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Old 12-13-2016, 10:01 AM   #55
ApK
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Join Date: Feb 2010
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sweetpea View Post
It could talk to a ship in orbit with no infrastructure.
No infrastructure? What about that huge ship they had, with receiver and sending arrays? We can also talk to people on the other side of the planet using satelite
The communicators also work directly, all over a city-sized area at least, (and through most obstructions, except for plot-required blockages) without the ship there. Try that with a sat phone.

Quote:
It could talk without speed-of-light delay (it was a subspace radio.)

Hmm, no. They couldn't use their communicator beyond a certain range (mostly ship/planet)
Hmm. Yes, and your response has nothing to do with my comment.
Being subspace (established in various sources) doesn't mean the range is unlimited, but it does mean they can talk back and forth to the ship in high orbit, full duplex, with no delay, and it can work underground, in buildings, etc. Try that on a sat phone.
Quote:
It could be heard and let you hear over loud background noise and make voices distinguishable in a crowd (phased acoustic arrays?)
You've never made a phonecall in a busy environment?
Yeah, it sucks in real life.
Quote:
It could run for days or weeks on a charge. (or months, depending on the needs of the script)
I can use my phone for weeks on a charge. As long as I don't turn on that huge screen (which that communicator device didn't have). The communicators of the later series were more amazing, in that respect. They must have one of those flat batteries! (no idea what they're called in English).
Well, yeah, batteries are getting better. But we haven't caught up to the fiction yet.

Last edited by ApK; 12-13-2016 at 10:51 AM.
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