will mobile phone flashlight apps stop the need to edc a flashlight

[mzil]

He clarified he was curious if cell phone apps might/will substitute for say, "keychain lights" and 99% of patrons of 5 star restaurants have found occasions where eating at fast food joints like McDonalds fit their needs at the particular time, BTW. Miraculously they can coexist.

His question was also speculative, as in "what will we find to be the case in the future?". Note the first word in his question, not statement, was "will", not "do". He never suggested existing cellphone lights were just as good as all known flashlights, in all ways, for any occasion.

 

[mzil]

BTW, I still think this was a troll. But after 220 posts, I admit it is a good one.

Which of OP's over 1000 other forum posts suggests to you he is a troll, or do you think he only just now has decided to make a troll post?

 

[bluemax_1]

The animosity shown in several posts in this thread to a common feature which quite simply doesn't have to be invoked if one doesn't want/need it, and in most cases is totally free if one already owns a smartphone anyways, astounds me.

Really? I can't say I've seen ANY animosity towards cellphone flashlight apps. I've read all the posts in this thread and the general tone is, "they're great as a last ditch light source, AND it means more people who would usually have NO emergency light at least do now due to it, but I would only ever use it as a backup".

What animosity do you speak of?

Continuing with someone else's restaurant analogy, does the abundance of fast food mean that the people who like going to good restaurants will stop going to good restaurants and solely eat fast food instead? No, they won't. Sure, they may occasionally consume fast food because it's convenient, but for folks who like good restaurants, fast food isn't going to replace good restaurants.

Sure, there are going to be other folks for whom fast food IS their main diet, and who rarely if ever, go to a nice restaurant. Different preferences for different people.

Likewise, it appears that the general consensus here (aside from the occasional exception), is that most folks who EDC a flashlight began doing so because they've discovered the benefits of carrying a flashlight. For most of these types of individuals, flashlight apps are seen as convenient last ditch backups, but not enough to stop carrying an EDC.


Max

 

[alpg88]

phones and flashlight apps are very bright now and the runtimes are fantastic. Do we still need to edc a flashlight?

Sure its not 100 lumens bright, but bright enough for most tasks

for a none flashaholic, no, there is no need for edc for such people, who are 99% of population. not that they carried them before such apps. but us, flashaholics, will never substitute a light for some phone. hell no.

 

[Etsu]

Which of OP's over 1000 other forum posts suggests to you he is a troll, or do you think he only just now has decided to make a troll post?

I'm not sure, maybe. But the subject line certainly looks like a duck, swims like a duck, quacks like a duck, ...

If it was posted on an Apple or Android forum, it would be a legitimate question for that audience (naive perhaps, but legitimate). But posted on a flashlight forum dedicated to thousands of people who like good flashlights and EDC them, ... well, if you can't see why I think it's a troll, then I don't think I'll be able to explain it to you.

In any case, I applaud him for a very successful thread. Even though I'm suspicious of his intent, I can't disagree that it incited a lot of responses.

 

[mzil]

What animosity do you speak of?

I'm obviously outnumbered here and don't have the time or inclination to spend lots of time on this rather trivial matter, but as an example, take the very first response:

"Till you drop it and it shatters.

Or you run out of juice in the woods and have no way to replace the cell quickly and easily.

Or it gets wet and dies.

Or you want to light something up and talk on the phone at the same time.

Or you need to light something up more than 3 feet away.

Or you want to use light something up in an area where phones are prohibited.

Or any number of other good reasons why a phone does not replace a flashlight. I don't have a flashlight app on my iPhone, nor do I care to get one. I have flashlights for flashlights."

This post reeks of elitism, exclusivity, and condescension. Especially that last sentence. It is akin to Crocodile Dundee saying, "You call that a knife?"

But I'm sure you wont admit that the post was in any sense antagonistic or belittling to the OP's needs [no wonder he quit the thread] so it is futile to discuss this any further.

Bye.

 

[nbp]

Personally I thought those were all pretty good reasons why I wouldn't leave my EDC light at home on account of carrying a smartphone. I stand by that post.

Cheers.

 

[bluemax_1]

I'm obviously outnumbered here and don't have the time or inclination to spend lots of time on this rather trivial matter, but let's look for example at the very first response:

"Till you drop it and it shatters.

Or you run out of juice in the woods and have no way to replace the cell quickly and easily.

Or it gets wet and dies.

Or you want to light something up and talk on the phone at the same time.

Or you need to light something up more than 3 feet away.

Or you want to use light something up in an area where phones are prohibited.

Or any number of other good reasons why a phone does not replace a flashlight. I don't have a flashlight app on my iPhone, nor do I care to get one. I have flashlights for flashlights."

This post reeks of elitism, exclusivity, and condescension. Especially that last sentence. It is akin to Crocodile Dundee saying, "You call that a knife?"

But I'm sure you wont admit that the post was in any sense antagonistic or belittling to the OP's needs [no wonder he quit the thread] so it is futile to discuss this any further.

Bye.

With the exception of the last line you quoted, I wouldn't call any of that animosity. All those are valid points when comparing an EDC vs a flashlight app. The last line though, does have a peculiar mentality. Since flashlight apps are available for free and don't negatively affect the phone or its use (unless you get one of those crap apps that sells your info), I don't see why anyone would choose NOT to have one on their phone. It's like refusing a FREE last ditch emergency backup flashlight that takes up NO extra space and weighs nothing. Why turn it down? I don't use mine, but I have it anyway, as the backup to the backup for the backup of my backup to my EDC.

As I said, if you look at all the responses in the thread, aside from a few exceptions, most folks here share the view that flashlight apps are good in that they provide a viable useful light source for the vast majority of folks who wouldn't otherwise have one, and they can provide a potential backup light in case your EDC can't. Most of the folks who EDC though, do so because they've found significant benefits to carrying a well made dedicated light source, and the relative shortcomings of a cellphone with a flashlight app mean that they aren't going to stop EDC'ing.


Max

 

[nbp]

And regarding the last sentence of my post, I now HAVE a flashlight app on my iPhone thanks to iOS7, and I HAVE tried it out, and I find it inadequate for my needs. So save for a last resort situation as noted by the previous poster, I still don't care to use it, especially not as a replacement for my normally carried lights.

 

[idleprocess]

I broke down and replaced the Galaxy Nexus with a Moto X, which has phenomenal battery life and switches the flashlight on instantly with a widget. The flash seems to have better color than the Nexus, although is a bit dimmer - perhaps because the Moto X's camera performs so much better in low light.

I recently installed an application on my android phone with the help of which, I am able to use my flashlight of the camera as a torch flashlight. It works fine though it uses a lot of juice of my battery but is good at time of need.

Depending on the phone / OS, there are widgets available that can run the flash without the screen being on, which uses immensely less juice than the apps that run with the screen on. Help keeps your pupils from snapping shut too - don't have that bright screen in your field of vision.

I don't know what it is like on other Android phones or Apple for that matter but the reason why those flashlight apps need permissions to use the camera is because the LED can (apparently) only be used in camera mode. That could end up draining your battery quite nicely with the need to power the camera sensor, cpu, and screen. I also worry about the heatsinking with the LED running all the time with the rest of the contraption.

I don't know the backend for iOS nor Windows Phone, but I once read that Android phones enable the flash by messing with the camera's light meter - a far more circuitous method than simply telling the LED to switch on which makes the apps themselves more complex and troublesome due to the wide variety of Android hardware out there.

All LED flashes I've seen for cellphones are quite low power - on the order of 5mm LED's, so heatsinking is a modest concern for the LED itself and of no real concern for the rest of the device. The days of Lumileds trying to hustle the original "Luxeon Flash" (a slight modification of the original Luxeon I if I recall) that truly needed to be pulsed with >1W of power to produce useful lumens are long long gone with today's 100 lm/W LED's.

 

[Cataract]

[...] I also worry about the heatsinking with the LED running all the time with the rest of the contraption.

I wouldn't worry much about the heatsinking of a ~10 lumens LED unless you have a thick rubber case that has an opening barely big enough for the LED itself and use it for very long periods of time and the some.

 

[mzil]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects...t-for-the-iphone-4-4s-and-5/widget/video.html

I'd have little interest in this exact unit. But the concept of having control, regulation, battery monitoring, from a cellphone intrigues me as having good potential. It should be cordless through blutooth if one wants .

"Siri, what's the outboard LED's temperature? What's the brightness level? How many more minutes can I run this brightness at? What if I change to 100%? How many minutes can I use my cell if I dock to the outboard light as an emergency battery charger? Send all my incoming calls to VM when illuminated above 50 OTF lumens. Synch outboard light to main camera's light as a "side fill" light to reduce shadows. Turn on camera's colorimeter and check white balance. Change to 6500 degrees K for video and disengage PWM...

Light up my roof and if I don't contact you within 20 minutes, call 911 and start flashing SOS. I slipped off the ladder!"

 

[Swedpat]

Even if it's not bad to have a light built in the mobile phone it will never replace a real flashlight. That's my conviction.

 

[Skimo]

A real flashlight?

Used My phone as a flashlight more often, it's in my back pocket, it has adjustable brightness and for most things either I want a lot of lumens/lux or very little.

The one down side of a phone light is when I've had to go into secured areas, but the worst part is losing continuity between analog and digital records, loss of easily portable digital manuals, loss of photographic records for troubleshooting etc.

I'm not a contractor working in secured areas anymore, so having a light is as easy as knowing what job I'm going to do and bring whatever tools I need/want. For emergency use, maybe, just maybe there would be a scenario or two where a regular pocket light would be better.

 

[braddy]

so having a light is as easy as knowing what job I'm going to do and bring whatever tools I need/want. For emergency use, maybe, just maybe there would be a scenario or two where a regular pocket light would be better.

If I always knew when to have a flashlight in advance I wouldn't edc one either, but I carry one for the unforeseen times and situations where I want one, and especially for when I need one.

As far as a phone light being just about as good as a carefully chosen edc light, well, I can't imagine all those threads about the durability, waterproofness, lumens, battery run time, how easy they are to hold while changing a tire and working on the car, drop rating, throw, etc. about our choices in edc lights, reaching the conclusion that a cell phone is an adequate choice to fill our emergency needs.

Cell phones aren't even waterproof are they?

 

[mzil]

Some cell phones are waterproof but most aren't. I carry a "snack size" zip lock bag*, rolled into a tight cylinder and bound with a rubber band, stuffed at the bottom of my pants pocket, so I have a raincoat for my iphone on hand whenever I need it. Since it is clear, the phone and light are still fully functional, even when encased in the bag. I have used it on more than one occasion and recommend the practice to all. Electronics of any kind should never be used in the rain, normally, even though I see people using cellphones that way all the time.

*"snack size" is like a half width sandwich sized one, just right to carry a phone in a case.

 

[braddy]

You edc a sandwich bag and a rubber band?

I carry a plastic bag (for carrying water in) when I am camping or hiking and wearing my micro SERE kit, but not in normal life.

 

[idleprocess]

You edc a sandwich bag and a rubber band?

I carry a plastic bag (for carrying water in) when I am camping or hiking and wearing my micro SERE kit, but not in normal life.

Depending on where you live, getting rained on may happen regularly. Since phones are important pieces of electronics that many of us depend on, it makes sense for some.

 

[CounterAttack]

Well, flashlight apps are just piggy backing off of old ideas, my old cell-phone before flip but with color screen had a small LED on the top right corner and I could activate it momentarily or have it constant on. Then I switched to my flip phone and missed it. But I would say no to your post because your mileage would vary depending on what LED or battery you have on your phone. Also that phone light would only be good for up a few feet. But it is useful as a back up.

 

[braddy]

Depending on where you live, getting rained on may happen regularly. Since phones are important pieces of electronics that many of us depend on, it makes sense for some.

Getting my billfold and watch and phone, soaked in the rain during my normal city life, has never come up in my lifetime.