Customer Reviews

Doctor Who - Tardis Rotating LED Mobile Phone Charm

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

My daughter and I, both HUGE Doctor Who fans who live in the U.S., buy lots of merchandise related to the show (when we can get it). I purchased a TARDIS cell phone charm for my daughter's Christmas stocking, and we both agree that it is very well made (well, she says "cute)). When it works (more on this below), the charm lights up and flashes, and the tiny TARDIS actually rotates.

The charm is ostensibly designed to "sense" cellular network activity and activate when the cell phone receives a call. Unless everyone in my family has wonky cel phones, the charm does NOT activate when a cel phone call is received (or made for that matter). This is likely due to the cellular phone system in the U.S. being different from the one in the U.K.

The charm will activate occasionally, we can't figure out exactly why. Perhaps there's an errant radio signal in our vicinity that the TARDIS "locks onto". It also seems to be able to sense activity on our cordless household phone, but this is sporadic as well.

Another issue is, there is no way to actually attach the charm to our cel phones. None of our phones have provisions to attach something like this. Maybe phones in the U.K. have little hooks on them or something. This is not a fault of the product.

I think it's a shame that Doctor Who merchandise like this isn't made for the states. I think the show was actually more popular in the U.S. than it was in the U.K. at one point, probably in the eighties when I recall the show making the rounds on PBS affiliate stations. But the people who control Doctor Who marketing seem to have forgotten us Who fans across the pond. In addition to a charm, my daughter would love a Doctor Who ringtone on her cell, but we haven't been able to get any of the ones on "free download" sites to work since our number is outside the U.K.

But the charm is very well made, the TARDIS beautifully detailed, and the thing is really fun when it works. Maybe I'll try holding it next to the microwave! Or my full size TARDIS in the basement. Don't ask....

The good points first - It's very nice looking. I got a lot of comments from people who saw it lighted up, they all loved it.

Bad Points -
Original batteries it came with died after only one month, I don't use my phone a lot so I figure it should have lasted longer.
If I put it to close to my portable home phone it would not stop spinning and flashing.
If I put it to close to my TV I had the same problem, spinning and flashing.
Would start flashing during the middle of the night even with no phone call coming in.
Expensive to replace the batteries , which cost $15.00 for three!
Second set of batteries again died in less than a month.

To summarize: Very nice looking but don't get it for the lights or the spinning unless you want to keep having to replace the battery.

Once I saw it, I knew I had to have it. My kids covet it (references to mom-as-uberdork are dropped here and there, but they've made little attempt to otherwise disguise their envy), and I love it. While it works consistently on the recommended network, it does work only sporadically on others, but it's still a thrill to own and enjoy. It's a must-have for every Doctor Who devotee. Now, if only a miniature Captain Jack would hitch a ride...

It took a few days for this to start working with my phone, but now that it does, I absolutely love it! I think it's completely adorable and smile everytime I receive or make a call - it works perfectly! To be honest, when it started working it kind of freaked me out because I couldn't figure out what the flashing blue light was next to my ear at first...LOL!

But, it's a fun little trinket with which to show your Whovian pride!

-The charm arrived exactly as promised in original packaging in a bubble mailer. Several reviewers have said that the charm wouldn't work with their phones here in the US, I have not had a problem at all with mine. It lights up when I send and receive texts as well as phone calls. It has a tendency to light up randomly at night and around my computer, so I'd recommend turning your phone off at night because this little thing is *bright.* It took a little while for it to "tune in" to my Virgin Mobile X-tc, about 24 hours, after that it worked like a charm (pun intended). Note that I did take off the little plastic cover on the bottom and fiddle with the batteries as per the suggestion on the packaging, that seemed to help a lot. The charm was a little bit larger than I was expecting so it is liable to get caught on things. It's about two finger segments long and one wide, if that helps. The plastic dome around the Tardis is pretty sturdy, what you have to watch out for is where the metal is attached to the string, it seems to be the weakest point so don't put undue pressure on it. For example: don't pick up your phone by the charm or pull it out of your bag/pocket by the charm. All in all, a great little piece of Doctor Who heaven, and a nice conversation piece. I've met several people in the store and at school who have started talking to me because they saw it light up and noticed the tardis! To sum up, it seems to work on Virgin Mobile phones and I am very happy with it.

Just a minor detail, the light comes from underneath the Tardis, not from where the light is on the actual tardis. It's still pretty cool!

I really wanted to keep this item; however, it does not work with 3G network phones; i.e., Verizon network phones that are newer than 2008. I would like to have known this prior to ordering the item. This information was in very tiny print on the packaging. It worked with my husband's old phone. It worked with my aunt's old phone. It would not work with my phone or my daughter's phone. Since I am the Dr Who fanatic, I was forced to return the item. I really wanted it to work on my phone, as the Tardis does exactly what it is supposed to do with the older phones, and it is so cool!

I'm not a fan of phone charms, but this was just too cute to pass up. It does work, but not with 3G. I had to change the setting on my phone to GSM only to make it work. I don't use my phone for email or web-surfing, so it's not a problem for me to keep it set on GSM. It still looks cool though, even when it's not flashing.

To any Doctor Who fan ,will love to buy this wonderful tardis phone charm.the tardis really spin when your mobile phone ring.And its great for any Sci-Fi collector.A++++++.

Originally I got this without reading the description and found out that it does not work with most 3G networks once I received it. But, being a huge Doctor Who fan, I shrugged my shoulders and loved it anyway.

So, for the first two weeks, nothing happened and I had grown to just enjoying the fact that I had the Tardis hanging from my cellphone, the Tardis (with parking brakes on, LOL) ringtone set to my hubby's number, and a cool wallpaper.

But then, one night, sitting in my chair and watching tv, suddenly he and I both noticed a blue light flashing from the corner of our eyes. Lo and behold, my Tardis was spinning and flashing bright blue light and I had an incoming message. Woo Hoo! Since then, it works with about 1/3 of incoming text messages or when my phone connects to a service area as I drive in and out of signal range. It started out slow but now picks up more and more and I love it!

The only problems I've had was the bottom screws on and off and when I first fixed the batteries, I left it too loose and almost lost my Tardis in the parking lot at work as it became very loose without me noticing and fell off. I realized what had happened when I got into my truck and quickly scanned the area. Now, I tightened it more and haven't had to worry about it since.

I have slammed the plastic dome over the Tardis in a drawer, dropped my phone on concrete many times, and had it caught between metal grates without me realizing it. It has survived all that.

I love it!

I usually always read reviews, but I was so stoked about this mobile charm that I bought it anyway without checking feedback. If I had, perhaps I would have read the other reviews saying it doesn't work with 3G. While my new 3G phone that I intended this charm for means I'm SOL in that regard, it's all good because I think I might have bought it anyway even if I knew that before hand. A TARDIS under 'glass' is pretty sweet even if it doesn't really work the way I thought it might. I actually was more interested in just the look of the thing than its function anyway. (Maybe it'd make a quirky necklace?)

For any 3G users considering it anyway, I can say that at least it sometimes catches a weird signal from somewhere and does light and spin from time to time, seemingly randomly. So it's not like you may never see it spin, just don't expect it to spin on demand for phone calls.

I suppose the plus side is that, if it's not spinning and lighting up all the time I won't have to pay ridiculous replacement battery costs. Woo!