The Star Trek original series communicator replica from the Wand Company is not a toy, it's a full fledged wireless phone accessory that uses bluetooth to connect to your cellphone so you can use it just like in the original TV series. I bought one from another company at full price last spring and Best Buy had them on a Black Friday sale at a ridiculously low price, so I bought another to match it. This item is precision built with genuine Kydex and machined metal parts and powder coat finishes from laser scans taken of one of the last surviving props from the original series. It's been idealized with the input of several experts and the final design you get to hold is probably the best rendering of a communicator that has ever been created for mass sale. The Wand Company is famous for it's stringent attention to detail and quality, and the matching hand phaser I & II remote is just another example. Both items have machined metal parts and nothing is cheesy about the build quality, in fact they are better than a lot of Master Replica stuff I've seen for sale over the years. Wand says they are thinking about a tricorder, too, but they are weighing the production commitment against how many they might sell to the public. I don't think they will have any difficulty. Every Trek fan wants a full exploration set to compliment their collection. To me the communicator is the crown jewel of those items, so far. My only complaint its that the buttons on this one seem a little strange and wobbly, unlike my first one, which is perfect. But it still works, so I guess I'll keep it in its protective "torpedo" case. TOS Trek fans everywhere will appreciate the various functions for cosplay as well as real life inquiries of your phone's operating system and the ability to make voice calls without having to touch your phone. Yes, it chirps when flipped open and will answer calls on flip and end them when the grill is closed. The volume is decent and can be controlled while connected in media playback mode by just moving the jog button up and down on the right hand side. Each button has a multiple purpose, it can do several things at once. You'll have to read the enclosed sheet to get familiar with all the show clips, sound effects and actual real-world phone functions. The bluetooth is premium and always connects without issue. The light crystals (LEDs) inside do light with different functions, each one has a different job to do. The Lithium battery charges via wireless coil pickup in the back of the communicator. Wand provides a magnetic USB charging stand, you just pop it on and pull it off when you get the pulsing green "charged" light on the charger base. It does want to connect to your bluetooth while charging, and it commandeers your phone's audio system, so if you don't want it to do this, turn off bluetooth on your phone first. Otherwise, for me, it's not a big deal since I use it most every day. I bought one for my brother to give him for Christmas and he loved it!