Flashlight-X for WP7: finally a real LED flashlight app

I came across this handy free Windows Phone 7 app over at xda-developers, “Flashlight-X” is one of the first real LED flashlight apps on the Windows Phone Marketplace. No flickering, no shutter focus, just an undisturbed stream of intense white light.

So how does it work? I asked Rafael Rivera to do some auditing for me and it turns out it doesn’t use the popular but undesirable video camera activation trick. Instead, it uses System.Reflection to access an undocumented portion of the Mango camera APIs to activate just the LED lamp, skipping the code handling actual video recording.

I didn’t know this was Marketplace-worthy, but it turns out so. I wonder what other API treasures lingers in uncharted territories.

15 insightful thoughts

  1. I haven’t noticed any flickering in the HTC flashlight app. I know they have access to bits that normal dev’s don’t. Would it be using the same undocumented API?

  2. Like Shania Twain said, “That don’t impress me much”. I’m sorry, but this is the one piece of tech I really don’t care for. 🙁

  3. System.Reflection is normally not allowed on the Marketplace. There are two possibilities: Microsoft noticed it and decided to let the app do (noting it isn’t a big deal) or they didn’t notice it and then there’s a security faillure in the Marketplace process…

    1. This is apparently due to the Mozart having Xenon flash rather than LED flash. The official HTC flashlight program doesn’t work, either.

  4. How can you say “that dont impress me much.”? I love this app! Its not like I carry a flashlight around with me, but I use this app every night. I get home from work, its dark, I park my motorcycle around back, I have to walk to the front door in total darkness then fumble with the door lock due to poor lighting from the porch light… This app works very well on the Samsung focus, apparently the LED on this phone is stupid bright! =D very pleased that this app is also free unlike many of the other lessor apps that due not utilities the appropriate code and bunk, I cant believe people are trying to actually get money for those junk flashlight apps! Furthermore its about damn time the rest of us wp7 users got a flashlight app, I was so upset to find that my girlfriends HTC had a working flashlight app that came factory installed and more disappointed to discover it was an app solely available on HTC devices! Such a simple app you would expect to have been available since the launch of wp7.. If Microsoft pulls this app they best replace it with one of their own or i might just give up on this OS.. Bad enough we had to suffer along with the most basic polyphonic sounding ringtones for the first year…

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