Messaging

Well backlit, the numeric keypad provides tactile feel for quick typing. Sliding out to provide a large surface and separated keys, the well backlit numeric keypad provides tactile feel for comfortable and quick typing.

The Chocolate features all the text messaging standards standard among devices today. Users can send text through SMS (Short Messaging Service), position layouts with EMS (Enhanced Messaging Service), and attach photos, voice clips, or recorded videos through MMS (Multimedia Message Service).

Verizon Wireless also offers online services to its customers. Through Mobile IM, users can use the Chocolate to access popular instant messaging platforms such as AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), MSN Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger. Preinstalled on the Chocolate, users can have real-time access with friends and family anywhere on the road. Data charges may apply.

Entertainment

The Chocolate features a few essential applications common among cell phones these days such as an Alarm Clock, Calculator, Calendar, EZ Tip Calc, Notepad, and World Clock. Users can also issue voice commands through the Chocolate's Advanced Voice Recognition (AVR) technology. After the initial training, users will be able to perform commands with just the sound of their voice.

Saying "Call (Name or Number)" or "Send Message To (Name or Number)" allows users to begin communicating without lifting a finger, while "Go To (Menu)" quickly accesses any of the phone's menus directory, "Check (Item) command checks a wide range of items from messages and Voicemail to phone status and volume levels, "Lookup (Name)" finds names in the Contacts, and "My Account" views Verizon Wireless access information. With options to adjust Sensitivity (High, Medium, and Low) and Prompts (Prompts, Readout, and Tones Only), the Chocolate's voice recognition software provides a more robust functionality than typically found on mobile devices.

Through Verizon Wireless' VCAST Video service, customers can get live and prerecorded shows from popular shows such as ABC News, CNBC, MSNBC, the Weather Channel, the News Corp.'s Twentieth Century Fox studio, and Viacom Inc.'s VH1 and Comedy Central. For a $15 monthly access fee, consumers can receive unlimited access to more than 300 daily video clips. Media publishing technology also gives users the option to subscribe and select preferences for their favorite content; receiving text alerts when new content becomes available.

Travelers can find where to go through Verizon Wireless' VZ Navigator service. Consumers can get real-time instructions to any address in the U.S., pointing lost customers towards nearly landmarks, gas stations, banks, ATMs, and more - over fourteen million points nationwide. Providing Location Based Services (LBS) options including maps and turn-by-turn navigation, drivers can get not only written instructions, but also audible voice directions.

As an online feature, VZ Navigator is only available after a subscription fee. Extensive travelers can have unlimited access for $9.99 a month, while the occasional tourist can use it for $2.99 a day.

Should consumers need additional applications or games not present on the Chocolate, they'll be able to install Java-based applications through BREW (Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless), a common platform for mobile devices. With a many programs already developed, business users and gamers alike will be find mobile versions of popular PC applications and video games reminiscent of 90s console games.

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