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Comment by SaberTail | Hacker News Reader

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.

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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.

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

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

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.

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