I miss mobile phones with Xenon flashes

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25 Sep 2011
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446
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United Kingdom
I had a Sony Ericsson K750 (2005) and bought the official Xenon flash accessory, the MXE-60, for £6 (new) in January 2016.

It worked really well from my testing in nightclubs.

Just as good as stand-alone point-and-shoot camera Xenon flashes of the era.

Whilst I understand the reasons phone manufacturers don't build them into the phones these days, I wish such accessories would return for modern smartphones.

LEDs simply can't compete when taking moving night photos (such as in a club etc.)

For general knowledge, here is a list of phones with a built-in Xenon flash (up to mid-2020):

2005
  • Gigabyte g-Cam
2006
  • Sony Ericsson K790
  • Sony Ericsson K800
2007
  • Nokia N82
  • Samsung G800
  • Sony Ericsson K810
  • Sony Ericsson K850
2008
  • LG KC910 Renoir
  • Motorola ZN5
  • Nokia 6220 classic
  • Samsung G810
  • Sony Ericsson C905
2009
  • LG KC910i Renoir
  • Motorola XT701
  • Samsung M8910 Pixon12
  • Samsung T929 Memoir
  • Samsung W880 AMOLED 12M
  • Sharp 940SH
  • Sony Ericsson C901
  • Sony Ericsson C901 GreenHeart
  • Sony Ericsson Satio (Idou)
2010
  • HTC 7 Mozart
  • Motorola MILESTONE XT720
  • Motorola XT720 MOTOROI
  • Nokia N8
  • Spice S-1200
2012
  • Nokia 8080 PureView
2013
  • Nokia Lumia 928
  • Nokia Lumia 1020
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 zoom
2014
  • Samsung Galaxy K zoom
 
I had the K800 and thought the xenon flash was awesome on it. I never understood why modern phones don't use them.
 
Guessing the size, longevity and efficiency is just better on the LED for design purposes.

That and software has been catching up to a point where manufacturers deem it to be a necessity.
 
Guessing the size, longevity and efficiency is just better on the LED for design purposes.

That and software has been catching up to a point where manufacturers deem it to be a necessity.
I genuinely think it's just a size thing.

Phones are too thin for a decent Xenon flash module, these days.
 
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