Garmin watches aren’t the only ones with the power of illumination.
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Gather close, curious passersby, and gaze upon my wrist orb! Behold the notifications it annoys me with, the nearly incessant reminders and DoorDash delivery updates. Gasp as I use it to ask Google things I should already know, like whether it’s possible the milk I left on the counter last night is still good. Do not accuse me of witchcraft when you see me take a phone call with it, in public, while using both hands to eat my lunch.
But what is this mockery I hear as I activate the flashlight? Do my ears deceive me, or did you snort derisively in my direction when I lit this shining beacon? Oh, I get it. You think smartwatch flashlights are stupid. You assume that a small, white screen turned up to maximum brightness won’t do jack diddly squat to help me find the pill I just dropped on the floor. But you’re wrong. I just found the pill even though it was deep in the shag carpeting under my nightstand, and I did it all without digging through the kitchen junk drawer for an actual flashlight.
Yes, it’s time you realized just how useful the flashlight in your smartwatch can be. Whether you’ve got an Apple Watch, Google Pixel Watch or a Samsung Galaxy Watch, all of them have similar flashlight features. The temptation to put “flashlight” in air quotes makes sense. After all, the feature does nothing more than turn the watch’s display white and crank the brightness up to eleven. Moreover, your watch is a companion device to your phone, which has a much better flashlight built right into it in the form of a camera flash. But answer this: Is your phone strapped to your wrist?
In brightest day, in blackest night, a smartwatch casts perfectly adequate light!
Max Miller for Engadget
Is that a gaggle of Garmin users I hear, gloating about the actual LED flashlights built into their smartwatches? We get it, you go outdoors. This message is for the rest of us, the unwashed masses with smartwatches from mainstream brands. We have denigrated the flashlight functionality of our little wrist computers for too long. But the line must be drawn here. This far, no further!
Look at the photo above. I mean, don’t look too closely. Stop judging my bathroom and instead observe how well the light from my dinky little Galaxy Watch illuminates the space. No, it’s not the power of the sun in the palm of my hand, but it’s fine! This is an entirely adequate amount of light! If I were looking for something in there, I’d find it.
Ah, but the elephant remains stubbornly in the room. Why not use a phone flashlight? Well, if you’re anything like me, you don’t have your phone glued to you. One of the reasons you probably bought a smartwatch was so that you could set your phone aside without missing important calls and texts. So, when your phone is charging in another room and you need a quick light source, who you gonna call? You already know the answer.
Moreover, your phone is a relatively heavy object that occupies at least one hand, and it’s cumbersomely shaped. If you need light while using both hands, you can either prop your phone awkwardly against something, or you can take the honorable path and activate the flashlight on your smartwatch. You can even strap the watch to your palm and use it in what I’m officially dubbing ‘Iron Man mode.’
Max Miller for Engadget
