I wrote a short post over on TWC's "Update #3" page, not so obliquely asking about the data discs and the moire disc:
"why is the design of the data discs *strikingly* similar to the design of the moire disc (with the outer ring and a recessed center)?"
It was a very nice surprise to see Chris generously reply to my post:
The design of the data discs does relate emotionally to the design of the moiré bezel, but more importantly, we saw the disc obviously as the embodiment of an advanced storage medium, and as there is no canon describing what the discs look like we were able to consider something that we knew would feel nicely tactile in the hand and have the apparent function intended … that’s a function we will talk about in a subsequent post, so no spoilers here!
Interestingly, his wording that they designed the data disc to intentionally "relate emotionally" to the moire disc design, and that "what the discs look like" somehow indicates "the apparent function intended" for the data discs, but that he doesn't want to talk about that function yet for fear of spoilers, certainly lends a *bit* of credence to my ideas about the data discs. It is still ambiguous enough that it could mean something entirely different, but the idea that the look of the disc is somehow an indicator of the function of the disc certainly coheres with my ideas.
Chris also provided an additional tidbit about the design. I asked:
why such a large step motor compared to the one on your Communicator? Just a ‘price vs size’ issue? Or something more?
Chris responded:
lots more information to come, but in short, you’re right, the communicator could only fit a tiny stepper motor, which presented some significant challenges in order to drive it smoothly and was very costly and actually very difficult to get hold of. Where there is room, and in the tricorder we do have a bit more room, although it has to squeeze in next to the speaker, it is much easier for us to use a larger, more cost-effective, and more robust stepper motor solution.
That he says the step motor is 'squeezed in next to the speaker' seems to confirm a couple things I suspected:
1: The speaker is not in what TWC refers to as the "hood"- ie the flip top portion of the tricorder. In other words, it is not behind the little grille on the front above the nobs.
2: That the speaker is elsewhere indicates THESE items (below) are NOT tiny speakers of some sort but instead are (apparently) some of the functional 'sensors' (temp? humidity? pressure?) and - likely - a mems microphone (similar to the one behind the grille on the communicator) :
3: That the speaker is NOT in the "hood", but is in the body of the tricorder near the step motor, seems to answer a question I had about a circular design below the step motor:
I indeed wondered if it was the location of the speaker. Unfortunately, its lack of detail, the fact it was cut off at the end of the photo, and seemingly similar circular lines further below it made me wonder if it was instead some sort of battery or the like. However, given Chris' comment, it seems it IS the speaker - which means the speaker likely will *not* be pointing forward and OUT, but either UP or DOWN (hard to tell from the CAD image itself, but given a couple of the shapes that I can make out, it SEEMS to be pointing *down*).
All in all, pretty interesting!