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Why no LED notification light?

walds11

walds11

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 30, 2010
1,560
688
I left BB almost a year ago (3GS launch day to be exact) and never looked back. Still can't figure out why I didn't do it sooner. The iPhone is all I could want in a smartphone and then some. It's like having a mini laptop in my pocket. Only thing missing is an LED notification light for new calls, emails, texts, calendar items, etc. That is the only thing I miss from BB. Not that unlocking the iPhone to check for these things is a lot of work, but it was just so convenient to glance at the LED on the BB. Any chances that the next generation iPhone will have this?
 
I bet you are right, but I want to know now.

Someone on another thread mentioned that the spot where the front facing camera is could be an LED notification light. Doubt it because it clearly looks like a lens in the pics. We will find out soon enough.

eng42ine said:
I bet that you'll find out 100% in about 1 week
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walds11 said:
I left BB almost a year ago (3GS launch day to be exact) and never looked back. Still can't figure out why I didn't do it sooner. The iPhone is all I could want in a smartphone and then some. It's like having a mini laptop in my pocket. Only thing missing is an LED notification light for new calls, emails, texts, calendar items, etc. That is the only thing I miss from BB. Not that unlocking the iPhone to check for these things is a lot of work, but it was just so convenient to glance at the LED on the BB. Any chances that the next generation iPhone will have this?
Click to expand...

I personally hope it comes out. I think it would be alot more convenient for all iPhone users. hopefully it comes soon enough.
 
It made sense 10 years ago when folks didn't live online and you could wait hours between emails.

But now it would just flash all the time. What use is that?
 
Arran said:
It made sense 10 years ago when folks didn't live online and you could wait hours between emails.
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I'm online all day... but on a corporate VPN, so I rely on my phone to let me know if I get personal emails.

But now it would just flash all the time. What use is that?
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A dozen times a day I'm away from my phone (or it's on silence) when an email or other notification comes in. Being able to just glance over at the phone and check for a softly pulsing light is very handy.

It's like a million other such popular options: if you don't like, you don't have to use it.
 
eng42ine said:
That and it uses more battery, do we really need to put more of a strain on a battery life that already sucks?
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I don't think you realize how little power an LED light uses. Much, much less than lighting the entire screen and also much less than holding a connection with a cell phone tower. A lit LED light would not make a noticeable difference in battery life even if it were on the entire time between charges.
 
damnyooneek said:
a notification light is better than having to turn on the screen to check if you have a notification.
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Clete2 said:
I don't think you realize how little power an LED light uses. Much, much less than lighting the entire screen and also much less than holding a connection with a cell phone tower. A lit LED light would not make a noticeable difference in battery life even if it were on the entire time between charges.
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Both good points, I also was going back a few years to my Nextel i90c, when I turned off my LED I would get noticably longer battery life. But that was also constantly on..

FTR, I would not be opposed to having an LED notification light, was just playing devil's advocate.
 
I would really like that! and for those saying that it drains battery life... it's better than having to light up the screen every 5 minutes... :D but I don't think Apple is gonna do it though :(
 
A small RGB(calls, messages, emails) notification light on the other side of the front speaker would've been great.
 
Hmm..only if the new iPhone had the light indicator for the front facing cam, that thing could double as a notification light. But we didn′t see that on the pics..Maybe it′s invisible unless lit. I don′t care if it′s dare. Well, one week left to find out!
 
kdarling said:
I'm online all day... but on a corporate VPN, so I rely on my phone to let me know if I get personal emails.
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This. It's also easier to see if I've missed any emails via a light when the phone's in my purse or I'm in a noisy environment where I can't hear the alert tone (or I've thrown it on silent & forgotten to take it back off). That said, I also used to dislike it when my BB's light would start flashing in the middle of the night; the LED light on the Bold 9000 is like a klieg light. That sucker would all but illuminate the entire room; woke me up every time even if it was facedown on the nightstand. So, pros and cons for both, but it'd be nice to have the option to use it on the iPhone if I wanted to.
 
eng42ine said:
That and it uses more battery, do we really need to put more of a strain on a battery life that already sucks?
Click to expand...

Don't know how well this can compare but I just bought some energy efficient LED night lights for my hallways and each one has the LED "bulbs" and the package states it uses CENTS in watts per YEAR. That is AMAZING. So I have my doubts that it would use much battery at all.
 
could be useful, sure. but it'd likely ruin the aesthetics of the phone and thats simply why apple wouldn't add it in. :rolleyes:
 
kdarling said:
...if you don't like, you don't have to use it.
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Yeah, you've got a point there. I wouldn't use it for corp or personal email (because of the sheer volume) but if it was configurable it'd be useful for other things.

Blueline29 said:
...That said, I also used to dislike it when my BB's light would start flashing in the middle of the night; the LED light on the Bold 9000 is like a klieg light. That sucker would all but illuminate the entire room; woke me up every time even if it was facedown on the nightstand...
Click to expand...

That was my concern. These lights, dings and beeps can become very intrusive. My iPhone stays out of my bedroom for that reason. When I'm in a hotel, it gets turned off at night or it goes into airplane mode. That puts me incommunicado, but good sleep is worth it.
 
eng42ine said:
That and it uses more battery, do we really need to put more of a strain on a battery life that already sucks?
Click to expand...


If you don't like it you can disable it. Considering the awful battery life that the iPhone currently has, I doubt that it would be noticed. You'll still have to recharge every 24 to 48.

Over the course of a week or a month, a person can waste a lot time walking over to their iPhone and unlocking it to check for calls/messages.

Beside, my BB can go 4-5 days WITH the light blinking the whole time so the LED doesn't drain the battery as much as you might be implying.
 
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