Sona Mobile to launch Star Trek Communicator phone
By Barb Dybwad 
posted August 11th 2005 6:39PM
posted August 11th 2005 6:39PM
We're guessing it won't be another actual Communicator replica, but Sona Mobile in partnership with Viacom will be putting out a Star Trek-themed phone next month. It's going to come equipped with a custom Star Trek faceplate and other themed features, which more likely means it'll be some regular mundane phone rebadged and slapped with Star Trek paraphernalia. There will also be themed goodies on the software end such as multi-player online Star Trek games, video streams, and other news and information for fans. No word on whether it will help you be as suave as William Shatner.
Why traditional phone? I'd like Star Trek badge with phone in it more.
Hopefully it will do better than the Matrix phone...
I think they should make a phone that fits in a prosthetic Spock ear...
"which more likely means it’ll be some regular mundane phone rebadged and slapped with Star Trek paraphernalia."
What - you want them to be able to locate you with this phone, for the transporter?
"What - you want them to be able to locate you with this phone, for the transporter?"
No, when I'm out in the pub drinking and I need a lift home I could just hold my badge and say "Drive me home, honey" and wife will arrive.
Here's the article from the Sona Mobile web site...
(Click on my name above for the link)
I want a cell phone that looks like the original series communicators. Pity there aren't any pics of how the phone will look.
Comes with bluetooth headset embedded in a free toupee
And I thought programming the original communicator noises as my ringtone into my Razr Noir was as close as I'm gonna get...
i would buy it in like 4 seconds if it was GSM and looked just like an original series communicator. if not. who cares? kitsch value means something to some people.
Or it could just be a regular phone with some gold paint. They'll toss in a Star Trek wallpaper, a couple of cheesy games and sound effects, then call it a day. We've seen this before.
I work at Sona. I can now reveal: this is a modified Motorola mpx220 (Windows Mobile Smartphone).
My favorite thing (please don't jump down my throat for plugging this - i know i am biased here!) is the game - it is a location based game that uses GIS mapping info to incorporate landmarks and geography into it's online, multiplayer trek universe. Say you are Romulan, and somebody of an enemy race gets with 100m. It then uses an alert to let you know and you can fight it out. you can also have it use the AI to do the battle for you (should you be in a tight situation - at work for example).
The game sounds keen, but I'm with the gents above. I mean, in this frellin' day and age, with the incredible things that cell phones can do and how small they are, how bleedin' difficult can it be to make a functional duplicate of the original Star Trek Communicator? No worries 'bout the antenna; it's already got one! Voice recognition is already here. Most phones are Communicator-size or smaller. I know most people would see a phone that couldn't play videos or MP3s, send and receive text or whip up a souffle as hopelessly dated and useless, but I just KNOW there are enough old-skool Trekkies out there to make a Communicator phone a million-seller. Why isn't such a thing already out there and on my belt?
I'll double-post since it seems that me and the Sci-Fi Wire site are about two weeks behind the times. Just hunted down the phone that was mentioned above as being the basis for this modified Star Trek phone. http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=478 Actually, it's a pretty nice phone, and at least they were smart enough to choose a flip phone, so even if you can't pop it open with the flick of the wrist, at least some of the original Communicator look and feel is retained. Lots of nifty features and it's Bluetooth-enabled, so you can have the Star Trek experience of using a wireless earphone. Then again, you can have that with even cooler looking phones, like the Razr. The other downside is that since the cell phone market is still so carrier controlled, who knows if you can get the service you want to go with the phone, or whether or not some of the neat features will be crippled by the carrier? I'll wait to see what comes out, but as nifty as it might be, this "Communicator" seems far from the dream.
So where is it then? I been eagerly awaiting its entrance for a number of weeks and 30th September has come and past but there has been no official release only archived news releases on the internet not even a leaked picture. Anybody know why.?
OK It's now December. Does anyone know where the Star Trek phones are?? Was this just a hoax - a rumor? Where can I buy the Star Trek phone?
sonamobile has updated site and the phone now has a 2006 released date. Im guessing for the 40th anniversary you can visit the phones mini site @ http://www.sonamobile.com/themephones/main.asp
This phone is NOT a lookalike (or even a workalike) for the original communicators. Don't get too excited. I don't know why they did it this way. A few years ago, Paramount licensed a company to produce some communicator prop toys that were actually pretty close to the originals. They chirp when you flip them open, the flipscreen is accurate, it has a digital voice recorder that records a few seconds of you doing your best Scotty impersonation ("I canna do it Captain!"). I have often thought of using that shell to build one myself. I don't see why Sona had to "base" this phone on a Moto model. Why couldn't they do this right and put the right mobile phone guts in a replica shell? The thing could flip open at the midline revealing the large LCD screen and advanced buttons. The original communicator is certainly big enough to house any mobile phone circuitry and features you'd like. Also, the flipscreen on the original communicators just flopped open at will, but they could engineer a hidden catch that would allow the screen to open when you squeeze the edge of the communicator with your finger. Why is this stuff so obvious to people like Star Trek fans, and so difficult for companies that actually can build these things?
I agree with Ernesto. I too would like Star Trek badge with phone in it. With voice dialing & speaker phone you could tap a comm badge say someone's name and your call is connected. That would be far out!