12 reasons not to use your smartphone as a flashlight.

Today everyone has a smartphone or almost. We use it for everything besides calling. Many of us also use it as a flashlight. It’s quite convenient because we have it almost all the time with us.
But for me a smartphone should not be the only flashlight with you. I give you my 12 reasons not to use your smartphone as a flashlight.

01 – It’s a bit longer to light on.
Some new smartphone models have functions to quickly turn on their led photo to make a flashlight but unlike a dedicated one, most smartphones are longer to turn on. You often need to press the power button to then make your code (or read your fingerprint) to enter the main window and at best press a widget to activate the LED or at worst have to go down the notification area to find a light icon. In short, it is significantly longer than turning a head or pressing the button of a flashlight.

02 – It’s bulky.
Indeed, the use of most smartphones will monopolize a hand. In addition to being careful to hold it, you must be careful not to press one of the keys on the side or the screen itself to avoid activating unsolicited functions at the moment.
Of course this remark is only comparable to small flashlights. If you have a triple leds flashlight at 2000 lumens then it will be much more bulky.

03 – It’s a bit more fragile.
Smartphones have a big problem: They are fragile. We talk a lot about Gorilla Glass resistant glass but glass remains glass and it can breaks. In addition, depending on the price we paid for the smartphone, we will be less inclined to put it in danger. This drastically reduces its possibilities uses in perilous situations.

04 – It monopolizes a hand.
As said in point 02, the use of a smartphone will monopolize a hand to keep it safe. Not great if you need both hands to help someone. Of course, no way to hold it between your teeth as you could with a small flashlight.

05 – You need it to call for help.
In general, your smartphone will serve you to call and keep in touch with the rescue. Hard to use as a flashlight in this case because you may empty the battery or breaking it trying to help someone else with it in one hand.

06 – It drains your battery quickly.
It is known that the use of the led flash lamp has two drawbacks: it heats and it empties the battery. It is this second point which is the most annoying if you need your phone to stay in touch with the rescue. You will say to me: “But a flashlight also uses a battery that can fall in the road!” I’ll tell you that you’re right but a flashlight can stay on for several hours on its weakest level where a smartphone will only last one hour or less. In addition, a flashlight in normal use may remain operational for weeks or even months between recharging or replacing batteries while a smartphone in normal use must be recharged every two days or every day. This increases the chances that his battery is well started when you need it the most.

07 – The flash led is not adjustable in intensity.
On most smartphones, the LED has only one intensity. A lower power would use less battery but in most cases, it is immediately the strongest power. This can be a problem because you can not make the battery last longer without turning off the LED completely.

08 – It’s more complicated to put it somewhere to enlighten yourself.
Smartphones are flat with the lighting led on one side. Difficult to hold a smartphone in balance on its edge. To put it in a position where it will enlighten you well, will ask you to redouble ingenuity. With a dedicated lamp, you will rarely have this problem because they are made for that. In addition, the cost and the need to keep your smartphone in shape, will dissuade you from putting it anywhere.

09 – It’s hard to enlighten and call someone at the same time.
In addition to emptying the battery, using the smartphone as a flashlight, requires you to switch to hands-free mode to be able to light and call at the same time. In addition, friction on the microphone that make your words unintelligible, some smartphones have a lot of trouble with the hands-free mode. Most of the time your message will be choppy or broken up see far away or with an echo. In this case it is better to switch to normal mode but you lose the benefit of lighting. And of course, using the led and the call at the same time will run the precious percentages of your battery.

10 – You can not pass it on to someone to light up while you call with.
Since you only have one device, you can not pass this one to someone else to light up while you are calling. In some cases, you will need to move to an area where your smartphone will best pick up. Which implies taking with you your only source of light.

11 – You can not take pictures during.
It is complicated for some smartphones to take pictures while the LED serving as a flash is used as a lamp. So, you have to turn off the led to take a picture.

12 – It’s tricky to use in the rain.
The question does not arise if you have a waterproof smartphone but using your smartphone unsealed in the rain can be problematic. Capacitive screens may not work properly as soon as there is water on the screen and finally, water can seep into the phone and ruin your hopes of enlightening you and / or contacting the emergency .

For me, it would be necessary to have at least two lamps on oneself; a smartphone acting as a last resort flashlight. A small, fairly flat Nitecore Tube flashlight in your pocket or the MecArmy X4S on your keychain will be much more effective in case of an emergency and will allow your smartphone to fulfill its precious role of contact with the rescue.

Photo by : Pexels

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