While the revolutionary LG Chocolate BL40 Black Series is still touring the fashion circuit, Verizon did its annual LG Chocolate update with the LG Chocolate Touch (LG-VX8575). LG Chocolate 3 users seeking an update will find a slim and affordable touch screen music phone, a camera upgrade and stronger audio with built-in Dolby Mobile technology in the LG Chocolate Touch. The LG Chocolate Touch is a digital CDMA phone with EVDO Rev. 0 support.

Design
The LG Chocolate Touch is a very slim phone at 4.30 x 2.20 x 0.47 inches. We don't dig the plastic cover plate that frames the display as it doesn't match the shiny chrome edges and the stylish modern abstract chrome and black or purple soft touch back cover. The 3" resistive touch screen isn't terribly bright either and the phone doesn't offer brightness settings. The touch screen has both haptic feedback and audio feedback for screen touches, and it feels reasonably responsive for touch controls. There are plenty of side buttons including volume controls, camera launcher, music button, speakerphone button and thank goodness a screen lock button.

Phone, Web and Messaging
The touch screen has an easy to use on-screen dialer that includes the number keys and touch buttons for voice dialing, recent calls and contacts. Voice command works well for voice dialing and the speakerphone is loud during calls. The contacts database can store 1000 entries and additional tools include Calculator, EZ Tip Calculator, Calendar, Alarm Clock, Stopwatch, World Clock, Notepad and Drawing Pad. Verizon offers ringtones, games and other media downloads for the LG Chocolate Touch. The LG Chocolate Touch has a touch interface that includes five shortcut buttons on the bottom of the screen and side bookmark touch buttons to launch music and customizable home screens. Mobile email and mobile messaging are onboard, and the social networks like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are integrated into the messaging application.

Music and Video
Like the previous LG Chocolate phones, the LG Chocolate Touch is a good music phone, though it doesn't stand out as the best music phone in Verizon's feature phone line up. The phone has a music player that can play MP3, WMA and unprotected AAC and AAC+ music files. If you have ripped music in iTunes or in Windows Media Player, you can play those tunes on the LG Chocolate Touch.
The LG Chocolate Touch has Dolby Mobile technology with an EQ tool for music playback. Audio via the 3.5mm stereo out jack sounds more powerful compared to the phone's speaker. We tested several wired headsets with the LG Chocolate Touch, and found the bass powerful and volume loud, but the sound lacked clarity. The LG Chocolate Touch also works with V CAST Video, Verizon's on-demand video streaming service. The LG Chocolate Touch can play videos in either portrait or landscape mode, though in portrait mode the video window is very small.

GPS
The phone gets GPS fixes quickly and locations are mostly accurate. The phone displays maps in landscape mode and the audio guidance for turn-by-turn directions is loud via phone's speaker.

Camera
The LG Chocolate Touch has a 3.2 megapixel camera with fixed focus lens that takes good pictures. The camera phone can take still images in 5 resolutions and offers white balance, color effects and an image editor. The phone lets you record short videos for MMS or long videos for saving to memory, and has balance and light settings as well as zoom.

Battery

The LG Chocolate Touch has a rechargeable Lithium Ion battery that's 1000 mAh in capacity. Battery life is very good on the LG, reaching over 4 hours of mixed usage including talking, navigations with GPS, downloading and listening to music as well as surfing the web and checking messages. Standby time is also good, and can last 1.5 to 2 weeks with little or light use.

Conclusion
Though not cool and innovative like the LG Chocolate BL40, the LG Chocolate Touch offers some updates to the Chocolate music phone line nonetheless. The LG also has an FM tuner for radio addicts and supports most of Verizon's services including V CAST music and video, VZ Navigator, mobile email, mobile IM, social networking, visual voice and application and ringtone downloads.

Specs:

Display: 3.0" resistive touch screen, 262K Color TFT. Resolution: 400 x 240 Pixels. Has an accelerometer and proximity sensor.

Battery: Lithium Ion rechargeable battery, 1000 mAh, user replaceable.

Size: 4.30 x 2.20 x 0.47 inches. Weight: 4.23 ounces.

Phone: Dual band digital 800/1900MHz. CDMA 1X and EV-DO Rev. 0.

Camera: 3.2 megapixel camera with fixed focus lens, no flash. Image resolutions: 2048x1536 (default), 1600x1200, 1280x960, 800x480, 640x480 Pixels.

Audio: Music player that works with V Cast Music, Rhapsody, MP3 and AAC file formats. 3.5mm headset jack. Vibrating Alerts and Silent Mode. Voice recorder included. Has an FM radio and Dolby Mobile.

Networking: Bluetooth v2.0. Bluetooth Profiles Supported: Headset, Hands-free, Dial-Up Networking, Stereo, Phonebook Access, Basic Printing, Object Push for vCard and vCalendar, File Transfer, Basic Imaging and Human Interface Device.

Software: Touch screen icon interface with customizable home screens and on-screen music launcher. Polaris HTML web browser, media player and FM Radio onboard. Tools: Contacts, Calculator, EZ Tip Calculator, Calendar, Alarm Clock, Stopwatch, World Clock, Notepad and Drawing Pad.

Expansion: 1 microSD card slot. Supports up to 16GB cards.

In the box: The LG Chocolate Touch with standard battery, wall AC adapter and a USB charging/syncing cable, an extra back cover and printed guides.

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