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Filed under: Handsets , Features , LG , Verizon Wireless , 1xRTT , EV-DO , CDMA Now that the successor to LG's Chocolate line has been available to Verizon Wireless customers, we thought it would only be fitting to put the latest addition through the paces and see if the VX8550 is a worthy successor. From a quick glimpse, both the LG VX8500 and the VX8550 both share the slide up form factor both sporting a hidden keypad. LG has moved the camera from the back of the phone on the VX8500 to the back of the slide on the VX8550. This allows for safe storage of the camera when not being used while also decreasing the amount of fingerprints, smudges, and scratches on the lens. There have also been improvements in the keypad including dedicated Send / End keys and a camera button. Like its predecessor, the keys are still mashed together making text messaging somewhat difficult for those with moderately sized fingers. Our sausage-shaped pointers often misspelled words with the cramped styling. Next, the center navigation button has been replaced with an iPod - like click wheel that rotates both forward and reverse along with doubling as a 5-way navigation. We noticed very few accidental key presses while the phone was up to our face. This could be the single greatest improvement on the VX8550 which makes navigation and phone use a breeze. The slide mechanism seems as strong as the previous model with solid open and close motions. LG seems to have one of the best slide mechanisms on a mobile phone ( Samsung , you're a close second). Overall, the VX8550 has a better feeling than it's predecessor but leaves something to be desired for the power user. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Handsets , LG , Verizon Wireless , 1xRTT , EV-DO , CDMA We'll spare you the "even sweeter the second time around" punnage that Verizon couldn't help crack and get straight to the point here. Following up its hit VX8500 last year, Verizon has introduced a new Chocolate to its lineup, the aptly-named VX8550 . The re-upped model gets very slightly trimmer by shaving a few hundredths of an inch off every dimension from its predecessor, a new keypad with touch feedback, and something LG is calling "Trace Motion" -- some sort of lighting that works in conjunction with the new nav wheel. Carried over from the original Chocolate are the 1.3 megapixel cam, microSD slot, and wealth of music-related features, though sadly, the rumored 3.5mm jack ain't here. Look for it in stores July 9 in your choice of "Black Cherry" and "Blue Mint." Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Handsets , LG , Verizon Wireless , 1xRTT , EV-DO , CDMA Goodness, has it really been nearly a year since Verizon's VX8500 Chocolate from LG hit streets ? Indeed it has, and by cellphone standards, we reckon that's an eternity; Verizon has managed to keep the line fresh by injecting color after color after color , but sooner or later, you've gotta drop new hardware. That appears to be what we're looking at here, at least in false-colored, rendered form: meet the LG VX8550, a phone whose model name we can only take to mean that a successor to the aforementioned VX8500 is in the works. Details are few and far between -- LG really has this FCC filing locked down -- but we can make out that it'll be a CDMA / EV-DO piece with Bluetooth, and the rendering seems to suggest that it could be a slider, or perhaps a pudgy candybar. We're clueless on a release date for this one, but if Verizon wanted to celebrate the VX8500's anniversary with the VX8550's launch, they'd be looking at late July or early August. [Thanks, Brian] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments