecting my mac to my phone was finding out the bits of pieces of information across the internet...but after i created the serial port bitpim was able to communicate with my phone...and like many have said above don't autodetect.. you can add mp3 ringtones easily with bitpim by putting them in the ringers folder but to add full mp3s to your 'my_music" folder requires going into the filesystem. Once you've figured out how to get bitpim reading your phone, then go to View - > Filesystem. Doubleclick the folder "/" to drop down all the other folders, one of which is called, tada, "my_music". Drop your mp3's in here, and delete the stupid Verizon/WMP10 syncing software.

troo: your MP3 instructions worked seamlessly for the first MP3 I added to my my_music folder. I then added another song and it took a while to be added to the folder, and it's in the folder on bitpim but not in my phone. Any ideas?

I just disconnected with BitPim and it said it could not play the one song that worked. Hmmm...

Thanks a bunch, troo. Non-Bitpim queries - The Chocolate comes with 68 MB of free internal memory. Shwany, purchased ringtones are supposed to be locked to your individual handset with no way to move them between handsets. Verizon doe$ thi$ on purpo$e. You might be able to get your ringtones off your 6000 using Bitpim and put them on the 8500 also using Bitpim - Bitpim experts? Ringtones live in the 68MB of onboard memory. There's a speaker for MP3s, just not for phone calls. If you want to transfer files from one Chocolate to another, put them on a microSD card and swap the memory card between phones. The touch sensitive keys light up BLOOD RED. The MP3 interface is OK, and it lets you search/sort by all the usual criteria, but it's no iPod -- but nobody in the whole universe is as sweet as an iPod, except actual iPods. It supports playlists, but you have to make them on your phone rather than your PC, which is a bit annoying.

So I lost my I pod and got this Chocolate thing. I have these sweet headphones from Sue don't ask how they did not get ost wtihthe I pod buut I have them. How do I connect them to the Chocolate phone? Will I be losing quality? Thanks in advance Shaq

Sara - make sure your mp3's filenames aren't hideously long, the phone may not recognize them. The phone recognizes the IDv2/IDv3 tags on the mp3s, so you dont need to make the actual filename the full song name for you to see in the player. It worked Ok for me...I had one song already on there that I synced while testing the verizon software, and added a short mp3 clip through bitpim, by right clicking in the my_music folder and clicking "New File" and finding my mp3 there...waited for it to upload it, then I went to Menu/My Music and both played correctly both before and after i turned off bitpim and disconnected bluetooth. I didn't need to restart my phone, but I've heard others saying they had to for it to work... Bruce - Unless you start randomly adding and deleteing things in the filesystem folder, you shouldn't be hurting your phone :) do you really think verizon wants you to be putting free mp3 ringtones on there instead of buying theirs? On a side note...if you use bluetooth on your phone alot, MAKE SURE you turn it off when you're not using it, it eats your battery up like crazy (Menu/Settings/Bluetooth). I've also heard if you have an SD memory card for your phone, that setting your ringtones to mp3s on the card will eat up your battery too.. hope this helps

A supposed Verizon tech posted a comment on another board saying Bitpim will cause problems to the software on the phone. "If you combine the two program interfaces, you will lose all of the data on your phone" Does anyone know if there is any truth to this? If so, are there other ways to create MP3 ringtones?

I just recently bought the phone, and was sitting in pizza hut and downloaded a 3 min video clip from V Cast, it had to buffer once in the middle other than that compared to other phones the video quality is real good, also I was in pizza hut with noisy kids and people and was able to hear the video without headphones over all the people just fine, so I am guessing it does have a speaker phone, but as of yet I have no way to connect it to my computer for transfering mp3's since I dont want to spend 2 dollars per mp3 or whatever it is, not sure wether I need to buy memory card that has like a housing that attachs to the computer or a straight connector from computer to the phone and maybe edit files like a hard drive? If anyone knows 1. the cheapest method 2. easiest method(if different from cheapest method) for this to be done let me know please, thanks.

I'm not very computer/cellphone-literate so please excuse if this is a dumb question. Do I add the mp3's that are for listening through Bitpim or is this program only for making mp3 ringtones? If so, are there advantages of bitpim over using Windows Media Player? Thanks a lot.

Will a Sandisk Micro SD purchased from an outside party (e.g. Bestbuy, Staples) work w/the Verizon Chocolate? It is identical to the one on the Verizon accessory page but I was wondering if Verizon has some sort of restriction that will only allow memory purchased DIRECTLY from them to work.

So I received my Chocolate from Verizon Wireless earlier this week. It's been an excercize in futility to get the Sync function to work. Thus far I can sync on my Dell Dimension 8600 Laptop and on my IBM T41 at work, it refuses to connect to my homebuilt workstation or to my friends Dell workstation. So after reading all these posts here I downloaded the BitPim application and I am able to upload custom ring tones and edit my Contacts, Notes and my Calander but I am not able to upload or download any MP3 files to My Music and for some odd reason I am unable to check off the feature to download SMS from the phone to BitPim or I get an exception error and it crashes the program. And on top of all of that.... Where is the Graphic Equalizer that Verizon loves to show on the commercials but it's NO WHERE to be found on the phone..... All in all I like the design of the phone but the software engineers behind it, should be fired! Any help would be greatly appreciated! Brett

I should be editing videos of my baby but here I am. Bruce, that's FUD. "Combine the two program interfaces?" WTF? Reminds me of Cingular reps telling poor folks that if they got their phones unlocked they'd no longer be able to use MEdia Net. Total bushwah. I hate it when company reps do that. Yes, you can hose your phone by using some of the expert stuff in Bitpim (I don't touch that filesystem option myself) but simple calendar/contacts/ringtones/wallpapers stuff shouldn't cause any problems. Shaq, maybe you should ask Sue, whoever she is? You can buy a headphone adapter from Verizon for $14 that works with 3.5-mm headphones, which includes all standard music player headphones. Justin, if you buy the Music Essentials Kit from Verizon, it includes a USB cable which hooks the phone up to sync with Windows Media Player on your PC. Your other option is just to get an SD card reader for your PC (they're, like, $15 or so) and put MP3 files directly on the memory card using your PC. Stevie, I'd only use Bitpim for ringtones. I'm not sure why everybody here is so psyched to use it for songs. Maybe some of the folks using Bitpim for songs can explain why it's superior to using an SD card reader? Rich, I have Sandisk 1GB cards I got from Sandisk, not Verizon, and they work fine. Brett, I'd say use Windows Media player or a card reader to sync music songs, not Bitpim. Though some of the Bitpim-music heroes on here can explain how to do that - I'm not knocking them, just saying it's not what I would personally recommend.

Sascha (or anyone who knows), It's hard to tell by looking at the screens on BitPim's website, but can you sync notes/memos between the phone and the mac? Thanks, Richard

I'm having no luck at all trying to get the Sync function to work on this phone. I have already installed/reinstalled the Drivers, reinstalled WMP 10, contacted both verizon and microsoft tech support for help, yet still I can't get the sync function to work. It always goes to that "Connect Failure" message screen. I'm contemplating buying an SD card reader and placing my MP3s in the mini SD card that way, but the only question I have is if this will work. Will dragging and dropping music files via a card reader (not through the phone's sync function using WMP 10) work? Card reader are fairly cheap so if this solves the problem, then I'll gladly pick one up very soon. Any answers to this would be greatly appreciated!

Two questions for anyone who may have figured this out: 1 - Has anyone been able to extend the time for the annoying touch pad protector to activate? Mine activates after 2 seconds and forces me to hit the unlock button each time. I wish i could extend the time... 2 - whats the deal with the backlight? There's obviously two backlights (Bright and Dimmed), but Verizon only references 1 in there user guide - has anyone figured out how to have the dimmed version on all the time without having the Full, Bright version (which will obviously eat up more battery)?

Anyone able to put a video from iMovie on their Chocolate? I've tried a few and they fail. I have the phone in discovery mode yet it says "check bluetooth status of receiving device." iSynch also does not work, from what I've tried. Anyone get that going? Also, any way to restore the built in Pix once you've deleted them by "replacing all" in BitPim?

Ben, Yep you can migrate files directly to the MicroSD Card via a card reader. I just did it a minute ago, I was able to click and drag files plus I was able to migrate files from WMP to the card via Sync (via card reader). I have about 40 songs on the card right now and it's half full (512MB card) and those are all high Kbps files I don't do low quality files much. Also I was able to use BitPIM to make all sorts of ring tones from my MP3's and upload them to the phone via the "sounds" folder and use them as ring tones, no problems! I converted to Mono Audio, 32Bit, 20,500Khz to free up some space.

Great! Thanks for the reply Brett! I'll go ahead and pick up a card reader then.

Hello, I'm also having issues with the battery life, im not using it much. One just today I woke up at 8 am the phone said it was fully charged and then i got one phone call and by 11am the phone was already half way dead. pls help I already made sure the music wasnt one but somehow still dying very fast.

My Media Player 10 does not see my new LG Chocolate device. I looked in my device manager and i see the LG. I had a RAZR V3 last week and loaded it on my laptop and was able to sync easily. I loaded the correct drivers. When I removed then reloaded Media Player 10 it stills says "NO device has been detected. Press F5." Can someone help? Thank U!

I'm trying to figure out which directory to add the ringtones for the Chocolate. Which directory should I place them in, I put the mid and mp3 files in "my_music" folder, but it doesn't show up as one of the ringtone. Also, can you use MP3's on the sd card as ringtones, if so, how do you get MP3's on the sd card as ringtones? Thanks!

Nevermind, I figured it out. I was able to load ringtones by putting them in the "\Brew\16452\lk\mr\" folder, but I sitll want to know how do you get MP3's on the sd card as ringtones? Thanks.

Bert, If you are using Bluetooth and not disabling it after you are done it will continue to broadcast and pull the battery down quickly. If I set my Choc into music mode I can listen to music for three hours straight or more... I think that's the best we are going to get out of anything with a battery this small (same goes for actual, dedicated, mp3 players. Sha, Welcome to the "can't get it to sync club" I just decided to forget about synchronization via WMP and instead plunk my MicroSD card into a card reader, or, alternatively use BitPIM to do my transferring of files.

Has anybody had any problems with their phone after using bitpim? I want to use the program to add a few ringtones and not have to pay a couple bucks a pop, but if it does anything strange to the software I might have to shell out the money or go with what comes with it.

John, If you stay out of the File System you should not have any problems at all. I have been doing nothing but messing with my Choc in BitPIM now for a couple days and I have yet to encounter anything "weird" but if you are not familiar with getting into system files then I suggest you stay out of the phone's file system (which by default is not displayed in BitPIM). Word to the wise... Unless you know what you are doing stay OUT of the file system you can crash the phone and if you delete the wrong file and the phone crases it may become inoperable. Brett

I just got the phone, and i wanted to know if you can watch your own music vedio, or any other type of veido?

Are you having problems with the sliding keypad? I just got my Chocolate for 2 days now and it seems to be stumbling on the sliding. Sliding up is fine, but sliding down is not as smooth. Dose this sound right, or should I take it back for a different one?

I can do I wireless sync with outlook but can't get my chocolate main callendar to sync. Anyone knows a way to do this?

Se7en: mine opens and closes easily, I think you might want to go exchange yours. Roberto: Use BitPim. What you need to do is export your calendar and then import it into BitPim, and then sync it to your phone.

Just a quick question to the peanut gallery. What's the best bluetooth headset to use with the Chocolate? An earlier post said that the Motorola H350 would not be a good choice because it is not a stereo bluetooth receiver. Is the Motorola H500? Any other good options? Thanks. BTW, I've never used a bluetooth receiver, so I need something that's also dummy-proof.

I got my Chocolate about 10 days ago and have generally been enjoying the experience. I did have a problem for a couple of days while in an out of area digital network (non-Verizon) where the phone would ring, I'd answer it, hear nothing (assuming that the call wasn't connected) and say to the caller "I can't hear you, so call me back." After about 5-10 seconds of me talking, the caller finally became audible and said they could hear me, but I clearly couldn't hear them. Haven't experienced this problem yet while in Verizon's home network. Is this a potential phone problem (in which case I need to exchange the phone ASAP) or is it more likely a network problem. For whatever it's worth, the delayed response calls happened from both cell phones (two diff. callers) and a local land line. Thoughts?

Hello, my question after reading another website's reviews is that the use of the bitmap to download songs and use them on the phone they say (verizon reps.) that it will in turn ruin the phone if we do not use the v-cast that they offer to us. I want to use the bitmap but am afraid it will ruin my phone. But in turn I renew my contract every 2 years or less with the early upgrade so will my phone be ok until then? Or should I not worry at all?

I have had the LG Chocolate for a few days and it now has a terrible vibration sound in the earpiece. It sounds like the volume is up too high, but I have tried to adjust both the earpiece and master volumes and it doesn't help. Verizon says I have to exchange for another handset. Any suggestions other than going back and waiting another hour and half at Verizon?

The Verizon reps telling people that Bitpim will ruin their phones are working from a corporate $cript that'$ made to defend ringtone revenue$. If you use the standard options in Bitpim - wallpaper, calendar, ringtones, and contacts - you should not have any problems. However, you should generally not be messing with the "filesystem" options in Bitpim. That means, by all means, do use Bitpim to upload ringtones. But don't use it to upload music songs. Use an SD card reader attached to your PC for that. They cost $15 and you can buy them anywhere. Matt, your problem probably has to do with switching issues in the roaming network. It's probably not your phone. Felix, if you want to play music over Bluetooth, you must use a stereo headset. I like the Plantronics Pulsar 590a. But if you only want to have conversations over Bluetooth, you can use a mono headset. I like the Plantronics Voyager 510. Video people - Putting videos onto a phone like the Chocolate is beyond the range of non-techie folks. iMovie certainly won't work. Other videos have to be transcoded to 3GP format, preferably at 176x144 size. You can do this with QuickTime Pro or various freeware tools, but I'm warning you, it's a pain. Then you put the .3gp files in the my_flix folder on your memory card using the SD card reader you bought to transfer songs with.

Thanks Sara!

I have been reading through the comments from mac users, and I'm still a little skeptical and confused. I waited around for Verizon to finally get a decent phone that can serve as an mp3 player as well. I have not purchased my own iPod because I don't think I would want to carry 2 devices everywhere. Anyhow, I'm very disappointed to find that one must jump through so many hoops to get this phone to function with my mac. So my question is: What must I do to upload music onto this phone and to get it to connect with my mac? It would be great if I could use calendar functions and stuff like that, but my primary wish is for it to be a decent mp3 player. And since ALL of my itunes files are mpeg files, does that mean I will have to re-import all of my music from cd's and that the purchased music (from the itunes store) will be no good? And, once the music is in the phone, to what extent can it be searched and organized like the ipod does? Please say it isn't so. But if it is, this thing is going back to Verizon before next week. I appreciate your feedback.

Thank You for your quick response but I went last night to look at the bitmap.org website (my phone is on it's way) to check things out before it gets here. I was either in the wrong place or did something completely wrong it was all pictures that you could download. It kept sending me to Flickr. This is really frustrating to me could you please explain how to do this. Thank You Am

Ok I am totally sorry please disregard my last comment. I guess I could just read a little more carefully. It is not bitmap it is bitpim. OMG I am so sorry for wasting your time. Thanks Am

Odd question: I used the trial GPS software on my chocolate the other day, and after i was done using the program, hit end, and closed the slide, the phone said "Verizon wireless" in that lady's voice about 10 times in a row, a few seconds in between each repetition... this was while the slide was closed and the screen was off. It just kept repeating itself. It's been a few days and it hasn't done it again, but I worry that 6 months down the line it will become like that family parrot that annoys everybody but was too expensive to just throw out the window. Anyone encounter a similar issue?

Sascha, you're quite the lifesaver. I just need some product specificity. Some people have mentioned using a Sandisk flash memory card to transfer music. Is this a "miniSD" or a "microSD with transflash capability?" Thanks again for all your helpful answers.

To Felix: chocolate takes MICRO sd. usually when you buy it, it comes with a regular SD adaptor b/c the card is too small to fit into a reader. Also you do not have to buy the card from verizon. I got a 1 gig microSD from Bestbuy, on sale for $35 last week. Not sure if the sale is still on, but verizon will always jack up the price, so if all you need is the card, go elsewhere!

Here's a helluva a thing: I got my Chocolate the day it came out, and I love it, but the Music Player is giving my some grief. Specifically, when I synch my songs to the phone with Media Player 10, only the wma's have tags. If I use another non-Microsoft (i.e. non-wma loving) program like MusicMatch to send music files, it sporadically keeps my song tags (most of which are mp3's), while others display NONE for artist, album and genre. WTF? All of my 5000+ songs have good tags, most are mp3's and most are legal downloads or CD rips. Any clue where my tags are going? Any help would be great! Thanx!

CAn someone go over the steps to apply mp3's as ringtones, or any other method out there to accomplish this.

I finally figured out how to get into the phone's file system, and was just wondering how to get apps on there. Do they just go in the Brew directory? And how would I execute them?

So my chocolate is syncing with my apple over Bluetooth "Device Name: LG VX8500 Device Address: 00-12-56-fa-5f-07 Device Type: Phone Device Services: Paired: Yes Configured: Yes Favorite: Yes Connected: No" I was able to send a Vcard to my phone, so I know they can communicate. However BitPim is not able to make a connectins. I chose VX-8300 as my phone and am only given these port options Automatic =====Available Ports === serial (/dev/cu.bluetooth-PDA-SYNC =====Inoperable Ports ===== Modem 9?dev/cu.bluetooth-modem) Nothing works. Neither does setting it as a CDMA device Either way it says PHONE Detection Failed No Phone detected/recognized Run Settings? Can anyone help? I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I am using a new intel 1.83 Ghz intel iMac thanks for any help

Oscar: 1. don't use the automatic port, try to find the one that says Serial (/dev/cu.LGVX8500-BTDIAG-1) 2. make sure your cell phone is in discovery mode (obviously with bluetooth on). to get this go to settings> bluetooth> settings > discovery mode AZ: to use mp3s as ringtones you should use bitpim to import the song and then change it to a ringtone and send it to your phone using a usb cable or bluetooth Charlie: Just buy a microSD card (as discussed recently above) and transfer your iTunes music onto it. It can be in mp3 format.

OK i restarted the computer and found the serial (/dev/cu.LGVX8500-BTDIAG-1) i put the phone in discovery mode and am now getting the message A Bluetooth serial failure has occurred Failed to open an RFCOMM serial channel. Check if authentication needs to be enabled in your device. I'll keep tinkering, hope i figure it out. thanks for your help sara

I was looking in the user guide and it said "transfer music to a microSD card by using a card reader or to the phone's internal memory using a USB cable." Does this mean I can only load music onto the internal memory using the USB cable provided in the Music Package and must buy a card reader to add music to the microSD?

Oscar, have you gone to the bluetooth on your computer and set up your chocolate as a device? if not, go to system preferences > bluetooth > devices > set up new device and follow the instructions. The phone needs to be in discovery mode for this as well. Hope this helps...

I am able to use bitpim to modify my contacts but it keeps showing me an exception and will not sync my callendar. Anyone knows why?

A quick question about magnets and cell phones. If my cell phone case has a magnetic closure device, will this erase the cell phone memory or damage the cell phone?

Felix, which one do you have?

I'm giving mysself a headache trying to figure this out. I installed all of the software from the Music Essentials Kit, and I plugged my phone into the USB and my computer refuses to recognize it. It keeps trying to install the drivers but to no success. I can't connect with the Sync function and it keeps giving me a "Connect Failure" because my computer can't see my phone. How in the hell do I get my computer to recognize my phone? Can anyone help me? I've been to every forum I can find and I've gotten no answers yet.

Sara, it's just a generic case I saw on e-bay, comes in leather and suede with an inner magnet to keep the flap closed. And a less technical question. What's the best way to clean this cool looking, but very smudge-prone phone?

Any suggestion Sara?

Felix: I was wondering the same thing, I would stay away from magnets. let me know if you find anything! I was thinking of getting one of those clear plastic strips they sell for ipods. I'm not sure beyond that. Roberto: My BitPim does the same thing for SMS. I cannot for the life of me get my chocolate to sync the SMSs without an exception. My only suggestion is to quit BitPim and try again a couple times. Sorry I don't have anything more specific! I think BitPim is just a slightly screwy program.

Jason, First, don't install media player software for the phone, it apparently is a nightmare. I didn't do it, so i don't know if you can uninstall it individually, or if you have to uninstall WMP, but whatever you have to do, get it off your computer. Second, reinstall the driver, and only the driver from the kit cd (make sure the phone is not plugged in.) Lastly, keep the cd in and plug in the phone, your computer will look for the driver and bring the window up to install the driver, just go through the motions and point the installation to your cd drive. Hope that helps.

I have installed, uninstalled and installed again my V-Cast music essentials cd-rom. Still, my computer keeps saying that there is no device detected and that there was an error in the installation. I went on my phone to the sync music and that says connect failure also. I have no idea what is wrong... if anyone could help that would be great. Thank you!

hey guys, first off i wanted to thank all of you for everything, my phone comes tommorow and i hope i won't be a member of the 'phone doesn't sync' group. anyway, i read some stuff of having to edit the songs into ringtones using bitpim. i've already made short clips of the mp3's to be used as ring tones using audacity... will this do? can i simply drag and drop now? thank you.

Ok, so I bought both the chocolate and the VX8300 the other day and Windows Media Player will not find either of the phones when trying to sync music to them. I've installed the drivers, have Windows Media Player 10 (not 11) and have went to the get-it-now menu and selected 'sync music'. Windows Media Player says "No device has been detected" and the phone says "Connect Failure. Please check your cable connection to the PC." (By the way, I'm only using one phone at a time and neither phone has a memory card) I have no idea what to do and I'm quite tired of fooling with this. I've searched all over the internet trying to find answers, but nobody seems to know what is wrong. Any help would be appreciated.

Mike: Yeah that should work mike. You have to put them in the "ringtones" folder and then tell bitpim to push it to the phone by clicking the button in the upper left. OF all bitpims screwy functions, this one is pretty straightforward.

Oscar, make sure it's not on the autodetect and the serial port i showed you. Also, as I mentioned, make sure when you open BitPim your phone is in discovery mode. Let me know if this doesn't work... and what message you are getting.

We tried for 2 HOURS to sync my husbands phone with media player 10 and it will not recogniize the device. Our brand new Dell recognizes the hardware (phone) but media player 10 will not detect the device to sync. We were going to try to uninstall media 10 and reload but were told it is part of the windows operating systam and difficult if not impossible to remove from the registry and if done incorrectly can harm our computer. Not acceptable considering chocolate is only conpatible with media 10. If we don't get a simple fix we will have to return phone. Verizon offers no support on this and both dell and microsoft will charge for tech support!!

I have correctly paired my VX8500 with my apple through Bluetooth and settings, however BitPim still does not detect any phone. I think I am doing the same thing as everyone else. I've followed all the instructions. Is anyone else having this problem? Also Do I need to enter any information in the BitFling setting. Password, Port, username, etc thanks

OK received the phone yesterday not sure how to work it exactly but I did figure out the simple things. Still confused a little with the bitpim but I'll figure it out or I'll come back here. thanks so much for the help.

Don't use WMP. Use Bitpim or get a micro SD card. Putting your faith in Verizon for anything other than making and receiving calls is a bad idea.

Sascha or anyone knowledgeable: Can anyone let me know if the Chocolate is going to work with my Mac through some other means than the cable with the music essentials kit (I have tried and I get absolutely nothing). Even if I have to use Bitpim which I have not tried yet. I have until next week to turn this phone back into Verizon for something else, which may be a stand alone cell phone since they will not change to include mac users in the near future. So I should give up on the Phone/player combo ideal? Any suggestions?

Wow, a real community! I'm no longer working with the Chocolate myself, so I'll have to rely on others for syncing specifics. Charlie, if you read through this thread you'll get a pretty good picture of what can be done. Basically, you can use a Mac with Bluetooth and Bitpim to transfer contacts, calendars and ringtones, and you can use a MicroSD memory card and a memory card reader to transfer MP3 songs -- but NOT music you bought from iTunes Music Store, and no, the phone doesn't sync with iTunes, you have to drag and drop files.

Sara and Felix, I don't beleive you have to worry about magnets with solid state flash memory and beyond that I don't beleive you have to worry about magnets in general. Mythbusters did a test about the whole credit card being erased by magnets in wallets with flaps and they were not even able to erase a credit card using an electromagnet that was extremely powerful, I beleive they were hitting numbers like seven gauss and nothing happened. As for SMS forget it with BitPIM! BitPIM says on the web site that SMS with the 8300 is buggy so it stands to reason it will be buggy with the 8500 operating as a 8300.

I was wondering if somebody could walk me through the process of making a ringtone. I'm currently downloading Bitpim and want to make sure I do it correctly. By the way, thanks to everyone who has contributed helpful input, this thread has really helped out!

I've sync'd over 100 songs onto my Chocolate, but ran into a problem. All of my songs are listed in the format of "band name - song title.mp3". Further, none of them have any info under the options for Artist, Album, or Genre. Is there any way to rename the songs and organize them by Artist, Album, etc? I've tried, but for some reason I can't figure it out. Thanks!

Wondering if someone can help me with BitPim and getting mainly iCal on my PowerMac G5 to transfer over BlueTooth. As far as I have read previously this is how you get your mac to pair up with the Chocolate: 1. Make sure Chocolat is discoverable (setting> bluetooth> settings> Discovery Mode) 2. Pair phone with mac using "Set Up Bluetooth Device." 3. Download and Install BitPim and go to preferences and pick LG-VX8300 under phone type 4. Then go to Com Port (still in prefs), pick browse and look for port called "Serial (/dev/cu/LGVX8500-BTDIAG-1" pick that port and OK Now I've been able to send contacts via AddressBook one at a time Bluetooth. So I know its pairing with the mac. Also I have been able to have BitPim take the info from my phone and load it into BitPim. All the contacts and other info came in. So I know that it is talking to BitPim. However when I try to send the info to my phone I get an error message and it will not send. And BitPim also says that "No phone detected/recognized.Run Settings?" Now I have exported my iCal calendars and imported them into BitPim and they are there as well as some ringtones that I would like to transfer as well. When I try I get this message: BitPim version: 0.9.06-official An unexpected exception has occurred. Please see the help for details on what to do. Well when I go to "help" it's no help. Sorry for the long message, but I had to describe that I had done what had been suggested previously. Any suggestions? The main thing I want is just the calendars. This site has been a great help. Thanks so much. I hope someone can help.

i got bitpim and did the instructions listed above and all, but now im curious about how to import my contacts from address book into bitpim so i can get them into the phone. seems like ive done the hard part and this should be simple, but i dont know where to locate the vcards on my computer... is there something i need to do that im not getting? and once i get them to bitpim, is it going to be added to the phone in a reasonable manner? i ask that because when i added a single vcard from address book *mac* through bluetooth, the card imported with strange characters and no spaces and none of the data like address or screen names, just the main number... is bitpim able to solve that problem?

When I load my MP3's from my apple onto my phone it doesn't import artist names, album just the song name. Am I doing something wrong?

Jason: make sure the phone is in discovery mode when you open BitPim. Just try a few times, sometimes it doesn't work at first.

Is there a way that I can use a recording of my voice with the memo function as a ringtone? Also, can I put ringtones on the SD card using Bitpim and a card reader or must I buy the USB cable to use my personal MP3s as ringtones? So basicly can the phone retrieve ringtones from the SD card or do the tones have to be put directly on the internal memory using Bitpim via USB? I'm a total newbie. Thanks

Thanks for all the advice above, I returned the music essentials kit and successfully used the card reader to put music from my Mac onto my phone. However, I'm having the same issue that other posters have mentioned. When browsing and playing mp3s on the phone, it selectively ignores some id3 tags, uses only the file name, or sometimes just the name of the artist. Any clue how to fix this? Is there a restriction on the length of the file name or something that's messing it up? Thanks!

Jason: I am sorry I don't have an answer for you, but I jsut wanted to say, great post. Usually people are totally non-descriptive and i think to myself, "have you even tried to work the problem?" Anyway, I really hope you get an answer to your question. Shawn: i don't think you can do what you are trying. You can send contact from your phone to your address book, but I don't think you can send them from the address book to your phone so that they are easily readable. It's in a different format. You can try importing them to bitpim and then exporting them to your phone, but I don't know if bitpim for macs can export the contact files.

After reading through this entire list of questions, I have to say that most of you are downright lazy. Many of the EXACT same questions have been asked and answered several times over. I will not condemn anyone for asking a very simple question that may be 'stupid', but please read through the available posts first to make sure you aren't posting repetitive material. I frequently see people venting about having to talk to a verizon rep for 20-30 minutes before resolving an issue: searching for answers on the web isn't an instantaneous fix either. If you care enough to solve your problems, READ BEFORE POSTING!!!!!!! (it may take you 1/2 an hour. deal with it.) Ironically, only the people who already adhere to this philosophy will see this post...

I've followed the process, put the vx8500 in doscovery mode, paired it with my Mactel with the bluetooth settings. they are show below. Device Name: LG VX8500 Device Address: 00-12-56-fa-5f-07 Device Type: Phone Device Services: AV Remote Control Target, Voice Gateway, Voice Gateway, BT DIAG, Bluetooth Modem, OBEX Object Push, AV Audio Source Paired: Yes Configured: Yes Favorite: Yes Connected: No Serial Port: Yes In BitPim my phone type is set to LG-VX8300 my com port is set to dev/cu.LGVX8500-BTDIAG-1 Nothing I seem to do allows me to connect through bitPim. I can send VCards from phone to computer, but thats it. I feel like I'm doing the same thing as everyone else. maybe I jsut ahve a freak phone. anyone have any thoughts?

I just got the new chocolate phone, and I got the USB cord, I don't know what else to do. When I plug the cord into my phone nothing happen. please help me I want some music on my phone e-mail me at leelovetazbb03@yahoo.com THank you

when I go to the website to downlow the program for mp3 player, I don't know what to do. Also I have the usb cord for my phone but i don't know what else to do, when i plug the cord to my comp nothing happens

I don't have Windows XP Is there a way to download from Windows Media Player to the Chocolate. Different driver or something

please help. i dragged and dropped mp3s onto a micro cd card but didnt put them in any folder. so I looked in my instruction manual from the chocolate and it told me some steps to do and i did them, and whenever i drag and drop mp3s it syas the the disk is write-protected! ahhh! i tried to format the disk and it says the same thing. did i just get screwed? i dont want to pay vcast for songs i already have

nevermind the last one, bitpim works fine but my sd card doesnt :(

I got Bitpim to export wallpapers and wallpapers. However, since bitpim was set to lg vx8300, all of the wallpapers were too small. So I deleted them. However, I got this werid, "photo unreconized" logo. The photo itself was gone but the name and logo took its place. I tried deleting it time and time agian, but that didnt help. And then somehow the wallpapers that came with the phone were all deleted. And then they reappeared, and then were gone. I turned the phone off and took the battery out. And then I turned it back on, the "photo unreconized logo was gone, but the wallpapers that had orginally came with the cellphone are all gone?! Anyone else had this problem?

this is so easy why am i having problems! i go to connect my phone via usb and use bitpim and turned off the autodetect, manually went in and selected vx8300 and it says its another CDMA phone on COM5. I selected vx8100 and it recognized it but when i send/get phone data it says its blocked by the provider! :(

i just got the phone and i want to know what i need to buy to ut music on it i was gunna get a 2gb mem cardn nd the essentials kit is that all i need and if so what do i do with all of it in technology iliterate.lol..

One thing that we haven't went into detail is what are our options for headsets? Being that the Chocolate is aimed at people who want to listen to music, and that is what I primarily use mine for when I am at work or out on my boat or anywhere else. So, these verizon earbuds are decent but that is all that can be said for them. They refuse to stay seated in my ears which causes a loss of bass. And when they do stay seated they cause long term ear discomfort. And the wonderful proprietary connection is awkward and cumbersome at best. What I want is a pair of high quality bluetooth "earbuds" so what options do we have? I have searched high and low on the internet and have not come up with many options. Sony/Ericsson has a nice pair of Bluetooth stereo buds with a very nice lcd control that displays caller ID and such (not sure if that part would even be compatible) but they want more than $100.00 for those. I have found this setup (photo below) all over eBay but I have no idea if they are quality. They setup looks to be well designed and the removeable earbuds via 3.5mm phono means you can always upgrade to a real high end pair of earbuds later down the road. (Sony Ericsson Stereo Bluetooth Headset HBH-DS970) [img]http://i10.ebayimg.com/02/i/08/0e/9f/d4_1_b.JPG[/img] (i.Tech Bluetooth Remote Clip R35) [img]http://www.topimg.net/asiannetstore/img/7527/7527_03.jpg[/img] (Not sure if this forum supports html or ubb code so if the photos above do not load you can just post the links in your browser) So does anyone have any bluetooth headset solutions for us Chocolate users? There are some "around the ear" headset designs from Motorolla and Plantronics that we can use. But I personally do not want to wear around the ears at work.

so can you transfer music to your internal memory on the phone using bluetooth on a pc?

Haha, wow this has gotten really long. But one question I have that I haven't seen answerd yet is; Is it worth it? To all of you Chocolate owners out there, was the purchase worth it!?

I think its worth it. I love my chocolate more than my Ipod! Not saying that its a better music player than the Ipod, just that I treasure the chocolate more. Even though Samsung is said to have a heat-sensitive touch phone coming out soon, it just doesnt look as nice as the chocolate.

Ian, Good question.... And the answer is yes I do love my Chocolate. Yes it has some design flaws and software flaws, but what first generation product doesn't. It plays hours of music and it answers phone calls..It kills two birds with one stone and it kept me from buying an Apple product... In my eyes that's a GOOD thing! :) One complaint though, when I use the phone I feel like I am nuking my brain! :)

i got a few questions.. 1. can anyone tell me how to turn on power save and if it actually saves power? 2. i got my computer to connect to my phone last night to put songs on it, but it wont detect anymore...anyone know why? 3. can you make the phone have a sound when you open it like in this video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru4s_Q8FlRI or is it only in the european version?

Brett, I'm wondering why you feel like the Chocolate is nuking your brain. Does it give you a localized headache or something? What's up?

Squiggy, Nah nothing that dramatic.. It's just all the heat it kicks off... I just need to start using it with the head set all the time.. I guess I am paranoid, that's all!

Simple question. I'm trying to get bitpim to work, but the LG VX8500 is not one of the models listed as being compatible (I'm using Windows). What model do I pick? BTW, this is the latest verson of bitpim. FWIW, I've not had any trouble downloading from Windows Media player. I followed the instructions from Verizon very explicitly (don't plug in anything until you load the software, start the sync from your phone and then let the computer find the phone and then download) and I haven't had any problems (yet...)

Ok, Read the whole string. (just in case I was one of "those" people) grin Bought the card reader and formatted my sd card with the phone. Plugged in the reader with card in and the folders show up on my desktop. I start to get excited at the possibility of success.... I go to drag and drop an mp3 into the "my_music " folder and NO! I get a message saying that the file could not be copied and that the "my_music" folder could not be modified. I then try several tests with many different files including WMA's and cannot copy anything from my computer to the card. What the HELL! Anyone have an answer to this problem? HEEEEEELLLLLLLLPPPPP

I have saved some MIDI sequences I downloaded from website and would like to make them ringtones, could someone please walk me through the process to do this? It would be most appreciated, thanks a lot.

Gawwwwwwwd. I need a different kind of help evidently... I had the sd card locked on the side. Remember when we used to use floppies? lol Which is NOT to say that I won't be back with some other problem. I should try to stay positive. My music transfer worked and the phone rocks out! Sound is way better than I expected!!!!! I am so happy that I have affectionately named my phone "Charlie's Chocolate"

how do i transfer my pics from the chocolate to bitpim? Thanks!

it says my micro sd card is "write protected" i cant add anything or delete anything from it, i cant format it either, i have $100 just sitting here, can someone resolve this?

I may be off, but... I wouldn't be suprised if Sascha calls it quits soon, here, people. I'm not speaking for her, and I'm probably wrong but, so many people are asking questions that have already been anwsered on this thread or other forums whose anwsers may be easily found with a simple search. So...do it, and do it, and doit...and doit doit doitdoit.....

Hey guys. As I posted above, I've moved on to newer, exciting things from PC Magazine. But that doesn't mean you can't help each other. Many answers to recent questions are found in this thread, so make sure to read it all the way through. SD card write-protect problems don't have to do with phones. Usually, the problem is either an incompatibility with your SD card reader, or that the little 'write protect switch' on the side of the card is locked. If you have problems with SD cards and PCs, maybe you should ask our hardware guru, Loyd Case, directly at askloyd@ziffdavis.com.

so I never got BitPim to work on my intel iMac. I jsut tried to get it to run on a iBook G4 and had similar failures. I paired the phone through the computers bluetooth settings, entering the code into the phone. i ran Bit Pim. set it to Lg-Vs8300 and set it to com port /dev/cu.LGVX*%))-BITDIAG-1. when i told bitpim to find phone it came back as. Phone detection failed... and another message: A bluetooth serial failure has occurred Failed to open an RFCOMM serial channel. Check if authentication needs to be enabled in your device. This is the second machine I have failed to get bitpim to work with. I don't know what I am doing wrong. Can anyone help?

Save battery life by removing V-Cast (EV) Go to the main menu and press 0 Enter six 0's Select option 3 "Network Select" Select Mode prefrence and choose "1x only" The Bluetooth stereo headphones from sony do work with this phone. It's expensive though ($120). Anybody know if Verizon will release a direct 3.5mm adapter instead of the 2.5mm. They really should put the adapter size on the box. I was quite suprised when my headphones did not fit the adapter. Also, there is a cap on the quality of your mp3's that can be fit on the phone. I think the cap is 192kbps. So grab a free audio converter and might as well just convert it to wma so you don't have a problem with the id tags.

I used bitpim to send created ringtones to my chocolate. How do i delete these created ringtones from my phone!! Please help

Go to get it now, tunes and tones, my ringtones, and there you should beable to delete ringtones.

Whereas the E815 is a dream to set up with iSync, the new LG phones are really clumsy. After getting BitPim to work, be prepared to have to export your contacts and calendars to vcar/vcal format, import them to BitPim, then send to the phone. Don't even ask about going the other direction. If you're like me and change your contacts often on your phone, you'll appreciate how much of a pain this can be. I'm going to tough it out and hope that iSync supports LG phones soon...le sigh.

tabaski - I used the 2.5->3.5mm adapter from my e815 for my vx98900 and it works fine. I think it was $4 on eBay. Squiggy - Sascha is a man.

I have a pair of bluetake 450rx stereo bluetooth headphones that work well. They are individual earbuds that strap over each ear. Sucks alot of life out of the phones battery however. Even with ev turned off and in music mode. Sound quality is better than I expected except for music cut out and dropped bluetooth device message every once in a while. Not sure if its the phone or the headphones fault?? Found them on ebay for $60, retail for about $125. Now someone just has to come out with a functional ipod type armband case so my phone doesnt get crushed in my pocket at the gym!

I just solved this problem on win XP The problem was the drivers on the music essentails cd are labeled wrong. It installs drivers for a "LGE CDMA Modem." The computer sees the phone as a "LG CDMA Modem." If you open the device manager before you connect the USB cable you can see what I mean. Even though the drivers are installed you will see a yellow question mark saying it has found a "LG CDMA Modem." I had to download old drivers from driverguide.com. They were called "LG USB Data Cable". Here is the link http://members.driverguide.com/driv...driverid=219857. You might have to do a system restore to a point before you installed the music essentails cd drivers. just Unistalling them doesn't work. Also, because the phone works as several devices in one (modem and USB storage), the computer detects them at different stages. When you first connect it it sees it as a modem. It will then load the modem drivers. When you tell it to sync, it will then load the usb drivers. The phone will give up on the connection before the drivers are loaded for the first time, so it might take a few tries. Good luck. Verizon had no clue on what was going on. I spent over three hours on the phone with them before they gave up. I had to figure it out myself.

I bought the chocolate phone yesterday. I love everything about it, BUT I cant get it to sync so that I can load songs off my pc to the phone!! Media Player doesnt recognize the device and the phone shows connection failed. I do not have the SD card, Verizon says has 64M storage built in. I have talked to 2 Verizon TS with no help. I see in forums other people have this issue..Please help!!!! Thanks

I'm the least savvy with phone techs - so here might be a simple one - when i transfer music to chocolate in windows media the song tags do not show up on the phone - or sometimes i.e. the artist/album show up but not genre or just the song name and nothing else Have tried everywhich way to retag and synch - still getting screwy tags! anyone with similar probs???

@ Baz:The tags can be edited under library in Windows Media Player. Right click the song file and click Advanced Tag Editor. If that doesn't work then try converting it to wma format. I had some problems with the tags on my mp3's and decided to convert to

Hi John Bran, Somewhat encouraged there could be a fix. Tried link that you listed and it is telling me that it cannot be found. Please help! Have been talking to Verizon for 2 l/2 weeks. Took back phone to get new, still not working. Asked if anyone else complained of the same problem. Was told no. I am copying some of the information on this page and taking to Verizon tomorrow.

Tx Tabaski - problem is my chocolate only plays wma files partially - there's alot of skipping when it plays wma. I was using the advanced tag editor - and it still was missing info on choc. Before I BREAK something - i may take it back and get a new one - if that would make a difference!?! Arrrrgh

Carole, Did you even bother reeading the post directly above yours?

Hey i just got my chocolate and have figured out how to take and save video on the phone and have also gotten my mp3's on my computer as ringtones with bitpim. But i was wondering if anyone knows if you can take the videos off the phone and put them on ur computer and if thats possible, if you can transfer short videos from your computer to the phone? thanx to anyone that can help out please

Does anyone know how to exit voicecommands? I tried "exit" command but it didn't work. For example, I use voice command to make a call using my bluetooth headset. After making the call, I hang up by pressing the button on my BT. The phone then asks me if I want to dial the same number I just dialed. I say "no" but it takes me to the main voice command area. I have to again push the BT button or use the end button on the phone if I want to exit the voicecommand menu. There should be a voice command to exit it. Anyone? Thanks.

Look, I keep seeing all of these comments asking for Mac help. Is EVERYONE using it flawlessly for Windows? Cause I'm not. BitPim REFUSES to find my phone. It sees it as "Other CDMA Phone on COM5" as other people have stated, but once I change it manually, it won't connect to the port. One guy not too long ago posted a link for the LG USB Data Cable drivers, but the link has been removed. I have my ringtones ready to move over, but BitPim refuses to send them over. YES, I only installed the USB drivers. YES, I have the phone set up for USB connection YES, I have a pounding headache from trying to figure this garbage out! Someone please help, it would mean a lot to me.

Tabaski, I wanted to thank you for posting the service code hack. I went in and shut EV off and my battery longevity is at least three times as long as it was and now I have Bluetooth on, before I did not! I went ahead and ordered the Sony Ericsson bluetooth earbuds I will let you know what I think when they get here.. A bit pricey at $119.00 but they aren't readily available in the US yet so I am sure that accounts for paying a higher price. I could have ordered them on eBay from HongKong for $80 but I won't take the chance doing an international deal, you can get seriously hosed on Duty fees!

Got the chocolate a few days ago. I don't have a microsd card, but was able to email the phone some mp3s and then use those as ringtones. Just take any mp3 and send it via email to your10digitcellnumber@vzwpix.com just substitute your phone number with area code before the @vzwpix.com then when your phone alerts you that you have a message, open it and it will play the mp3. Hit options and save the song or set as ringtone. Also, you can email yourself wallpapers. At first I made a 240x320 jpg but it didn't fill the screen width, so I made another jpg at 320x320 and it filled the screen perfectly. When you open the email on your phone you can save the pix or set as wallpaper. Pretty cool if you don't have bluetooth or the usb cable. Good Luck!

I'm too cheap to buy the music essential kits, so I just picked up a USB cable on ebay. I plug the phone in, everything detects fine but I cant for the life of me find a damn driver that works with it. Ive tried ones for the vx8300, generic ones...nothing works. Bitpim doesnt know what to do with itself. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

When sending mp3's to your phone as ringtones, does it need to be a certain length or will the full song work? Also can you send MIDI sequences via e-mail that can be used as ringtones? By the way, does it cost the same amount as opening a text message? Thanks

I have the chocolate and im in my trial period. I have downlaoded a few podcasts (each about 1 1/2 hrs) and the problem I am having is that if I accidentaly hit the wrong button. I go back to the begining of the pod cast and if I was lets say 45 min into it I have the burdon of keeping my finger on the fast forward button for like ten min because it dose not get progressivly faster. it keeps its fast forward at 5- 7 sec jumps. This is probably a deal breaker for me because i have to pause my listening often and so far I just give up on trying to fast forwarding because after wasting my time getting back to where I was at I will hit the button wrong and it will go to the begining again, arrrrrrrrrrr do ipods have this problem????

I'm fairly computer savvy but for some reason can't figure out why my chocolate phone won't synch to my PC-initially the issue was that I had Media Player 11 on my PC but I did the rollback and now have Media Player 10 but when I connect via USB, still get the "connection failed" message. Hours on the phone with Verizon and LG but no help. Verizon suggested using a synch fix tool on the Verizon web that was used for the RAZR phone because some experienced a similar issue with those phones (had something to do with an error in Windows registry) but that didn't work either...Any ideas? And the LG driver did install correctly-have checked all settings for that! Thanks!

Hey i just got my chocolate and have figured out how to take and save video on the phone and have also gotten my mp3's on my computer as ringtones with bitpim. But i was wondering if anyone knows if you can take the videos off the phone and put them on ur computer and if thats possible, if you can transfer short videos from your computer to the phone? thanx to anyone that can help out please

can someone tell me how to use voice recordings as ringtones on my chocolate my email is jcmjags11@aol.com please i only have 7 more days till i decide if i want it.

If you want to send videos from your phone to your computer, just send them to your email address. From there you can save them to your computer. If you want to use voice recordings as ringtones then you have to send the voice recording to your phones inbox. Voice recording: get tunes and tones/my sounds/record new. Once recorded highlight newly recorded sound and send it to (your phone number)@vswpix.com. When you recieve it, save it as a ringtone.

anybody have any experience with an upgraded battery? was told that for around 50 bucks you can get a stronger battery that really helps with the battery life of this phone.

Someone in another forum told me the Chocolate phone would normally hold around 15 songs? From some of the postings here, it sounds like it can hold more. Plus the Verizon rep told me about 40 songs... The problem is that I have about 13 songs that I successfully synched over to my phone and now am having problems trying to synch even one or more songs on it. When I'm using the "sync" function between the phone and Windows Media Player(WMP) to put mp3 files from my computer onto my phone, WMP shows says: "May not fit." After I try and sync the songs, the WMP error message reads: "Error: Windows Media Player cannot play the file. If the file is on another computer, verify that you are connected to the network. If you typed a path, verify that it is correct. If the problem persists, the server might not be available." The files are on my computer, so not sure why it's asking to see if I'm connected to a "network." So, if I try to synch over 10 songs, only 1 or 2 will sync over to the phone. All songs are in mp3 format. Can someone help? Did I reach full capacity or something at 13 songs?

Go to settings and go to phone memory usage (I think its in settings) It will give you a breakdown of how much memory you have left. Assuming that you dont have any memory card in the phone ( sold seperatley). The phone comes with about 50 Megabytes (not very much) built in. So if you want to use this phone as an mp3 player that can play more than 5- 15 songs you will have to spend aroud 59$ for 1 gig or 99$ for 2 gigs. Enjoy spending extra money to get your phone up to par (memory wise) as a mp3 player. And enjoy accidentially calling people due to that annoying touch sensitive call button.

I have to admit it looks cool and it was a gift. However, if I was purchasing a phone I would NEVER get this. It slides open way too easiy. I have called many people w/o realizing w/ the phone in my pocket book. It shifts, comes open and with the SUPER sensative touch keys, calls the last unfortunate soul who called you. There are these rediculouse flip out things to plug in the charger and the USB cable. Once you open then, they will never close right again. I give them 2 weeks before they break off. I have the thouch on the lowest sensativity setting and it's still VERY sensative. (See comment about calling friends at 2AM). The center OK button on the touch thing..Too small. I hit all the other buttons before I can hit the ok. I keep connecting to the web, annoying when I am trying to scroll the menu because the default menu is one of those 'connect' things. Overall, it's a phone and it works. You can call people and they can call you. I have no idea where this memeory card goes. You can't use a headset unless you plug in this tiny attachement that sticks out the port (the one w/ the cover that will be falling off in a week or so) so you have yet one more thing sticking out of the phone that can break off. OK I am done. If this was not free, I would have returned it. Save your money and get something strudier. Mari

I've had troubles with once I select a song, it freezes up for 15-20 seconds before starting up, and then always starts at the first song in the list, no matter which one I actually selected. A lot of the time it also says "Initialization error please retry"and exits to the home screen, the music sometimes stops and sometimes keeps playing. Anyone have similar experience or should I bring it to Verizon and have them check it out? Thanks!

Okay, I must be stupid... Does the chocolate only play songs on an album in alphabetical order and not numerical order? I transferred an album use WMP10, and when I go to play it on the chocolate, the songs show up in alphabetical order. When I click on the "options" key and select "sort", there is only by size, by date, by alphabetic. :-( Thank you for any suggestions.

Mari, I have had my Chocolate for a lot longer than a few weeks and none of the doors that cover the slots have broken off yet. The memory card goes on the right hand bottom of the phone. I would assume if you read the manual that comes with the phone you would have, maybe figured that out?? It's the door marked "MicroSD" just in case you missed it. On the contrary, my phone has never made any calls that I didn't want it to make, and it works as a phone and as an MP3 player. I could have spent $300 on an iPod that didn't make phone calls! Does the Chocolate have issues? Yep! Are there some things I love and some I hate? Sure... Let's hope LG learns from this and makes an even better version and continues the lineage of Chocolates well into the future.

I recently bought teh VX8500, and the media essentials kit along with a 2gb micro sd card. I installed all the software from the cd onto my computer, and then connected my phone to the usb port on my computer. I then try the my music->->sync on my phone, and while trying to sync another sofeware installer pops up, and when I try to install from the same cd, it cannot find the software. I tried this with the front and back usb ports, and my phone will not sync with windows media player. It keeps asking for another software install which never works. I have googled this and found that there were others with the same problem. Is there anything I can do? Also, when I simply plug in my phone to my pc it doesnt recognize it as a removable media device. Can you help me out?

Thanks johnbran for your post, I just saw it after scrolling through the questions after I posted. I will try that when I get home.

Braden, I have had the same issue you are having, matter of fact, yesterday the phone completely froze and I had to remove the battery to get it to shut off. But it seems to do it sporadically. Installing MP3's from i-tunes on a Mac: Before I begin I have read through all of these post twice. I have had the chocolate for over a month now, I have the music essential kit, but am on a Mac. I went to Best Buy and bought a 1gb Micro SD card after reading the info on here about transfering mp3 from a Mac. If you are a Mac user using i-tunes you must first convert your song to mp3 format (if there not mp3 already). To do this go under preferences in i-tunes and click on the advanced gear icon at the top. Then click on the Importing tab that is nestled between "General" and "Burning" tabs. With the importing tab clicked look down to where it says "Import Using" click on the button and select "MP3Encoder". Now go back to your itunes library, select the songs you want to transfer to your chocolate and under the advanced setting in the tool bar across the top you should be able to click on the setting that says "Convert Selection to MP3" This will create a duplicate of the song in your i-tunes library. You can get information on the song to make sure that it is in MP3 format. Once you have all the songs you want from i-tunes converted to MP3, put your microSD card in your phone (power down the phone before adding or removing the SD Card). Once the card is in the phone, power the phone back up and go to memory under tools and setting on your phone. In the memory window you should have the option of selecting the SD card, select it and hit the options button and select format card. Once you have done this, remove the card from the phone (after you power the phone off) and insert it in a card reader which is connected to your Mac. A hard drive Icon should pop up on your desktop. Open the icon and it should have a few folders in there. Find the one called My_Music and drag and drop your mp3's from i-tunes into the My_Music folder on the card. A little warning, my card seems to be a little finicky and if I tried to do more than five songs at a time the files would corrupt. After you have done this place the MicroSD card back in the phone (after you power it down) Power up your phone and go to my music on your phone. select all songs, and you should get a activity bar with a message saying it is reading the card, then wa-lah, your songs should be there. Now my question: I have been able to load 50 songs on to my card and into my phone. Once I select "All Songs" from the "My Music" you have the option to hit the "catalog" button. this causes the phone to dial into V CAST Music, from here you can hit the "Library" button and it starts adding all the songs you have put on your card into your V CAST library. The the call to V CAST ends, but you are still able to navigate in the V CAST music menus and listen to your songs from here. It seems if I try to add more songs to my phone it corrupts the whole card and I end up having to start all over again with the procedure mentioned above. Do I have a bad SDcard, or is the phone and program only capable of holding 50 songs? I read in the manual that when you create a playlist it can only hold 50 songs, so I wondering if I need to put those first 50 songs into a playlist before I can put 50 more on. Any help is greatly appreciated. Hope this helps, and thanks for any potential solutions to my problem. Keith

how do you reset you whole phone to how it was when you first bought it.. tell me at jcmjags11@aol.com

Sorry, I couldn't find a mail exchanger or IP address. (#5.4.4) Thts the mssg i get when i try to send some thing to my cell @vzwwireless.com. Can someone help please..

You have to register with verizon before you can use their "send to num@vzwpix.com". Registration is free but i'm not sure about the cost of sending the mail or recieving it in your phone Got my LG a few days ago - Thanks to everyone on this forum who has posted answers to mac problems. It's been a huge help!

I read this blog and all its comments before buying my VX8500 today. I am a Mac user, so this was a pretty useful resource for me. Verizon offers a 15-day return, and I am going to push it to see if I really want to keep it before that time is up. I like it, but I gotta say that the general lack of support for Mac in general is pretty disappointing. I guess I shouldn't expect any better from my experiences. However, since they were taking aim at the iPod (at least partially) with this phone, I would really think Mac compatibility would have been a priority. Guess not. I was able to do the basic ring tone / etc transfer via BitPim. Going to buy a microSD card / reader tomorrow to give it a shot as well (specifically for the mp3's obviously). Anyone have any preferences / suggestions for brands of microSD? I am also going to give the internet dial out a shot and, failing that, the actual modem / broadband capabilities a whirl. Thanks again for the info and I'll post more of my findings as I reach them.

Phone is cool with music and all but the touch sensitive features is driving me crazy. Suppose to be cool but it is so not...sometimes you tap on it hard sometimes soft. Its the most idiotic invention for a cell phone. Peace Out!

it suck

What is the difference between the SanDisk microSD" 1GB and the SanDisK Ultra II microSD" 1GB. Rate speed.

Is there a 3.5mm stereo adapter for the VX8500? If I use the 2.5mm adapter and convert it to a 3.5mm via another adapter (!) I only get sound in my right ear! I assume this is because the 2.5mm adapter is reserving one of the channels (well, wires really) for a microphone just in case you are trying to use a headset for calls? Any ideas?

itunes ----This is probably old question - Is there a site where I can get simple 'step by step' instructions on transferring itunes songs to the phone.....I know it has something to do w/loading them onto a memory card....but exactly how is it done?

I am also facing "vibration sound in the earpiece". In the same call sometime it is too high, sometime it is too low. I tried to adjust the earpiece volume many times but no setting sounds perfect. What is the solution for this problem ? Raj

I don't really know anything about downloading from computer to phone etc. Can somebody take me step by step to help me download songs on my micro SD from computer (PC) and downloading it on my chocolate phone? Can I use WMP songs to download on my chocolate phone?

Is there a way to transfer Movies from Windows Media to the chocolate? I do not have vcast in the area yet.

is it possible to transfer short videos from your computer to the chocolate phone? thanx to anyone that can help out please

There seems to be a bug in the music shuffle process, after playing songs for a while, then sudenly, it stops at one song and will keep playing it over and over. Does anyone know of a fix? Does anyone know what the Music Only setup does? As far as transfering movies, I have not tried yet but I can see an option for movies in bitpim. Have you tried that? Thank you

Will the phone fit in the plastic holster from verizon with the extended battery?

The phone is not responding while manipulating the filesystem. I get this same damn error as Katie and Frustrated. On a Mac Pro and have followed each step word for word 100 times. Still getting same error when trying to get any file onto phone.

If you have a memory card then you can transfer movies directly onto it. You first have to change the format as well as the resolution. Look up some ipod video programs as those work fairly well.

can't get chocolate to sync - tried new usb cable- new software-calling tech support any other sugestions?

Can you download your itune file straight to your phone?

CAn you download your itunes file straight to your chocolate??!?!?

My chocolate DOES have speakerphone, you press a button on the side when in a call, and speakerphone is active....

I having a similar problem as another post I read. I install all the software and drivers on my computer from the cd that was in the music essentials kit and my PC is not reconizing my phone as a device. I tried syncing the phone from the actual phone and from the computer and neither worked. Beckster earlier posted the same problem and the answer was to go to the menu Get It Now and sync phone but when I do that the connection fails. I call tech support and they said there's a problem with the drivers that are on the cd rom and they said "that it's a known problem and they're trying to get an update to fix it" does anyone know of this problem that can help me? How can I get better software or drivers for my chocolate so that my computer will reconize the device?

i have paired my chocolate to my mac via bluetooth...but it doesn'tcome up in the settings as connected...and no matter whati try, bitpim doesn'trecognize it either. --can anyone help me with that connection area?

I just bought the chocolate phone about a week ago and now have the motorola HT820 stereo bluetooth headset. It sounds much better than I imagined..but it plays loud when the headset volume is all the way down. I go into the bluetooth volume (when the bluetooth set is connected) and I am unable to change the volume in the phone for the bluetooth headset only..it simply says "Not Allow".

Any ideas on how I can get around this? Its pretty loud with the volume turned all the way down on the headset...I have it laying a few feet away on the corner of my desk..and I can still hear it well.

I've had the phone for about 2.5 months now. It worked fine for a month and a half. Then it started to have technical problems.

First, it would sometimes start to dial the last name in my call list whenever I tried to open it, forcing me to quickly close it. This problem actually went away after a couple weeks.

Then starting a few days ago, whenever I tried to make a call, it would sometimes delete the last two digits of the phone number, and then never make the call.

Finally today, the entire screen went blank, except for a black spot in one corner. The technician said it was physically abused ($65 to fix), and there was indeed a small crack underneath the outer plastic case. The outer case was scratch and damage free. Well, I always carried the phone in a safe cell phone compartment in my backpack, and I don't recall any physical abuse to the phone. So obviously my feeling is that the display is not very durable. I'm currently debating whether it's worth the $65, or if I should just write the phone off as a loss.

Regarding synching music, I was able to get it working with windows media player 10, but it was somewhat touchy. Once it stopped working and the only way I could get it going again was to do a rollback of the computer to a date just before getting the phone.

Does anybody know much about the lg8500 chocolate from telus? I have an sd mini and micro as well as the card reader, i have successfully added songs to the card reader to the sd cards so i took the micro card and put it in the phone. The top of the screen shows the "memory card" icon is plugged in so the phone reconises its there but i can not figure out how to listen to the songs or get to the memory card in the menu or even scan the card to pull up the songs?
Does anyone have any information, it would really HELP :)

I NEED HELP PLEASE!! I CAN CONNECT TO PHONES USING MY BLUETOOTH FOR EXAMPLE MY FRIENDS RAZOR,BUTT WHEN WE TRY TO TRASNFER SONGS OR RINGTONES USING THE BLUETOOTH I GET ME MESSAGE SAYING CHECK BLUETOOTH STATUS OF RECIVING DEVICE!! N IT WONT TRASNFER PLEASE HELP

Well, I finally got around to getting a microSD and Bluetooth headset set up for my VX8500 today (finally outgrew my basement for exercising and have to start going to the gym tomorrow). It's working pretty well so far. I am getting the "Initialization Error..." reported by some above, but it doesn't seem to keep playback from working. Not really sure what it is doing or what is causing it / how to fix it either. Anyone else have any oter info on this?

Also, tried to move songs from the card to the phone's memory. Can only get about 4 songs transferred and then it tells me nothing else will fit. ??? Most of my songs are 192kbps, so maybe that is the case. What is the total available space (MB) for music on this phone? I only got a 256MB card thinking I'd be able to get more on the phone than that and I'd just use the card as a transfer method, but it looks as if you almost need the card's memory if you want to have any significant amount of songs on the phone. If that's the case, I'll probably go ahead and get the 2GB one.

Anyone else have anything to report on this subject?

CHOC18:

See some of the posts above. You really can't transfer mp3's via Bluetooth on this device. You can do ringtones, date books, etc, but not actual songs. At least, not yet...

Not sure if anyone is even reading this anymore; anyone know of an actual VX8500 forum discussion somewhere?

I discovered something odd today regarding the initialization error and other issues that occur during playback. As I mentioned, I am using the microSD option to move music to my phone (as I am a Mac user and the storage on the phone is pretty limited). When going through the ALL SONGS playlist, I notice that there are two versions of each song. One version seems fine. Normal size and playback works. The other version has a size of 1KB (or actually 0KB if you go into the song info on one of these). The ones with no size also show an "X" on the memory card icon next to each, while the "good" version shows a music note (indicating that it is a song file, I guess).

Anyway, when going to play any of the ones with the "X" icon, I get the error. Also, if you add any of these to a playlist, they fail upon play. Adversely, if you add one of the "good" songs with the music note icon next to them, they seem to play fine. So I have set up a playlist containing all of the "good / valid" song files and it seems to work.

It's cool that I got it to work, but it's rather a pain to have to go and add all of these songs to a playlist in order to get them to work. Anyone know what the purpose of the "X" icon duplicates is??

I have bought a memory card for my chocolate because I am operating a Mac and cannot use the USB cable provided in versions music essentials kit. My question is am I able to use the card scanner that I already have for my camera or do I need to buy a specific reader?

Folks, I haven't read this thread in months, but it's nice to see it's still going. (I was just cleaning up comments around Gearlog when I noticed people were still posting.) For a more active Chocolate discussion forum, try the Verizon Phones forum at www.howardforums.com.

A few answers for the most recent questions while I'm here:

1) Laura - Yes, a standard memory card reader will work.

2) Matthew - You'll see those "duplicate" files if you open up any Mac disk on any PC; they hold extra information used by the Mac filesystem, and PCs don't understand them. They're harmless but annoying, and an inevitable side effect of using Macs and PCs together. There is also relatively little built in memory on the phone - 4 songs seems about right - you're supposed to store the music on the memory card.

Hey Sheena,
I had the same problem
try putting the card into the phone, and then taking it out and connecting it back to the pc
there should be a few folders there, one is called my music. it will only find music files that are in the my music folder. if your files are not in that folder put them in there and try it again
hth
steve

i am having some serious problems with this phone. i dragged and dropped my music onto the sd micro memory card, but it won't show on my phone. apparently i have to "format" my memory card, but i have no idea how to do this. if anyone can help me, please send me an email. thanks

K i just bought the lg chocolat and i want to know how i can put mp3's on it without paying 1.99 or wtv it is..?

how do you synce your videos to your computer?

hello i just purchased a lg 8500 chocolate and just go the USB cable but i am still waiting for the sd card. but my question is can i use the cable without the card? and if so was it suppose to come with a disk because my computer says its needs one for it to work!

ok, i have this phone, I am not exactly rich so I kno its stupid when i say i dont use the music part of this phone. but i can record my own voice things on it, is there anyway i can use my own voice recordings as ringtones? thanks

My songs get transported over fine except for the fact that there is no artist name. I have a mac so i can't use the program. Is there anyway i can get my artists names over?

The phone does have a speaker... while the phone is in use, a small speaker icon will appear in the right corner of the screen... hold down the camera button next to the speaker icon and you can use the speaker phone feature

im having a hard time reciving stuff from friends on bluetooth.when im paired up succesfully then it says check bluetooth status of receiving device

I cant get the micro sd card out of the phone, or figure out how to get the music player working. can you help???

I recently purchased a chocolate phone and cannot get BitPim to work. When I try to save the ringtone to my phone, I get an "access is blocked" error. I know other people who have older chocolate phones that were able to do this. Did Verizon change something with the newer phones??

ya for the telus version of the chocolate how do u turn ur mp3 songs into ringtones cause iam having trouble with it

I've had my Cherry Chocolate for about a month now, and everything was working fine until tonight. When I slid my phone up to check a text message, the touchpad wouldn't work.. at all. It wasn't on lock, and I've tried many times since then to make it work. Does anyone know what I should do?

im having a hard time reciving stuff from friends on bluetooth.when im paired up succesfully then it says check bluetooth status of receiving device plz help

i was thinking of getting my 12 year old this phone and wanted to know how many songs the chocolate holds(by syncing music to it)

Can the LG Chocolate be subscription enabled for the new Urge music service from MTV/Microsoft?

Hey, I'm having some problems w/ my phone, maybe you can help. There is some problems with the Micro SD Card, I bought a 1GB and i added some songs, and tried to look for them on the "Card Memory" option under phone memory, than clicked on "My Music" and than it says "No Content Saved", maybe you will have some answers.

P.S., Its under the "Settings and Tools" option in the "Menu" Interface. Thanks, email me, or i'll return to this site.

I am having trouble disabling my EVDO. I have the LG Chocolate, but it's from Telus and the options I was given were for Verizon. Needless to say, they did not work for my phone. Any suggestions would be helpful.

I was wondering how you move the time and date and arrange them in different areas on the front screen so that when I change my wallpaper I can see the pictures properly. THANKS!

I have a problem with the Music player when I go to play my files on my MicroSD.
When I select a file to play, and after it goes through the standard Music player opening bit, it says a Java error:
"Java.lang.nullpointerexception: 0 Code 932-B"
or it says that the Player is unavailable at the current time.
SO I tried to upgrade the player, and when it upgrades it goes to this "Transferring Telus Music to TelusMobileMusicFolder"

Any..clue on what this means?
because I'd really like to be able to listen to music on my Chocolate (My ipod recently broke)

I have received photographs via text on my rubbish LG chocolate phone. I have saved them to 'images' cus that is all the phone would let me do, but as they are not saved to 'photos album' when I try to get them onto my pc it doesn;t work - any suggestions? Thanks.

Hello, I have the Motorola Bluetooth Headset H350 and I can pair it with the Chocolate. However, I can only hear the person calling, he cannot hear me. I cannot even use the Voice Commands with the headset. Is there a problem with the headset? I have already tried re-pairing it. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

can anyone please email me step by step instructions for transferring music from my windows media player (downloaded from URGE) to my LG VX8500? I have the music bundle bought from verizon with the CD cord and headset and it connects to the media player but it wont take the songs when I sync them ...what am I doing wrong??

why can't you insert more memory than a 2gb micro sd card because I want to put a 4gb micro sd so bad and I know that I have 550 songs in my computer and I am not sure it will hold that much ? Please I hope there's a way for a 4gb micro sd to be compatible!!

I have had the Chocolate for 3 months now. The features are great but Verizon is to restrictive with how you can use the features. I suggest that people who want to play mp3s and mp4s look for a different phone. Verizon makes it way to hard to use your own songs, videos and applications. They want to charge you a stupid amount of money to get the songs, videos and software from them and them only. It sure does look cute though. I get compliments on it all the time.

ummm...
i was wondering
can you on a chocolate flip (telus)
make the songs you download from your
pc a ringtone on your phone without
bitpim??

is there any way to manage the internal memory usage
so for example i can listen to more music without buying a memory card
now u can only fit about 10 songs on without the memory card
is there any way i can mess with the internal memory by taking from ex: memory alloted to pics + videos and redistributing it to the music folder
i love this phone, plz help if you know of any ways to manage internal phone memory

Do you know why i can not recieve any ringtones or wallpapers through bluetooth on an lg chocolate phone?

Hi, I don't know if anyone has asked this yet, but i have the new version of the chocolate and I can't get my pictures to upload on my computer, maybe i'm doing something wrong, could you tell me the steps to upload them? thanks!

i wud say its about 4-1.5 inches long with slid open
the chocolate does have speaker phone i use it all the time...
um i have a big problem tho this is my second 1 and they only last about a year but i have had this 1 for 2 months and i took it out of my pocket and the touch keys did not work at all, which you know the phone is completely uselesss with out these. this is my second 1 and my 1 year warranty on the first 1 is up so here's my questions:
1. Do I get a new warranty on this phone?
2. Why did this happen?
3. I took the battery out put it back in and it's still doesn't work. What else should I try?