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

[JurT]

I have to see my light on the iphone4s is nice. But as mentioned before if the phone falls you got nothing. When the flashlight falls and you got some quality you just pick it up and it still runs.

Sometimes it's handy but most of the time is just pick my flashlight.

 

[jalal20]

my phone was made to be a phone, you can't tell a donkey to enter a horse race can you?
It will never ever replace my haiku, mule and HDS EDCs :nana:

 

[Cataract]

Im not talking about replacing flashlights for more important task, especially being in the great outdoors

Im just talking about maybe replacing your keychain light

With that clarification in mind, I have to say that I love my keychain light too much for that and I suspect most people here do too. It might not replace a lot of keychain lights, but it will put a flashlight in a lot unenlightened people's pockets. We can't get most of this mass of people to be ready for even the smallest things, but at leat more of them have an emergency light at hand and more will as phones evole into everything apps (with which your life stops when the battery dies). Throw and battery life issues considered, I definitely prefer to keep my L0D where it is, but I wouldn't reject a phone light when that battery is dead. To me it's just an extra backup for the backup of the backup, but it's also a feature that might keep others from wanting to mooch my precious when the SHTF. My 2 lumens.

 

[OCD]

I can't believe nobody mentioned what you would do when you actually are using your phone as a PHONE, talking to someone...in the dark? Put it on speaker as you try to use your phone as a light? :shakehead

 

[bshanahan14rulz]

most flashlight apps are aftermarket. Just like how you can put turbos and nos in a civic and it will drive faster. Doesn't mean that it's a replacement for getting a sporty car.

 

[ryukin2000]

My wife has a Nexus S and the led on that thing is bright. good flood. its a good compliment to any key chain light.

 

[ZMZ67]

The flashlight app I have on my phone is very pretty decent but I won't be eliminating any EDC lights.At the rate smart phones go through battery it just doesn't seem wise to depend on your phone for light.I already use my phone as a radio,alarm clock,calender etc. so adding one more task that may be critical in an emergency isn't for me.

 

[moozooh]

I carry my keys only when outdoors (durr), but outdoors is exactly where my phone is completely useless as a light source! I have better results carrying around a Blackburn Flea from my bike.

 

[derangboy]

When Dave manages to cram a cell phone into a Spy 007, I'll stop carrying both

Seriously though, most people here have a dedicated light (or three) for good reasons. Having a cell phone that can light up is more likely to help people who wouldn't think to have a flashlight at the ready in the first place.

 

[Silent_Thunder]

Does my Sonim qualifies for a flashlight? :thinking: (Battery LI-ion 3.7V 1750mAh)

 

[kramer5150]

no. I just bought my wife an iphone 4S, barely gets 8-9 hours on a charge with only moderate use as a phone, GPS or other features. That would only drop, using its screen or flash as a flashlight. No way I'm replacing a good key-ring light with that. She still carries a gerber AAA on her key-ring.

 

[nbp]

8-9 hours?! What is she doing with it?! I charge my iPhone4 every other night usually. Check your updates, location settings, push notifications, screen brightness, stuff like that. It should last longer.

 

[kramer5150]

8-9 hours?! What is she doing with it?! I charge my iPhone4 every other night usually. Check your updates, location settings, push notifications, screen brightness, stuff like that. It should last longer.

Just asked her about it in more detail. If its only left on standby and not used during the day it has 85% remaining by ~10:00PM, and she needs a re-charge only every other day.

Normally though she uses it a lot more than most because her company does not allow www access, so she uses it for www browsing, email (etc) probably a lot more than most. She gets ~5-10 txt messages each day, and is constantly using it for games too... under such conditions battery capacity is down to ~10% by around 10:00. Unfortunately she is far sighted and needs the screen running at its brightest.

I dont see how a device like this could ever completely replace a flashlight as an EDC tool.

 

[nbp]

Just asked her about it in more detail. If its only left on standby and not used during the day it has 85% remaining by ~10:00PM, and she needs a re-charge only every other day.

Normally though she uses it a lot more than most because her company does not allow www access, so she uses it for www browsing, email (etc) probably a lot more than most. She gets ~5-10 txt messages each day, and is constantly using it for games too... under such conditions battery capacity is down to ~10% by around 10:00. Unfortunately she is far sighted and needs the screen running at its brightest.

I dont see how a device like this could ever completely replace a flashlight as an EDC tool.

Ok, that makes sense. Gaming and lots of browsing will do that, and the screen uses up a lot of juice. I keep it at the minimum brightness I can for that reason.

 

[archimedes]

Ok, that makes sense. Gaming and lots of browsing will do that, and the screen uses up a lot of juice. I keep it at the minimum brightness I can for that reason.

It is amazing how much battery drain goes to just the screen !

On my current phone, I set the screen at 12% brightness and the battery monitor reports over 60% of the consumption is from the screen alone (compared with 8% for the browser, and 7% for the OS overhead). I also leave all the "radios" off (WiFi, BT, GPS, etc) unless/until needed ....

 

[luceat lux vestra]

SAD...............:fail: I am always telling my friends that is not acceptable

 

[kramer5150]

On a recent trip to Yosemite, we used the GPS to spot check our progress between small towns, maybe 3-5 minutes of route tracking every ~30-40 minutes on a 4.5 hour drive. She sent a couple text messages, placed 2-3 calls throughout the day, used the Shopkick AP 3-4 times that day, and took 5-6 pictures. By ~6:30 PM the battery was done.

We didn't do any video streaming, media playing, music playing…. or use it for any of the "cool stuff" this phone is advertised for. Bluetooth is shut off and we used the screen on its brightest setting (she is far sighted and needs to see the screen text).

The one thing we didn't do is de-activate the wi-fi scanner, so hopefully that will free up an extra hour or two.... but I doubt it.

Battery life on this completely stinks... no way this device could EVER replace a dedicated EDC tool (compass, GPS, flashlight...etc). You could probably use the screen as a mediocre signaling mirror though... its a nice screen thats for sure, and thats probably its biggest selling point.

 

[f22shift]

On a recent trip to Yosemite, we used the GPS to spot check our progress between small towns, maybe 3-5 minutes of route tracking every ~30-40 minutes on a 4.5 hour drive. She sent a couple text messages, placed 2-3 calls throughout the day, used the Shopkick AP 3-4 times that day, and took 5-6 pictures. By ~6:30 PM the battery was done.

We didn't do any video streaming, media playing, music playing…. or use it for any of the "cool stuff" this phone is advertised for. Bluetooth is shut off and we used the screen on its brightest setting (she is far sighted and needs to see the screen text).

The one thing we didn't do is de-activate the wi-fi scanner, so hopefully that will free up an extra hour or two.... but I doubt it.

Battery life on this completely stinks... no way this device could EVER replace a dedicated EDC tool (compass, GPS, flashlight...etc). You could probably use the screen as a mediocre signaling mirror though... its a nice screen thats for sure, and thats probably its biggest selling point.

sounds about right the way she is using it. actually the music playing uses the least juice.
games would use the most because of the processing power. high screen brightness will use ALOT. wifi of course will use a lot if it's hunting around constantly looking for connections. even bad cell reception will use some because of the constant search for towers. gps can run down an iPhone in a couple hours in constant use. i think the route tracking will use more juice because it's laying points or a trail down vs the google map. hd video uses a lot too. photos should be okay.

reduce screen brightness
shut off any excess radios(bluetooth, wifi)
change the push email to longer periods(not fun if you use it like a conversation)
shut of 3g(faster but uses more energy vs slower data)

but anyway, sounds about right by the way you are using the phone. especially the full screen brightness.
i recommend leave a charger at work and one in the car. there is no reason not too top off at all times rather than run down the battery(li-ion).

but back on topic, yes agreed by having one device that does it all, it does nothing particular well so if one function is very important it's better to get a dedicated device like a edc flashlight.

 

[nbp]

Having the phone hunting for signal in the boonies will smoke through battery too. If I'm in a big metal roofed building with poor signal, it's bad. Like I said, under normal usage I charge every other night, but GPS, mapping/tracking, screen brightness, poor signal will use it faster. I try to do what I can with all the various settings to preserve battery health because I am anal about that kind of stuff. Even changing email to fetch once an hour rather than push or turning off other push notifications can help.

 

[Cataract]

[...]but back on topic, yes agreed by having one device that does it all, it does nothing particular well so if one function is very important it's better to get a dedicated device like a edc flashlight.

You remind me of something I've been saying recently: devices that do multiple things do none of them correctly.

In the case of intelligent phones, they do phone correctly, but the battery lifetime seems incredibly reduced by everything else, so I stand by my statement. And I say +1 to poor signal reception draining battery real fast. I've learned to turn my phone off when I'm in a low signal area for more than an hour. I've also learned to turn my flashlight down when in the dark for more than an hour, but that would be a different topic... I think...