LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 (Verizon Wireless)
Manufacturer: LG Electronics U.S.A. Part number: Chocolate TOUCH
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Accessories
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- Despite our issues with the browser and the uninteresting design, the LG Chocolate Touch is a terrific music phone for Verizon Wireless.
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Where to buy
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CNET editors' review
LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 (Verizon Wireless) price range: $79.99 - $349.99
- Reviewed by: Nicole Lee
- Reviewed on: 11/06/2009
- Released on: 11/05/2009
The good: The LG Chocolate Touch has a great music player, a 3.2-megapixel camera, GPS, EV-DO, a 3.5mm headset jack, and a responsive touch screen.
The bad: The LG Chocolate Touch has a disappointing browser, and the overall look and feel of the phone is nothing we haven't seen before.
The bottom line: Despite our issues with the browser and the uninteresting design, the LG Chocolate Touch is a terrific music phone for Verizon Wireless.
When the LG Chocolate first came into the scene with the VX8500 model back in 2006, it was preceded by a ton of hype. And such is the case with its fourth and most recent incarnation, the LG Chocolate Touch. As the name indicates, it is a touch screen phone with the famous Chocolate branding, and so we were expecting to see a brand new design and upgraded features.
As it turned out, LG actually introduced two Chocolate models with touch screens. The first is the LG Chocolate BL40, which features a cinematic 21:9 aspect ratio, multitouch capabilities, a 5-megapixel camera, and a bevy of impressive features. Unfortunately, it's available only in European and Asian markets (you can read our review of the LG Chocolate BL40 at CNET UK), so we had to settle for the LG Chocolate Touch VX8575, which is far less impressive.
Even so, Verizon Wireless's Chocolate Touch remains a decent phone. It's slim and lightweight, with a beautiful touch display that's surprisingly responsive. Like all the other Chocolate handsets, the Touch is a music-centric phone, with features like Dolby Mobile equalizer settings, an FM radio, and even a virtual drum kit. Combined with a 3.2-megapixel camera, EV-DO, and a full HTML browser, the Chocolate Touch VX8575 is a great music phone for Verizon Wireless customers. Just don't expect anything new in terms of design. The LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 is $79.99 with a two-year service agreement from Verizon Wireless.
Design
On the face of it, the LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 is similar to other LG touch-screen phones that we've reviewed, like the LG Vu and the LG Dare. Measuring 4.3 inches long by 2.2 inches wide by 0.47 inch thick, the Chocolate Touch is rectangular with slightly rounded edges. It is encased in a very reflective shell, save for four geometric shapes on its back side that are covered in a soft touch material. You get two changeable back plates with the phone: one with black shapes, and the other with purple. The reflective part of the phone is so shiny that you can use it as a mirror.

The 3.0-inch display is vibrant and colorful, thanks to 262,000-color support and 400x240 pixel resolution. It really shows off the drop shadows and color gradients of the graphics. You can adjust the backlight time, the charging screen (what shows on the display when the phone is charging), the clock format on the home screen, the menu font style, and the dial font size.
On the right side of the Touch's home screen are two shortcut icons, which you can choose to hide if you wish. They correspond to a shortcut bin, and the music player shortcut. When you tap the arrow for the shortcut bin, you'll see a pullout menu of application and media file shortcuts, which you can drag and drop to the home screen. Some shortcuts are also full-on widgets, like those for the clock, the calendar, and the memo pad. You can add and remove shortcuts easily from the pullout menu as well. Along the bottom row of the home screen are shortcuts to the messaging in-box, the phone dialer, the main menu, the contacts list, and the favorite contacts screen.
On the whole, the touch screen is quite responsive. We like the haptics vibration feedback, though you also can add a sound effect to let you know your touch has registered. You can adjust the length and intensity of the vibration, and there's also a touch calibration wizard to help ensure accuracy. It does take a bit to get used to the touch screen, though; sometimes we activated something when we just wanted to scroll down a list.
The Touch VX8575 has an internal accelerometer that will rotate the screen from portrait to landscape mode as you turn the phone in your hand. Keep in mind that it works only in certain applications, like the Web browser. What's more, when you rotate the phone to landscape mode while in the text messaging app, you'll see a full QWERTY keyboard. The virtual keyboard is quite easy to use. The keys magnify as you tap them, and there's a dedicated @ key that double as a ".com" key when you hit shift. You also can enter text in portrait mode via a nine-key alphanumeric keypad or via handwriting recognition, but we much prefer the full QWERTY keyboard.

Underneath the display are three physical keys: Send, Clear, and End/Power. The Clear key doubles as the voice record with a long press. The keys are shaped like amorphous blobs, which complement the geometric shapes on the back of the phone. On the left side of the phone are the charger jack, the volume control, and the speakerphone key. A 3.5mm headset jack is on the top and the camera key, the music player key, and the screen lock key are on the right side. On the back is the camera lens. The microSD card slot is located behind the battery cover.
Features
The LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 has a generous 1,000-entry phone book with room in each entry for five numbers, two e-mail addresses, an instant-messaging user name, and a street address. You can also organize your contacts into groups, and pair them with a photo and any of 21 polyphonic ringtones. Other basics include a vibrate mode, a speakerphone (which you can activate prior to a call), threaded text and multimedia messaging, voice messaging, a calendar, an alarm clock, a world clock, a stopwatch, a notepad, a calculator, a tip calculator, and a drawing pad, which you can use to make sketches for multimedia messages.
The Touch VX8575 also boasts a "Social Network Shortcut Key," which opens a menu that you can populate with shortcuts for updating your status or photo on a variety of social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. These aren't real applications; they're just a way for you to quickly update your social network via SMS or MMS.
More advanced features include USB mass storage, voice command dialing, and a variety of Bluetooth profiles like hands-free, dial-up networking, A2DP or stereo, file transfer, and more. And if you're willing to cough up $3 a month for it, you'll also get Verizon's Visual Voice Mail.
The Touch offers three e-mail options: mobile e-mail, corporate e-mail--and calendar syncing--through RemoSync, and mobile Web email, which just gives you quick browser access to popular Web e-mail sites like Hotmail and Yahoo Mail. The phone also has GPS with VZ Navigator support, and the EV-DO support brings V Cast video streaming.
The star feature of the phone, however, is the music player. We're happy to see that it has its own interface and doesn't just copy the look of the V Cast Music store. It organizes songs into artists, albums, and genres, and you can create and edit your own playlists. The player interface has the album art in the middle and the player controls along the bottom. You can set songs on repeat or shuffle as well. To load songs on the Touch, you can either purchase tunes directly from the V Cast Music store or sync with the PC using the V Cast Music with Rhapsody software. If you have a Rhapsody account, you can sync subscribed tracks as well. You don't need the software to load the songs though; you can just drag and drop them to the microSD card.
The main attraction of the music player on the Touch VX8575 is the Dolby Mobile equalizer. There are five equalizer presets (Flat, Bass Boost, Treble Boost, Vocal Boost, and Classical), plus a manual equalizer if you really want it customized. A few extra player features include a visualizer effect, plus a "rhythmical beat" option that makes the phone vibrate along to the song. Our favorite, however, is the "Join the Band" option that brings up a full drum kit or a scrolling 88-key keyboard for you to play along to the music. It's not very useful perhaps, but it's a lot of fun to play. Other music player options include an FM radio with 12 presets (it only works when you plug in a wired headset) and integrated song ID.

The Chocolate Touch also has a 3.2-megapixel camera, which can take pictures in five resolutions (2,048x1,536, 1,600x1,200, 1,280x960, 800x480, 640x480), five white balance presets, and five color effects. It has three focusing modes, a self-timer, and special shot modes like Panorama and Intelligent shot. Photo quality is quite good overall. We didn't like the low-light shots due to the lack of flash, but images do look sharp and colorful for the most part.

There's also a full HTML browser, which isn't as full featured as we would like. It lets us surf and browse full Web pages, and we like that you can view them in full-screen mode, add bookmarks, search through a page, and zoom in and out with the volume rocker or an onscreen magnifying glass. But the Web search function on the browser only uses the Microsoft Bing service, and whenever you want to enter a URL, you have to keep going back to a URL-entry page.
You can personalize the Chocolate Touch with graphics and ringtones. If you're not satisfied with the options on the phone, you can download more from the Verizon Wireless store. The Touch comes with two games--Rock Band and Sims 3--and you can get more games and applications via the mobile Web browser as well.
Performance
We tested the LG Chocolate Touch in San Francisco using Verizon Wireless. Call quality was impressive on the whole. Callers could hear us loudly and clearly for the most part. They did hear a slight fuzziness in the background and they said our voice quality was a bit harsh, but those were not deal breakers.
On our end, we could hear them clearly without any interference. Their voice sounded quite natural as well. Speakerphone calls fared similarly; they said they could hear us with plenty of volume and with a slight echo effect, but nothing terribly distracting. On our end, the speakerphone had plenty of volume, and though the callers' voices didn't sound as natural, we could still carry on a conversation just fine.
We really liked the audio quality of the Chocolate Touch. Of course, the speakers didn't really do justice to the music, but even without a headset, you could hear the difference of each equalizer setting quite clearly. You do really need a headset to fully enjoy the bass boost setting though.
We were pleased with the EV-DO Rev. 0 speeds too. It's not quite as fast as EV-DO Rev. A, but we still managed to download a 2.08MB song in around 40 seconds, and we loaded the CNET front page in about 25 seconds. We also managed to stream videos from V Cast with little to no buffering. The streaming video quality was mediocre at best, with a lot of pixelation and blurriness.
The LG Chocolate Touch has a rated battery life of 5.1 hours talk time and 19.6 days standby time. It has a slightly longer talk time in our tests with 6 hours and 52 minutes. According to FCC radiation tests, the Chocolate Touch has a digital SAR of 1.47 watts per kilogram.
User reviews
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Much sleeker in person
by x3samanthasue on November 9, 2009
Pros: 3.5mm headphone jack, usb/wall charger included, touch screen very responsive, comes with two backings to swap out, nice music player, great themes.
Cons: Homerow menu buttons have ugly colors that you can't change, phone's a little slow sometimes.
Summary: Most of the complaints I've seen about this phone is that it won't live up to the Droid, Blackberry, etc. That's because it's not meant to. ...
Summary: Most of the complaints I've seen about this phone is that it won't live up to the Droid, Blackberry, etc. That's because it's not meant to. This phone does not require a data plan, and is really more along the lines of the original marketing of the chocolate line, which honed in on the music player and kind of a cute, candybar design.
I must say this phone is much more attractive in person, esp. without that goofy purple background. The downside is, the phone will always have those ugly primary colored menu buttons, I'm hoping Verizon will provide more options in future software updates.
The texting on this phone is a little hard to get used to if you're used to buttons, but it's by far the best non-iphone touch phone I've ever used. I have quite a few friends who have touch screen phones, and I feel like I have to jab at the screen just to get it to recognize what I'm doing - not with this phone.
Some nice things Verizon included are a 3.5mm headphone jack, so I don't have to go out and buy a converter just to listen to some music. It also comes with a usb connector that hooks into a wall adapter so you're good to go.
The interface of this phone is quite pretty, and with the theme and type face options, you can really make this phone look nice. The music player is especially good, this thing may just replace my iPod, and I usually hate using phones as mp3 players.
On downfall of this phone, is that since it's not as powerful as most "smart phones" it's a little slow sometimes. I notice it when I go into look at my pictures. Any images that are on my micro SD card take about a second a piece to pop up when scrolling through thumbnails, which can take quite a while since they're going one by one. :/
I can't say much for the internet features on this phone, because I don't pay for the additional data plan.
Overall, I am very impressed with this phone. For ages I have sworn I would never get a touch screen phone unless it was an iPhone, but this one really surprised me. I am very happy I decided to go with this phone.5 out of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.
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AWESOME!Great voice quality, vibrant responsive screen!
by tstyron on November 11, 2009
Pros: This phone is awesome if you don't want a data plan. It has a responsive vibrant touch screen. Voice and sound quality is superb! Texting is very easy to get use to. Very sturdy phone. Not toy-like with some phones.
Cons: Other than the fact you can NOT change the menu buttons and has only 2 themes, which are ok at best. The only other thing I wish you could transfer pics like you do music with the data cable. Now I have send pics from my computer through a pic mess.
Summary: I am extremely happy I purchased this phone. I had originally wanted the LG Dare. It was discontinued when I went so the Chocolate touch had just been released. I ...
Summary: I am extremely happy I purchased this phone. I had originally wanted the LG Dare. It was discontinued when I went so the Chocolate touch had just been released. I am very glad I went with this phone. It is so far the best phone I have had when it comes to voice & sound quality, the colors on the screen are amazing. I found the texting capabilites are very easy to get use to, the screen is very responsive, even better after calobrating it. I have tried out the LG Env-Touch, the LG Versa and the LG Dare and this phone tops them all. The music player is pretty sweet too! The camera is nice too with 3.2 mega pix. it does every thing but zoom, which would be nicer!
My only grip would be not being able to change those ugly menu buttons to something more simple or classy, just aggervates me and I haven't found a way to upload pics through usb like you can music. If LG would make a software update for that I would rate it the best phone ever without needing a data plan.4 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
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This is technically the LG Dare2
by RinconVTR on November 12, 2009
Pros: THIN!!! Much thinner than my Dare, and HALF as thick as the Samsumg Rogue and no data plan is required! I loved my Dare and I love this phone more. Nearly everything is improved from the already awesome Dare.
Cons: None...besides the name! I insist on calling it the LG Dare2!!!
Summary: This is basically the LG Dare with a thinner housing and lots more music features, and I love it. I loved the LG Dare, tried the Alias, tried the Touch, ...
Summary: This is basically the LG Dare with a thinner housing and lots more music features, and I love it. I loved the LG Dare, tried the Alias, tried the Touch, tried the Samsung Rogue, and here I am with the Dare2....opps...I mean Chocolate Touch. WARNING....YOU MUST LIKE OR ADJUST TO VIRTUAL QUERTY. Once you do...you'll never go back.
3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Great phone that is packed with fun features
by xenogold on December 5, 2009
Pros: Great touch interface
Excellent call quality
Sleek design
Thin profile
Great for texting, easy to use virtual keyboard
Screen landscape switches when phone orientation is changed
Excellent Battery LifeCons: Internet usage requires using a stylus for best accuracy
Slow browser can make internet/email frustrating
Scrolling takes time to get used to
Zoom is too sensitive in the browser
Phone really needs a trackball to complete itSummary: Overall, I was very surprised by the LG Chocolate Touch. I previously was using the LG Chocolate VX8550, and was looking for a phone that I could text on, use ...
Summary: Overall, I was very surprised by the LG Chocolate Touch. I previously was using the LG Chocolate VX8550, and was looking for a phone that I could text on, use the internet on, but still keep the high quality calls that I was used to. I also wanted to avoid the high per month fees that Verizon charges for their smart phone data plans. My choice came down to Chocolate Touch and the LG enV Touch. I had read enough bad reviews about the poor reliability and battery life in the enV touch, so I decided to go with the Chocolate and take advantage of the 30 day exchange if necessary. I'll go through several areas of the phone in my review.
Styling
The look of the phone is sleek. It feels very comfortable in my hand as a phone and as well as a media device. There is a handy speakerphone button on the side of the phone that makes switching to speakerphone mode a snap. There is also a button to lock the screen as well, in addition to side button for the camera, music player, and volume.
Screen
The screen is bright and has quite a bit of clarity. There is a sliding screen lock on the touch screen that prevents accidental phone dialing and screen selecting if you carry the phone in your pocket. The screen changes orientation when you turn the phone sideways, giving you a full keyboard for texting or a wider view for web browsing. There is also a proximity sensor in the phone that shuts the screen off as you bring it close to your face to talk on the phone.
Texting
I've found texting to be a breeze on the phone. I really wasn't a big texter on my last phone, since it didn't have a keyboard that was easy to use. This phone really makes texting fun, and the virtual keyboard is much easier to use than I anticipated.
Call Quality
Call quality on the phone has been great. The Verizon service has always been pretty good, but sometimes the phones don't take full advantage of it. This phone has performed well - voices sound clear and not mechanical.
Phone features
The dialing buttons are exceptional. They are big and easy to hit. You are presented with many options on the screen when you connect a call, such as adding them as a contact, etc. which you can do if you are using the speakerphone.
Email and Internet Access
This is the one area that the phone struggles. It should be no surprise, as most phones in this category aren't going to be as smooth to use as their Smartphone/Blackberry cousins. I found both to be slower than I liked. However, I've found that using a stylus has really improved the experience. One issue is that the areas to select things on web pages are really small, so that then you go to click on it with your finger you either miss or zoom in by mistake. Using a stylus makes for a much smoother experience, and allows you to click more accurately. I am not a heavy internet user, so I don't mind this so much, but the power user will want to go with a smartphone or blackberry. especially if you want a lot of apps and the like.
Scrolling
This takes some time to get used to. I was used to the Ipod touch scrolling feature, which does a great job of differentiating between a scroll and click. On the Chocolate, you need to place your finger down, then keep in down as you scroll. Scrolling up with your finger makes the page go down, and vice versa. You can make the scroll go fast by placing your finger down and moving it quickly up/down, sort of like the ipod touch/phone.
Zoom
The zoom in the internet browsing is much too sensitive. I find myself zooming when I don't want to. This happens mostly when trying to drag the page to a new area. As I get used to the phone it happens less and less, so there is a learning curve, and it does get better with time.
Overall, I love my new phone. I realize it isn't the top of the line, but for me and my needs it fits perfectly. It's got great features, a nice price, and is just fun to use. It also looks great and gets the "oooo and ahhs" from my friends, which is nice as well! If LG ever creates another model in the future, they should include a trackball for scrolling around the web pages more smoothly. -
Easy to Use
by edwardsl2008 on November 24, 2009
Pros: The touch screen is not super sensitive and its not one that you have to press really hard like a BB Storm. It's small with basic features and great sound.
Cons: I haven't come across these yet.
Summary: Bottom line, I upgraded for 79.99 with a 50.00 rebate from Verizon (individualized promotion) and have been very pleased with this phone. It has just enough glitz with ...
Summary: Bottom line, I upgraded for 79.99 with a 50.00 rebate from Verizon (individualized promotion) and have been very pleased with this phone. It has just enough glitz with a dash of simplicty.
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very cool phone, scrolling is hard
by sedona02261981 on November 20, 2009
Pros: phone has lots of great features like the mp3 and fm radio. The sound quality is very clear.Keyboard is easy to txt with, and I like the txting options
Cons: just the scroll bar, it kinda sucks
Summary: I would recommend trying out the phone in person. Overall I really like the phnoe
Summary: I would recommend trying out the phone in person. Overall I really like the phnoe
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The camera is disappointing - dark, blurry, grainy..
by allegra3 on November 16, 2009
Pros: This is a nice looking, relatively small touch phone and I like that I didn't have to pay for hefty internet connections, it keeps the cost down.
Cons: For being a 3.2mp, the camera is REALLY disappointing, especially in low light conditions! The pictures look dark, grainy & yellow even with the WB adjusted. In comparison to my husband's iphone camera which is only a 3.0mp, this one is terrible.
Summary: Other than the camera being a disappointment (which was a huge reason why I was looking to upgrade), and the fact that this phone is not a global phone (which ...
Summary: Other than the camera being a disappointment (which was a huge reason why I was looking to upgrade), and the fact that this phone is not a global phone (which is NOT what I was told when I bought it at Costco since I have an upcoming trip to South America) it's a sleek & compact phone with a decent touch screen- but slow when scrolling down a menu. The navigation through the phone is also not intuitive, although I have only had it one day and am still familiarizing myself with it, I am used to an iPod Touch so perhaps I am spoiled in that regard. Like other reviewers, I also object to the unchangeable button colors. But I like that it is a reasonably priced phone, I didn't have to sign up for internet but it has the option if I change my mind later. But between the camera issue and the lack of global capabilities I may end up exchanging it.
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light, the price is good.
by abcyesn on November 15, 2009
Pros: good phone with good camera
Cons: i think it has all the features. but web browsing is not as good.
Summary: I was lookin for info for the LG Chocolate Touch, maybe even a good review vid? but nothin... im currently with the dare. i was awaiting a dare 2 but ...
Summary: I was lookin for info for the LG Chocolate Touch, maybe even a good review vid? but nothin... im currently with the dare. i was awaiting a dare 2 but Chocolate Touch seem good for the price.
Share your review on this phone if you own one at http://www.Chocolate-Touch.com I will be checking the site often. Thanks. -
Straight up touch phone w/o the juvenile flip keyboard
by Maverick144e on November 9, 2009
Pros: Responsive touch screen, good reception.
Cons: Takes a little bit to master the menus if you were a previous flip phone user.
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Nicest looking and working LGphone I have seen and used
by rick8one on November 7, 2009
Pros: It has everything LG phones have to date
Cons: No dislikes yet
Summary: I have used all LG phones, Dare, Versa, ENV Touch and this one is by far the best.
So far my battery is at half ...
Updated on Nov 10, 2009Summary: I have used all LG phones, Dare, Versa, ENV Touch and this one is by far the best.
So far my battery is at half full. It has been 4 days with alot of talking, picture taking and some listening to music. So far so good.
Updated on Nov 10, 20092 out of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: LG Electronics U.S.A.
- Part number: Chocolate TOUCH
- Description: The LG Chocolate Touch is the stylish, feature-rich phone with Dolby Mobile which delivers an enhanced listening experience with sparkling clarity. For music lovers, it's the sweetest LG Chocolate yet.
General
- Product Type Cellular phone With digital camera / digital player / FM radio
- Service Provider Verizon Wireless
- Width 2.2 in
- Depth 0.5 in
- Height 4.3 in
- Weight 4.2 oz
Cellular
- Technology CDMA2000 1X
- Band CDMA2000 1X 1900/800
- Phone Design Candy bar
- Antenna Internal
- Vibrating Alert Yes
- Polyphonic Ringer Yes
- Voice Dialing Yes
- Call Timer Yes
- Conference Call Capability Yes
- Voice Recorder Yes
- Caller ID Yes
- Speakerphone Yes
- Wireless Interface Bluetooth 2.1 EDR
- Additional Features TTY compatible, Text-to-Speech (text recognition)
Phone Memory
- Phone Book Capacity 1000 names & numbers
Messaging & Data Services
- Short Messaging Service (SMS) Yes
- Mobile Email Yes
- Internet Browser Yes
- Platforms Supported BREW
- Included Services VCAST, VZ Navigator
- EV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimized) Yes
- Messaging / Data Features RSS feeds
Multimedia Features
- Playback Digital Video Formats 3gp, MPEG-4, WMV (Windows Media Video)
Digital Camera
- Camera highlights With a resolution of 3.2 megapixels, this model will give you better pictures than other phones.
- Sensor Resolution 3.2 megapixels
- Still Image Resolutions 640 x 480, 1280 x 960, 1600 x 1200, 2048 x 1536
- Digital Zoom 1.6
- Self Timer Delay Yes
- Video Recorder Resolutions 176 x 144 (QCIF), 320 x 240 (QVGA)
Organizer
- Alarm Clock Yes
- Calendar Yes
- Reminder Yes
- Calculator Basic
- Additional Timer Functions Stopwatch
Display
- Type LCD display
- Technology TFT
- Display Resolution 400 x 240 pixels
- Diagonal Size 3 in
- Color Support Color
- Color Depth 18-bit (262000 Colors)
Digital Player (Recorder)
- Supported Digital Audio Standards MP3, WMA, AAC +
Miscellaneous
- Hearing Aid Compatible Yes
Power
- Type Power adapter
Battery
- Technology - Lithium polymer
- Capacity 1000 mAh
- Talk Time Up to 306 min
- Standby Time Up to 470 h
Accessories
Manufacturer info
- LG Electronics U.S.A.
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse LG Electronics U.S.A. products on Shopper.com
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- Website: http://us.lge.com/
- Address:
1000 Sylvan Avenue, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632








