Screen

The Chocolate's 262K-color TFT (Thin Film Transistor) LCD screen provides the best resolution of all of the flat panel types.

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.

< Prev Next >

This article is Copyright 2002-2009 Mobiledia Corp. and the review in part or in whole may NOT be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from Mobiledia. For information on reproducing any part of this review (or any images) please contact us.