Wrist communicator

While some variant of the Starfleet combadge is used by most official UFP organizations, other options are popular with civilians. On most advanced worlds like Earth or Andor, the vast majority of residents wear some form of communicator to allow them to remain in constant contact with the worldwide information network. The wrist communicator is one of the more common models of civilian communicators in use throughout the Federation.

Based on a style of communicator used briefly by Starfleet in the 2070s and discarded because it was not durable enough for field use, the wrist communicator has all of the features of a Starfleet combadge, as well as possessing a miniature camera and a small viewscreen. The ability to transmit visual as well as audio information has made these devices quite popular. For many people, the wrist communicator is used as a more convenient and portable substitute for a PADD. This device can act as a sophisticated terminal to the global network as well as a communication device. In addition, a wrist communicator can record up to 100 hours of audio and visual input on its optical microchip memory. Wrist communicators have the same range limitations as Starfleet combadges, and, like combadges, most models include miniature universal translators.

Reference(s)

• Campbell, Brian, et al. The Price of Freedom: The United Federation of Planets Sourcebook, New York: Last Unicorn Games, 1999. ISBN: 0671040030.