Consumers pick cell phone models for a variety of reasons, some include: processor speed, camera capability, memory size, screen size, resolution, etc.
The flashlight built into cell phones remains somewhat binary meaning, a phone has one or does not have one.
The question I have is, if manufacturers took the flashlight built into the cell phone more seriously and began to offer models with higher lumens, better throw, higher CRI, etc, would that influence your decision as to what cell phone to buy? Or would you still consider the light built into the cell phone a poor alternative to carrying say a Wurkkos or Acebeam with you as EDC?
Will cell phones ever have decent light built in?
Would you buy a Galaxy S24 if it has a built in TS10? To be controlled by an Android Anduril app?
I don’t use my phone as a watch or as a flashlight.
I wear a watch because that’s the best way to tell time, in my opinion.
I carry a flashlight because that’s the best way to illuminate something, in my opinion.
If phone lights improve, that’s great for someone else, but it doesn’t affect me in the least.
As they did with camera technology, I foresee manufacturers eventually advancing the use of the LEDs in their designs beyond that as a camera flash or rudimentary flashlight.
For example, they could incorporate a 2nd LED with tiny custom optic placed at the top edge of their traditional rectangular smartphones.
When using their phones primarily as flashlights, users would carry them in a more natural top edge-forward facing orientation, with the up/down volume keys positioned on the side as they currently are on most if not all designs, to be used for controling output.
Naturally, all sorts of smartphone flashlight apps would pop up for users to choose from for customizing their flashlight’s controls.
The form factor of a phone, its fragility, its UI, its inability to be mouth-held and the need for its battery charge for communication make it a poor torch no matter how good the light might be. IMO.
Although I would at first agree with you, I am sure 20 years ago when they first incorporated cameras into phones, most people frowned about it believing you can never have a good camera in a phone.
I think my point still stands. It’s not about the light being poor, as would be the case with the camera, it’s about the way the device is used. A good torch will likely never be a flat glass rectangle and I’m not envisioning a future of compact rugged tubular phones with pocket clips.
Only way I could ever see it as possible to be useful would be with a separate battery for the light. I use a light more than almost any other tool or device both at work, at play, in general life and to stay alive(for instance, righg now we have about 6 hours of natural daylight at -20F and -40 windchill, poor light can be rather dangerous).
At times I will time check with my phone since I rarely wear a watch at home/inside the house, but thats a small use case… Having the time instantly and hands free(verry messy work where getting into pockets/handling a device is stupid, most days!) is important.
And most of the time my life can literally depends on having a reliable contact form, wasting battery on a constantly used flashlight, even a “good” one could be suicidal.
So many fools in the world think they could only ever need a flashlight in an emergency, and then say" I’ll just use my phone"… Exact opposite of any sanity in an emergency.
I use a lot of Multitools that can be a compromise, but not things with a battery.
I think a good TIR lens can be used to get some good throw. Also cameras mimic optical zoom with digital zoom. So with technology there are ways to do things thought impossible.
Not just TIR, we’ve been using microscale moulded optics at work to create unbelievably flat, directional light sources. Put some in a phone and voilá- you’re using battery charge that could be used for computing or communication by holding an awkwardly large rectangle in a way that prevents it from getting scratched on a rusty piece of equipment you’re inspecting.
Large, crisp, colour screen helps you get a better shot with the camera. The same screen gets in the way of every aspect of an ergonomic torch.
By the way, I do use my smartphone as a digital camera.
I know that a real digital camera is better for taking photos, but I rarely take photos and the quality of my smartphone camera is good enough for me, so sometimes I don’t use the best tool for the situation.
I also love using my multitools for certain tasks, but my multitools are pretty high quality.
To be clear, I’m happy my phone can double as a source of light should every other fail. Every li-ion powered device could come with an emergency standby torch feature built in and I’d be happy about that. But at the same time, light is such a basic need that it shouldn’t tie up other resources, i.e. preventing making an emergency call or using the phone to control other equipment in the field.
It would be one of many metrics used to evaluate a prospective phone purchase, although not likely to rank particularly high on the list as the flashlight function is decidedly secondary to other concerns.
