Screen
The Chocolate's 262K-color TFT (Thin Film Transistor) LCD screen provides
the best resolution of all of the flat panel types.
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Your Price:
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Hidden when dark, the vibrant display lights up when the phone is activated.
While the screen's size and resolution are great for viewing, TFT screens
draw more battery power than the less-vibrant STN (Super-Twisted Nematic)
or OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) screens. At the same time, the phone's
slider design means that it only has to support one screen, compared the
interior and exterior screens of a clamshell.
The 2.2-inch diagonal display has a resolution of 240 x 320 px and shows
11 lines of text. The screen's superior clarity makes it perfect for streaming
Verizon's VCAST videos.
Audio
 The
Chocolate supports Verizon's VCAST music services, which offers a library
of 1.5 million songs that can be purchased and downloaded to a PC or directly
to the phone. For $1.99, users can download the songs directly to their
phone. (Verizon also sends a copy to the user's online account for downloading
to a Windows XP PC.) Thrifty users can also download songs to a PC for 99
cents and transfer them to their Chocolate via a USB cable or a microSD
card (sold separately).
Users should note that besides the cost of the song, the airtime they
use when downloading songs will be charged to their bill, unless they subscribe
to the VCAST "V-Pak" plan.
The Chocolate is one of the few Verizon phones that plays unprotected
MP3 files. (This frees Mac users from having to purchase all of their music
from Verizon and them an option for getting music from their computer to
their phone.)
Users can import MP3's to their phone by syncing their computer with
their phone or "sideload" using a memory card. Synced MP3s are automatically
converted to WMA format. Only unprotected MP3s can be sideloaded. Protected
MP3 files have to be synced (converted to WMA's) in order to be played on
the phone.
Verizon also provides software for their VCAST Music Manager, which searches
for and plays music in a library and connects to the VCAST music library
for shopping.
A dedicated music key on the right side of the phone provides easy access
to the music library, which automatically lists music according to genres,
artists, playlists and albums. Users can store up to 4 GB of music on removable
SD memory cards, which provide ample tunes for long road trips.
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