November 6, 2009 5:53 PM PST

Verizon's LG Chocolate Touch is nice but nothing new

by Nicole Lee
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LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 in hand

LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 in hand

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Perhaps the biggest letdown of the LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 from Verizon Wireless is that it's not the LG Chocolate BL40. After getting teased for months by the sexy shots of the LG BL40, we thought there might be a chance we would see it stateside. Alas, the LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 looks nothing like its European cousin. In fact, the touch-screen interface reminds us a lot of previous LG touch screen handsets, like the LG enV Touch for example. The geometric shapes on the back of the phone and the bloblike buttons underneath the display are about the only things that are unique about the phone's design.

Still, that doesn't mean the Touch VX8575 is a terrible phone. Continuing the Chocolate tradition of strong music features, the Chocolate Touch VX8575 has a great music player with Dolby Music equalizer settings (both manual and preset modes), an FM radio, and an integrated song ID feature. There's also a really fun "Join the Band" feature that gives you either a virtual drum kit or a scrolling 88-key keyboard to play along with your tunes. The drum kit even has a cowbell, which we found amusing.

That, and it has a nice 3.2-megapixel camera, EV-DO Rev. 0, V Cast video access, stereo Bluetooth, and a 3.5mm headset jack. We weren't big fans of the full HTML browser--you have to keep going back to a URL-entry page to enter URLs, for example--but it's otherwise a decent touch-screen music phone from Verizon Wireless. The LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 is $79.99 with a two-year service agreement with Verizon Wireless.

Read our full review of the LG Chocolate Touch VX8575

The following product mentioned is available.

On Sale Now: $79.99 - $349.99
View the latest prices for LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 (Verizon Wireless)

Nicole Lee is an associate editor for CNET, covering cell phones, Bluetooth headsets, and all things mobile. She's also pretty geeky--she likes World of Warcraft, comic books, and shiny gadgets. E-mail Nicole.
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by November 7, 2009 2:23 AM PST
I like Lg chocolate series phones, only thing that makes me feel good about this phone is its Dolby Music equalizer

http://www.gizmoji.com/2009/11/lg-chocolate-music-lovers-sweetest.html
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by dunn18169 November 7, 2009 2:21 PM PST
this screams "hi i'm the LG En-V touch whithout the keyboard and two screens." sorry, but there are way too many phones that resemble this for verizon. if this had come out much earlier i feel like it would have been a good move.
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