Review: LG Chocolate 3

The LG Chocolate 3 is shiny.

(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)

Based on all the previously released LG Chocolate handsets in the U.S., there appear to be three defining characteristics of a Chocolate phone--it has touch-sensitive controls, it has a slider design, and it has a scroll wheel not unlike the iPod.

Well, the LG Chocolate 3 only has one out of the three characteristics, making us wonder if it even truly deserves the Chocolate branding (it doesn't even look anything like its namesake). Indeed, the LG Chocolate 3 has no touch-sensitive controls at all and is the first Chocolate handset to be in a flip form factor.

The only saving grace seems to be the mechanical scroll wheel it inherited from the LG VX8550 Chocolate (which we liked a great deal). Aside from that, we weren't too pleased with its extremely reflective mirror finish plus its slippery and flat keypad. When it comes to features, however, the LG Chocolate 3 is clearly an upgrade. Not only did we see a bump from a 1.3-megapixel camera to a 2.0-megapixel on the Chocolate 3, its music player functionality is greatly enhanced from a 3.5-mm headset jack, a nice 1GB of internal memory (plus a microSD card slot that takes up to 8GB cards), and a built-in FM transmitter.

Verizon is also marketing the LG Chocolate 3 as its marquee phone for its new V Cast Music with Rhapsody service, which lets you download songs over the air to the phone as well as to the PC for $1.99 a pop. So while we think its design leaves a little to be desired, its strong multimedia offering makes up for it. Check out our review for the full scoop.

[fcg1502]

I made this same comment on another post about this phone, but I have the LG VX8600, which looks almost exactly like this phone except it doesn't have the wheel on the front, and I'm almost positive that Verizon considered that a "Chocolate". Which would make this phone the second, not the first, "Chocolate" to be a flip. Anyone want to comment?

[adamp1013]

i totally agree with you. The phone you have is a chocolate, and is a flip phone, making cnet wrong! there were 2 variations of the slider phone, and the flip phone you have. So this new phone is almost like chocolate 4. I wish cnet would do a lil better job researching. geez lol

[darren_ellis]

I did a quick search and the only place I could find that referred to the LG VX8600 as a Chocolate was here on Crave. CNet referred to it as Chocolate-like and ZDNet compared it to the RAZR. So, while it (and the subsequent VX8700) were both flip phones similar to the Chocolate, neither was officially called Chocolate by LG.

[jerryb175]

Can the FM Transmitter also be used as an FM Tuner? IE Receiving Radio Transmissions.

[URGHH]

The 8600 was launched at TELUS as the "Chocolate Flip". So yes, it was officially launched as a chocolate series phone.