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.
< Prev Next
>
This article is Copyright 2002-2008 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. |