I ordered this phone the moment it became available. It's very sleek, the same size as my nano, but twice as thick. That's where its charm ends so far. Tho I've only had it for a day, it's more cumbersome to use than my LG 3200. The voice command doesn't understand me, the ring-tones are cheesy, and there are only 5 icons to identify contacts. Equally irksome is the fact that in order to access any of the music features, I have to fork over $30 for the USB cord and software and probably the same for the micro SD memory card. The products should come with all the accessories needed. I have 14 more days to see if I like it, but so far it looks as tho it's headinbg back to Verizon in exchange for an older model LG.

Is Verizon going to be the only carrier? I would love to see it on Cingular...

So far I'd call this another bust for the cell phone market. Why in the world would I pay them $2 for a song that I can obtain legally for $0.99 on iTunes (if I don't own it already) and play on a wide variety of equipment? Having to pay an additional $60 just to get setup for that privilege is insult to injury.

I'd honestly like to see some phones that function more reliably before they slap yet another expensive feature into their new models.

Once they've done that, I'd like to see a phone that allows me to import MP3s and listen to them as music or use them as ringtones. I'd pay a premium if the thing just worked.

just so ya know Eral, there is actually a phone exactly like that, and it works great too. The Motorola Rokr works perfectly. It has iTunes built in, and you can import any song on your computer to your phone, make playlists, and any song on the phone can be made into a ringtone (which is why I switched phone companies, Verizon had none to equal it's ability to make any song a ringtone. And if you're really ambitious, or have too much free time (as in my case) you can even use a program like Window's Movie Maker to edit the song if you would like a particular part of a song as your ringtone (also helps cut down on the size of the file). Best thing of all, the Rokr (at least when I bought it from Cingular) came with everything I needed (USB cord, iTunes software, and a 512mb SD card, earbuds, even an attachment to use regular headphones with the slightly larger jack). Roll that all together into one package, add some pretty decent speakers, and at least in my opinion, you have one awesome phone. Bought it when it first came out, full price, and I have yet to regret it. Word is, that the Slvr is the slightly slimmer, amped up version of the Rokr...just a little FYI from your friendly neighborhood tech nerd!

I have to agree with Soanj2u, I have the LG VX4650, and it suits me fine, but when I used my friend's LG Chocolate,I was immediately feeling the cumbersomeness of the thing... Sorry Verizon

When I first got the LG Chocolate (August 3rd) it was a little hard to get used to. The touch sensitive buttons are unlike anything I've used before. After about a two-week learning curve I now love the phone!

VZ Navigator is awesome.

You CAN play mp3's on the phone and with a MicroSD card you can simply drag files onto the card and the phone will read them.

You can use the Chocolate in standalone mode which turns off the "phone" but keeps the MP3 player/camera etc... (great for an airplane or to conserve batteries)

I've found that I really enjoy listening to music or courses from The Teaching Company on the phone over morning coffee. If I get a call I answer it and when I hang up the music automatically resumes.

I admit I was a bit peeved that the phone requires a special usb cable to plug it into the computer! If you are just doing music use the microSD card. Otherwise - look into a program called BitPim. Using BitPim you can create ringtones from mp3s, transfer contacts, add music etc... without having to use Window Media Player (ugg).