LG Chocolate Touch VX8575
The LG enV Touch was one of the best Verizon phones we reviewed this year; it’s our Editors’ Choice for feature phones. But if you don’t need the extra internal LCD and QWERTY keyboard, the LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 is just as good. It’s slimmer, sleeker, and cheaper, at just $79 with a two-year contract and after rebates. There are a few additional limitations, but the Chocolate Touch is an excellent device for Verizon subscribers looking for a great voice and music phone.
It measures 4.3 by 2.2 by 0.5 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.2 ounces. It’s made of plastic, metal, and rubber. The back features a rubberized, sharp-edged pattern that’s probably not to everyone’s taste (I didn’t like it). The rubber makes the phone more comfortable to hold, though. The 3-inch plastic, resistive touch screen offers force feedback and was reasonably responsive in practice. The 240-by-400 resolution screen looks a bit pixilated nowadays. It’s fine for a $79 phone, but the enV Touch VX11000′s has two 3-inch, 480-by-800-pixel screens. The 3.2 megapixel flashless camera seems basic, but it takes good pictures. The VX8575 actually took sharper and more vibrant pictures than the 3.2-megapixel Samsung Mythic, which has flash, auto-focus, and image stabilization. Shutter speeds were quick at about half a second of delay, though saving pictures took several seconds. Recorded videos were less impressive at 320-by-240-pixel resolution and 15 frames per second, though they looked OK in good lighting.