Item from Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver by Game Freak / Nintendo
The all-purpose device that every Johto trainer wears on their wrist — a phone, a map, a radio, and the primary way the player's mother stays in contact while her child is gone for months challenging gym leaders.
The Pokégear is introduced before anything else — your mother gives it to you at the start of the journey, before you've even left for Elm's lab. This is the game telling you something about priorities: the world is large and you will be in it alone, but you can call home. Its functions are practical and mundane in the best way: the clock shows real time, the map shows where you are, the phone stores numbers that trainers give you after you beat them (which enables rematches), and the radio picks up Goldenrod broadcasts including the Pokémon march, the Lucky Channel, and at frequency 13.5 near the Ruins of Alph, something unexplained. The Team Rocket Radio Tower arc is specifically about taking control of the Pokégear radio — broadcasting to it to reach Giovanni. The device your mother gave you to stay in contact becomes the vector for a villain's distress signal. This isn't commented on in the game. It doesn't need to be.
A small device worn on a wrist strap or lanyard, styled like an advanced cell phone with the Silph Co. logo. In HGSS it's a flip-top design using both DS screens, with customizable color skins including blue, pink, and a Team Rocket-themed variant that the game definitely intends as ironic.
Also known as: Pokégear