How many people have only a cell phone as a 'flashlight'

After reading that story of the 2 trapped Chinese miners who survived a mine collapse and only had a cell phone for a light source, that got me thinking.

I wonder how many unenlightened folks out there only have the display of their cell phone to find their way in the dark? No flashlights/torches at all.

Personally, I can't imagine not having at least my Fenix L0P SE at the bare minimum.

IMO, too many people in this world are without lights. But that's just my opinion.

I almost always have a light on me.

I am not without lights,and even my phone has one biult in,so I guess I'm covered.

I have a few lights, but still use the cellphone display when walking into the bedroom at night. Because all my lights are too bright and would wake up the wife (she's a LIGHT sleeper). All of that will change ofcourse when I get my Novatac

I think you might be asking in the wrong place.

BlackDecker said:

I wonder how many unenlightened folks out there only have the display of their cell phone to find their way in the dark? No flashlights/torches at all.

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Some Sony Erricsson phones are able to use the flash from the camera constantly and it's a fair amount of output.

I have seen people trying to find things that they have dropped at gigs and nightclubs by phone-light. I just chuckle at them, and then fire up the Cree-powered P1D. They are very grateful after initially cursing the retina overload.

if u dont have a built in led, a white wallpaper would help

I occasionally use my cell phone as a light, it's enough light for night adapted eyes to navigate in a dark room. But I am already waiting for my Arc AAA-P and this will be now used for this purpose (the L1D CE was too big and too bright for me to carry every day). My brother often uses his phone in the woods when he searches for something in his rucksack in the night - he doesn't want to spend money on a light because the cell phone is all he needs (I think I will give him one light as a gift )

That would be 90% of the good folks I work with. Most of the supervisors at least have one handy, if not on them, and I make sure the guys in my department/cave have lights. But the rest don't have anything. Any time the power goes out they navigate their ways towards windows with their cell phones...

Only one person besides me actually carries a light on him.

Hodsta said:

I think you might be asking in the wrong place.

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Good point, Hodsta! All of us are 'enlightened'

actually some Sony Ericsson models have a small add-on which is an LED light!

At the other end from the LED, you have the usual 2-pronged power supply attachment except it does not charge the phone but draws power from it.

You get a decent emergency light out of it at a very small expenditure in carry weight and size.

The light itself is a blue color.

In spite of my best efforts, my wife (indifferent) and son (too cool) have only their cell phones.

Geoff

I've bought a cheap "Tracphone" pre-paid phone to use whilst i'm in the USA. It has an LED built into the top of it (where a IR transmitter might have once been) and provides a usefull amount of light! Also has the benefit of being easily recharged!

Has anybody ever used a phone battery/charger for a custom LED fixture? would seem a likely candidate.

Flying Turtle said:

In spite of my best efforts, my wife (indifferent) and son (too cool) have only their cell phones.

Geoff

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maybe your the one at fault....the tendency for others around you to rely on the "enlightened one" to provide illumination when needed but refuses to listen to advice when they don't need it

I have a few smoker friends who brings cigarettes but often fails to bring a decent lighter and goes around bumming lighters.

do I smoke? no, but I carry a lighter for this reason

i would guess 95% of the population doesn't edc, i get weird looks when i use mine. Oh well, i know i get a ton of use out of mine, and others get plenty of use (out of MINE) as well.

My workplace is weird I guess. I'm the only one there that EDC, as far as I know, but there are flashlights scattered about the place because they're used to look at the nooks and crannies of motors or motor parts. I wonder how many people would remember they were there if the power went out? There's a 2D plastic light with a 4-emitter lens setup which gives a decent amount of output for a cheap light (5mm LEDs) but besides a ratshack purchased Luxeon I stuck in the QC lab (I couldn't standing using what they had because of the beam artifacts), that's the only decent one. All the others are anemic looking 2D incans with the cheapest alkalines available. DIRT CHEAP batteries. I can't figure out why they don't get a couple of 10-bay AA chargers and replace all the flashlights with 2xAA led lights powered by LSD NiMH or NiCads... It'd save money in the long run and they'd be able to see better when using them too...

Some Sony Erricsson phones are able to use the flash from the camera constantly and it's a fair amount of output.

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This is a good idea -- start bundling more phones with high-output LEDs, and implement an explicit flashlight feature. Since cellphones are already a ubiquitous EDC item, that will be a more effective way to actually get flashlights into the hands of people, who most likely will never look into carrying separate flashlights.

my Samsung E720 would turn the camera "flash" on for maybe 10-20 seconds when you held the volume up key while the phone was closed
its one thing i really wish my new Nokia N95 would do just so i had another source of light on my person
i normally have a Fenix L0p around my neck and another edc light on me though so its no biggie but i would like to see more phones with an inbuilt flashlight feature

What's the fun in that?

It's much more fun to be the savior of the unenlightened with some really bright, and small EDC flashlight. If everyone had one .. why .. you'ld loose the wow factor when you pull out your A2, or X1, or L0P, or ..

<insert your favorite EDC here>