And phones like the CAT s61 [1] are well on their way to add the functionality of Spock's Tricorder into the same package.

https://www.catphones.com/en-ca/cat-s61-smartphone/

Listed features:

- thermal imaging - laser assisted distance measurement - indoor air quality

I can do 1/3 with my iPhone already using the lidar and 3/3 with attachments.

I don't remember anyone using a tricoder saying, "hang on. i need to switch attachments to do the thing."

That's because it's science fiction. Imaginary futures are usually better than reality.

Tho I do remember a whole lot of "We can reconfigure the tricoder to do the thing"

Even more impressive is the fact how it can do all these things for around the same price as other smartphones, while being way more rugged.

Definitely gonna keep those CAT phones in mind for the next time I need a new one.

Growing up during proliferation of mobile devices but in financially-limited circumstances, there are certain things that I’ve relegated to “not for me” because of the astronomical cost that’s been imprinted on me. Getting a smartphone and paying a recurring fee for data (when I was perfectly capable) was still a major point of hesitation for me.

Satellite-based communication devices remains as one of the self-imposed unobtaniums.

An amateur radio license, a $30 handheld radio, and another $30 of PVC and wires will get you into space communications.

Somehow, the one-time cost of buying a portable unit + materials for an antenna is less prohibitive than paying for something with recurring costs :)

I bet Kirk's communicator couldn't even play games, so it's wilder. :)

No, it was just corporate MDM managed to prevent it. :)

If it did, Scotty would be working on an adtech backend, Bones would be researching ways to make games more addictive and humanity would never have left Earth.

When watching sci-fi movies and TV, I often wonder what happened with the development of gaming, social media, and virtual reality in the timeline of the show. It seems like in most of the cases where they actually get mentioned in sci-fi, it's kind of dystopian.

Star Trek at least shows using the holodeck for leasure, though they don't go into the specifics of using the holodeck for communication (you could be in the "same room" as someone lightyears away!) or for gaming.

Didn't Kirk have to cheat to beat Spock's unbeatable game? Games might not have disappeared, but maybe they changed to be unrecognizable by people that can only travel at slower than warp speed.

“Available to average people” that’s what amazes me. I remember when I played with an iPhone for the first time. It was an amazing device, but I thought it was a luxury device for rich people only. A few years later smartphones got a lot cooler and cheaper, to the point where it actually helped spread the internet to sections of the population that weren’t able or didn’t want to use a PC.

I used to buy used cars for less than the price of a new top-end iPhone. They aren't phones, they are pocket computers/jewelry that sometimes make phone calls.

and Dick Tracy.

We haven't arrived at full tricorder yet though.

We're at bicorder, looking forward to quadcorder.

As dystopian as the keynote for these new emergency features felt, they are real-life helpful features. 99.99% of people will never need it but for the small fraction who do it's amazing.

All the features, and none of the freedom. Kirk and the crew would have a lot of bad things to say about the iPhone and it's walled lawn. It's tragic that I can't install an application I wrote without going through Apple on the thousand dollar computer that I bought.

I find it amusing that Star Trek didn't anticipate communicators or tricorders having a flashlight function like our phones do. When they need lights, they either carry special-purpose ones or shoot a rock with a phaser to make it glow.

Generously, maybe someone did think of it, but it would have been too difficult to make a prop with a bright enough light source.

I use my phone's flashlight a good bit, it is very useful. That said, if I was going on some away mission where lighting was going to be questionable, I'd probably bring some kind of dedicated lighting equipment like a flashlight.

My flashlights have adjustable beams. They throw out many times more light than my phone's flashlight. Using the dedicated flashlight gives a way better lighting experience than using my phone's flashlight. But it is like cameras, the best flashlight is the one on you.

Honestly if I could shoot a rock with a phaser to make it glow, I wouldn't bother with a flash light either.

As far as I remember the shooting rock with phaser thing was more about having a source of heat, as not to freeze to death.

I can see the communicator on the chest being used as a flashlight with the powerful LED we have today.

But 90s TV show prop departments would probably have had one hell of a time trying to make that work, and practical, so instead they gave everybody futuristic looking flashlights aka "palm beacons" [0]

[0] https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Palm_beacon

Pretty much everyone who does field work still has a flashlight. It runs down the battery and you might not want to be holding a phone if there's rain. Plus, flashlights are very fast to access. And often brighter.