There have been several times when I've woken up to a dead or almost dead iPhone, and then later realized that I sat it down with the flashlight still on. This always happens at night, where I use the iPhone's LED flash to traverse the treacherous terrain that is my dark bedroom. Wouldn't it be nice if the iPhone was smart enough to disable the flashlight after a certain amount of time?
Although everyone's favorite parts leaker, Australia-born Sonny Dickson, has remained mostly mum in terms of iPhone 6 component leaks this year, Tuesday morning he took to Twitter to share high-resolution photos of an alleged iPhone 6 rear shell which seem to match up nicely with the leaks we recently saw.
In addition to the antenna breaks at the top and the bottom replacing the glass cutouts seen on the iPhone 5/5s, the images appear to depict an iPod touch-style protruding lens for the device. Also clearly visible on the photos: a circular dual-LED flash module that Apple calls 'True Tone' flash...
Virtually every major leak pertaining to Apple's upcoming iPhone 6 has depicted a round flash hole on the back rather than the pill-shaped opening seen on the iPhone 5s.
In turn, several watchers have speculated that Apple may have abandoned True Tone flash altogether and switched back to the inferior single LED flash design.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
True Tone flash is part of the iPhone 5s's improved camera performance. Can anyone in their right mind say that Apple engineers would be willing to forgo dual-LED flash design and therefore sacrifice better highlights and more natural-looking skin tones?
I consistently argued Apple must have instead found a way to engineer a round dual-LED flash. Indeed. Lo and behold, among a plethora of purported part leaks published earlier this morning by a French blog is a component featuring both white and amber LED lights packaged together in a round-shaped part...
The flashlight toggle in Control Center was a great addition to iOS 7, but it always baffled me why Apple didn't place some sort of indicator in the status bar to tell you when the flash was active. Obviously, most people can see when the flash is on, but there are certain circumstances that one can encounter, which would make such an indicator useful.
What about when you sit your phone down on a table with the LED flash covered? It's possible that the iPhone's battery could die due to the flash being on for a long period of time. I know that may seem far-fetched, but it has happened to the developer of this tweak, and it has happened to me on a few occasions.
Bulb is a jailbreak tweak that will help make users more aware of the status of the LED flash. It places a lightbulb indicator in the status bar whenever the flash is active. Have a look at our video walkthrough for more info.
Apple's upcoming iPhone 5 refresh, the iPhone 5S, is expected to further appease to iPhone photographers by increasing the back iSight camera resolution from eight megapixels on the current model all the way up to twelve megapixels.
Pixel count matters but there's more to photography than megapixels (hint: more powerful LED flash).
Apple is thought to be giving the iPhone 5S a dual-LED flash module, a first for the iPhone. The technology should allow for improved low-light shooting and more natural looking photographs, especially those taken under artificial light.
The French blog NowhereElse.fr on Monday published a photo showing what looks like a back iPhone part - the top glass strip to be precise, with a taller LED flash hole next to the iSight camera hole...
The not-entirely-accurate Taiwanese trade publication DigiTimes back in June 2011 incorrectly reported that the then rumored iPhone 5 would incorporate dual-LED flash. That hasn't panned out, but the rumor lives on. Numerous reports and a purported backplate seemingly point to Apple adopting dual-LED flash on the iPhone 5S.
But unlike the standard implementations, Apple engineers may have chosen to incorporate the LED flash module completely independent from the camera lens, potentially reducing interference with the camera module...
Two new jailbreak tweaks have recently appeared in Cydia by the same developer, and they both happen to focus on Notification Center. Specifically, these tweaks aim to add handy shortcuts to the Notification Center pull-down pane.
The first tweak on the docket, TorchNC, adds a shortcut to activate the iPhone's LED flash. There are other tweaks and apps that perform flashlight functions, but I always find it useful to have it within Notification Center, or directly on the Lock screen.
The second tweak, like the first, is a shortcut for Notification Center. Instead of interacting with the iPhone's LED flash, InstaSnap is a tweak that allows you to quickly access the camera from within Instagram. Seeing as though this tweak doesn't require the iPhone only LED flash, it works with both the iPhone and iPod touch perfectly fine.
Take a look as we profile both InstaSnap and TorchNC in our walkthrough videos inside...
Despite the many improvements Apple has made to the iPhone over the past five years, there are still some things missing from the handset. One of the biggest omissions, for a lot of folks anyway, is the lack of external notifications.
And Apple must agree, to some extent, because it added the LED Flash for Alerts feature in iOS 5. But the makeshift solution doesn't quite cut it for everyone, and that's where the myLED external notification light comes in...
Whenever you find yourself in a dark place, chances are you don't have a flashlight on your person, but you do have an iPhone. For that reason, it's a good idea to install a jailbreak tweak that allows you to easily use the iPhone's built in LED flash as a flashlight.
There are already a handful of decent flashlight tweaks available on Cydia, but this latest one called Torch is one of the better implementations. Torch is a tweak that places an easily accessible flashlight button on your Lock screen that will enable or disable the LED flash.