[ELI5] If smartphones can be used for long range communication, then why can’t it be used to communicate like walkie-talkies?

Question

[ELI5] If smartphones can be used for long range communication, then why can’t it be used to communicate like walkie-talkies?

In: 10

Answer 1

They can, but not many people need that, so regular phones aren’t equipped with this feature.

Modern police and other emergency service radios are actually 4G phones using walkie-talkie mode, but they can also act as phones as well as supporting stuff like text messaging and data.