LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 Preview

Introduction:

Since 2006 Verizon has released a new LG Chocolate series phone each year (VX8500, VX8550 Chocolate 2, VX8560 Chocolate 3) and we are now at the 4th iteration with the LG Chocolate Touch VX8575. Even though this device is rumored to be released by mid-October, we were lucky enough to get an early sample. From what we are told the phone will be sold with a 1000mAh battery with two covers, 3.5mm earbuds with FM antenna, wall charger with detachable microUSB cable, and user manual.


If you recall, the first two Chocolate models were sliders and were then followed by a clamshell design. This time around LG has went with a touchscreen design, hence the name “Chocolate Touch”. The entire phone has a shiny mirror finish to it, and there are two included battery covers: black and purple. Both of them continue the mirror finish, but have geometric designs with a soft-touch coating. Using a standard ruler, the phone (unofficially) measures 4.25”H x 2.15”W x 0.40”D and feels fairly light. In fact, the Chocolate Touch might be the thinnest touchscreen phone for Verizon this year.




The touchscreen continues to use resistive technology, but it works rather well and responds to even the slightest touch. Furthermore, the screen doesn’t flex much when pressed upon, unlike the LG Voyager. Using our handy ruler, the screen size is about 3” diagonal, which is the same size as the one found on the enV Touch.

Above the screen is the light sensor, which automatically adjust the display’s backlight level, and the proximity sensor, which turns the display off when it’s next to your face. On the bottom are the oddly shaped Send, Back/Voice Command, and End/Power keys. On the left side are the volume rocker, microUSB port and speakerphone button, and on the right side is the dedicated lock, music, and camera buttons. The 3.2MP camera is on the back and you have to remove the battery cover to access the microSD memory card slot. There is also a 3.5mm headset jack on the top, which comes in handy as the phone will include stereo earbuds with an FM antenna.

Software:

The User Interface appears to be based on the enV Touch, not the Versa, as it has as similar Shortcuts arrow on the right side where you can drag icons to the desktop, but there is also a dedicated music tab that opens up the player. Being a “Chocolate”, the music player is the main selling feature of the device, and LG does not disappoint. Music files are categorized by All Songs, Playlists, Artists, Genres, and Albums. We are also glad to see that ID3 tags are properly recognized.



When playing back a song, the screen shows the cover art in the center, with a progress bar and buttons for rewind, play/pause, and fast-forward on the bottom. On the top there is a Dolby icon, where you can select from five predetermined equalizer settings, or select “Manual” so that you can make your own custom EQ settings. To the right of the Dolby icon is another icon that looks like a drum, which takes you to the Extras menu. The first choice here is Join the Band, which will show a drum set or piano that you can (attempt) to play along with the song, or you can pause the song and play solo. The drum set was fun to use, but the touchscreen piano can be a bit tricky. The Rhythmical Beat option will vibrate the phone based on the tempo and music volume, and the Visual Effects show animations on the background behind the album art. There is also a setting to manually change the album art to any stored picture on the phone or memory card.




Another new feature is the inclusion of an FM Tuner, where the Chocolate 3 had an FM Transmitter to send music to a nearby radio. In order to use the FM Radio on the LG Chocolate Touch VX8575, you have to plug-in the included 3.5mm headset, as the antenna is part of it. The screen shows a digital tuner at the top, where you can press the left and right arrow buttons to tune to a strong signal station, or use the manual wheel in the center if you want to try and pick up a weaker station. You can also save your 6 favorite stations as presets. Even though the earbuds have to be plugged in to use the FM Radio, you can still play the music through the rear speaker, but not via Bluetooth. There is also a link to Verizon’s Song ID program, which will listen and analyze a song on the radio and show a screen with the song’s info and say if it’s available for download.



The overall music playback quality (MP3 and FM) was rather good, even though the Chocolate Touch only has a mono speaker on the back, so you need to flip the phone over for it to not be muffled. We also like that the music player can run in the background, so you can listen to an MP3 song or radio station while doing something else on the phone. It supports up to 16GB microSDHC memory cards, but also comes with 1GB of internal music memory.

The Main Menu on the LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 has 12 icons for My Verizon, Messaging, Contacts, Recent Calls, Media Center, My Music, Browser, Bing Search, Email, VZ Navigator, Tools, and Settings. There are two themes included: Hi-Fi and Shooting Star, and you can also change between 3 font styles and 7 clock formats. For wallpapers you can select one of your own or choose a preloaded animation.



Since our sample unit was not activated, we could not test certain features, but the browser is HTML and uses Polaris 6.2 Alpha. Also preloaded is VZ Navigator, Microsoft Bing mobile, along with Rock Band and The Sims 3 games.



The Chocolate Touch comes with a 3.2MP camera, but does not include autofocus or a flash. We took a selection of pictures and were pleased that the camera does a better job than the preceding Chocolate phones. Outside pictures are crisp with mostly accurate colors, through there is a bit of over exposure in bright areas. Inside images are still problematic, as they start to look blurry in low-light conditions. Videos can be recorded in 320x240 resolution.



Due to the phone not being activated, we could only place test calls to 611 and listen to the automated recording. There was no distortion and it sounded clear, but we could hear a faint “hiss” in the background. Once we have a full working unit, we will further test the call quality and signal reception.

Expectations:

Overall, the new LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 is a nice improvement to the LG Chocolate series, as it builds upon the previous models’ strong points, but also includes some new menu features that we saw on the enV Touch. We still wish it was more closely based on the LG BL40, but the Chocolate Touch is definitely geared more to the music lover. Once the device is officially released and we have an activated unit, we will run it through our normal tests and have a full review posted.