LG announced a new "Chocolate" handset on Thursday on the Verizon network in the US forgetting its stylish heritage for a brief moment.

The rather gaudy looking handset will be offered for $79.99 and slip into the mid-tier range of handsets for those looking for a phone without a $30 data plan.

Tech specs include a touchscreen, random buttons, 1GB of internal memory, microSD card and 3.2-megapixel camera.

While Verizon has moved away from cluttering its handsets with software and applications, the Chocolate Touch doesn't benefit with the operator going for a more "traditional" approach.

That means V Cast Music and the company's navigator software as standard.

Of course, aimed at "the kids" means it's social network savvy with interchangeable backs. Luckily, we've been told, you can switch out that purple backplate.

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