Kidigi desktop charger with HDMI-out for Samsung Galaxy S3 & Galaxy Nexus [Smartphone Accessory Review]

by Antonio Wells Aug 3, 2012 12:14 PM – 7 Comments

This hot little accessory is the Kidigi USB cradle (desktop charger) with HDMI-out (mirror the phone’s visuals & audio to an 3D or HD television) for the Samsung Galaxy S3 & Galaxy Nexus phones.

Price: £24.95 (~$38.87)
Where to Buy: Mobilefun.co.uk

AndroidTapp.com Smartphone Accessories Review:

Pros & Cons:

Pros

Slick desktop charger that perfectly fits the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Nexus (with provided attachment)!

Cons

HDMI-out, sadly, does not work!

The Kidigi desktop cradle with HDMI-out, is a cool accessory that you can use on your desk, nightstand or even apart of your home entertainment system setup. It caught my eye for the latter feature enhancement as you are supposed to be able to mirror the content on your phone to your TV. However, and very disappointing, it does not work.

Kidigi USB cradle won't output via HDMI to HDTV

I tried it on three HD televisions (update: using two different HDMI cables pulled directly from devices that clearly worked and put into the cradle… no dice), all of which had several HDMI-in ports (so we can scratch TV hardware and user error as the cause). Also, HDMI is a simple plug and play technology without hassle and should just work. In theory, this would be awesome to sit your phone into the dock, fire up some tunes or vids and have it project through your home entertainment system. Without the media features working properly, it is only a slick desktop smartphone charger. This model reviewed snugly fits the S3 perfectly, and if you insert the provided attachment, it fits a Galaxy Nexus like a glove.

: Kidigi USB cradle charging phone

: Kidigi USB cradle on desk

: Kidigi USB Cradle

: Kidigi USB cradle won’t output via HDMI to HDTV

AndroidTapp.com Rating

AndroidTapp.com Rating! (2.75 out of 5)

Should you buy the Kidigi USB Cradle? I’m hoping the version we reviewed was a single product defect, as the killer feature, mirroring HD content to your TV, did not work. Even if it was an isolated problem, being shipped a new in the box defective product from an online retailer makes them look bad- a byproduct from the manufacturer unfortunately. That stated, I would caution this brand of desktop cradles and opt for another brand on the retailer’s site, because this is then only an expense ‘paper weight’ charger thus you can get the job of charging done with a cheaper micro USB cable.

Developer: Kidigi

Tags: Galaxy Nexus, HDMI out, Kidigi desktop charger, Kidigi USB Cradle, Mobilefun.co.uk, Samsung Galaxy S III, Samsung Galaxy S3, Smartphone Accessories

Categorised in: Featured, News

7 Comments

By ManiacZX on August 3, 2012 at 12:35 pm:

Have to say this review is pretty lacking.

Was an attempt made to contact the manufacturer? The outcome of that attempt would be worth reporting. Either it would have a positive or negative outcome and would provide information.

All that I’ve gotten from this report is you may or may not have gotten a bad unit and didn’t try going through the steps a consumer would have to in order to get it resolved.

I also don’t see how attempting with three different televisions and multiple HDMI ports eliminates user error. You changed hardware, not users.

Were different cables tried or the cable in use confirmed operational with a different device?

A bit more effort (or details on the effort if it was performed but just missing from the above description) would make this much more informative.

Reply
- By Antonio Wells on August 3, 2012 at 1:03 pm:
  
  @ManiacZX You’re correct on a few aspects. I did fail to mention my specific steps of contacting the manufacturer (still awaiting response) as well as the specific mentioning of two types of cables used on three different televisions.
  
  However, you are off about the user error statement. Correct me if I’m wrong, but have you ever unplugged from an HDMI device that works into another HDMI deviceinto and it simply did not work, even when you are certain the input sources on the television are properly set (illustrated in the photo)?
  
  Lastly, the average user will not go the extra effort, like we did, in contacting the manufacturer about the product when purchased from an online retailer, they would fault the retailer and go about exchanging/returning/refunding the product.
  
  Thank you for pointing some things out, as we have since mentioned them in our review.
  
  Reply
By John Galea on August 3, 2012 at 1:37 pm:

On my Samsung Captivate Glide the only predictable way I could get video out to work was to do it right after a reboot of the phone in the order in the manual. Quite buggy. Perhaps the S3 carries on this bug/feature.

Reply
- By Antonio Wells on August 3, 2012 at 2:27 pm:
  
  Thanks for that tip John, will try it to see if I can use that workaround.
  
  Reply
- By Julian on September 28, 2012 at 4:02 am:
  
  Please note this is NOT a KiDiGi brand cradle. Is a fake one. You can check their official website at http://www.kidigi.com. There is NO led light in the front. And I have purchase the genuine KiDiGi cradle for S3. Is working fine.Please check the place you have purchase to exchange a genuine KiDiGi cradle.
  
  Reply
By pc on August 4, 2012 at 9:06 am:

The S3 uses 11 pin out hdmi. I think the nexus still uses 5 pin … Which phone were you testing with? Samsung now makes two different units to do the same thing as this , one for each pin out … They also have a small converter to allow use of the 5 pin unit on the 11 pin S3. Good chance this is why you are having trouble.

Reply
By Clement Yiu on September 28, 2012 at 4:27 am:

I am from KiDiGi and I guess there might be 2 possible causing the problem:
1. The online retailer lied to you that unit supports both Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Nexus! We never make that and indeed technically, that is not possible!
2. You purchased a fake unit that branded as KiDiGi but not made by us!
Where did you purchase the unit from?

Clem

Reply