The tricorder can typically do whatever it needs to, but it's normally portrayed as a super-powered radiation (meaning EM, but also Trek's made-up radiations) s

The tricorder can typically do whatever it needs to, but it's normally portrayed as a super-powered radiation (meaning EM, but also Trek's made-up radiations) scanner. That scanning seems to work down to the molecular level, because IIRC it's often used to check for "DNA degradation/mutation/etc", which is a common enough plot point. That implies the ability to take DNA sequences. But this is just another case of a company trying to ride the Trek-tech bandwagon. A real "tricorder", or anything close, would be a massive leap forward in technology, even if it came in the bulky TOS-style boxes.