How did Trek Become Such a Phenomenon?

[MarkB]

A couple of prototypes were made for JJA Trek, but weren't considered sufficiently advanced for consumers demands.

Yeah, by that point they'd definitely missed the boat. What would work at this point is smartphone cases (I have a leather one with a Communicator-style vertical-flip front, and I hadn't even noticed the similarity until right now - it'd be easy to make one in plastic and metal with a similar form-factor and Trek-style detailing) combined with a set of free screen customisations and sound effects.

 

[Umbran]

Except that most modern smartphones are *way* to big to look like a Trek communicator.

 

[Ahnehnois]

Huge elaborate Trek reference on Breaking Bad!

Though they did mispronounce and misattribute "tulaberry" (intentionally, one imagines).

 

[sabrinathecat]

Yeah, by that point they'd definitely missed the boat. What would work at this point is smartphone cases (I have a leather one with a Communicator-style vertical-flip front, and I hadn't even noticed the similarity until right now - it'd be easy to make one in plastic and metal with a similar form-factor and Trek-style detailing) combined with a set of free screen customisations and sound effects.

Yeah, that would have to be the way to go at this point. "way too big"? I don't know about that--my Droid isn't that much bigger, and it is a lot thinner.

 

[Umbran]

Yeah, that would have to be the way to go at this point. "way too big"? I don't know about that--my Droid isn't that much bigger, and it is a lot thinner.

A classic Trek communicator is about 4" x 2.5" when closed - almost exactly the size of my Samsung Array dumbphone. The Droid DNA (picked at random as a smartphone) is closer to 5.5" x 3".

An inch or two either way may not seem like much, until you put it in the palm of your hand. My opinion, of course. But I think putting that flip top on a common smartphone build would look really stupidly big.

The prototype for the Nokia Trek Communicator, btw: http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/16/nokia-star-trek-communicator-is-simply-awesome-sadly-just-a-pro/

 

[Janx]

A classic Trek communicator is about 4" x 2.5" when closed - almost exactly the size of my Samsung Array dumbphone. The Droid DNA (picked at random as a smartphone) is closer to 5.5" x 3".

An inch or two either way may not seem like much, until you put it in the palm of your hand. My opinion, of course. But I think putting that flip top on a common smartphone build would look really stupidly big.

I disagree.

We already buy $600-$800 smart phones (discounted by contracts) and then buy $20-$50 clunky cases to protect them

It seems relatively trivial considering the added bulk of the best ones (otterboxes, etc) that less protective, more showy case could have been designed.

Considering the JJA Communicator was basically a smart phone with a flip cover.

Or just as much fun, ThinkGeek has a Communicator toy that makes noise. If they were smarter, they'd put a Bluetooth chip in and it would act as a the handset for a cellphone via Bluetooth.

 

[MarkB]

A classic Trek communicator is about 4" x 2.5" when closed - almost exactly the size of my Samsung Array dumbphone. The Droid DNA (picked at random as a smartphone) is closer to 5.5" x 3".

An inch or two either way may not seem like much, until you put it in the palm of your hand.

Most of us have never put a Star Trek communicator in the palm of our hand, so there's no tactile basis for comparison. And my Galaxy S-II doesn't look stupidly big in comparison as I hold it now.

 

[Umbran]

Most of us have never put a Star Trek communicator in the palm of our hand, so there's no tactile basis for comparison.

Anyone who would buy the thing has seen one of these images.

https://www.google.com/search?q=kir...uOpa54AOs6IHIBA&ved=0CC0QsAQ&biw=1600&bih=775

The Trek communicator really is small - about 10 square inches on that major surface. The smartphone I noted above is 16.5 square inches, half again as large! And remember that that antenna grill is going to nearly double the surface area of the phone when open.

I'm sorry, but the ship has sailed. The advent of smartphones has driven a stake in the heart of the flip phone form factor.

 

[Remus Lupin]

Funny how quickly these things change. It wasn't all that long ago that I was dying for my cellphone company to start supporting the Motorolla Razr that I wanted so badly.

 

[Janx]

Anyone who would buy the thing has seen one of these images.

https://www.google.com/search?q=kir...uOpa54AOs6IHIBA&ved=0CC0QsAQ&biw=1600&bih=775

The Trek communicator really is small - about 10 square inches on that major surface. The smartphone I noted above is 16.5 square inches, half again as large! And remember that that antenna grill is going to nearly double the surface area of the phone when open.

I'm sorry, but the ship has sailed. The advent of smartphones has driven a stake in the heart of the flip phone form factor.

Those are old pics.

Check this out from GIS:


The JJA Communicator from Into Darkness has a form factor like an iPhone with a flip top

Any vendor making cases for smart phones could license and be all over that.

Instead, we get this: