I mean, it's a hard problem - for many reasons you only have one button, with no way to display information. And you have to cram possibly many functions into that one button.
It's a really interesting exercise in UI, and there are benefits to different approaches. I actually like comparing the different ways manufacturers have chosen to solve this.
I really want more Bluetooth support in flashlights. Not only would you always know where they were, and their state of charge, but if you leave your bag in a corner somewhere at a location, it could ping you if it gets moved or opened but isn't within a few feet.
BLE mesh means you could link them in groups for lighting large areas that don't have power yet.
You'd never have a mode you didn't like, just turn of the dang flash mode or map it to a long press. The dim mode could be as dim as you wanted it, down to sub milliamp for when you're working in a dark theater and need to read your notes.
You could set it to turn on when unplugged for an emergency light, glow all the time faintly to find it....
I wonder if there's a market for boutique handmade one off lights... Making a few a year might be fun but I sure wouldn't want to start my own production scale anything.
Although these would really be at their best if they were mass produced and cheap enough to have several.
That's an interesting idea. I'm not very versed in the flashlight world, so I don't know if it exists, but I at least haven't heard of a "pocket" flashlight that has bluetooth support.
Olight does make these "bulbs" that have Bluetooth support, you can configure color settings there through an app.
As far a market, there probably is if you're good. There are a bunch of people who collect all manner of flashlights, and boutique one-off things are usually a great thing.
Adding bluetooth to a flashlight probably adds at least 2 dollars to the BOM, cpu upgrade and bluetooth module (for reference one of the cheapest might be an espressif chip in the $1.5 range, but they don’t do low energy very well when bluetooth is involved). So it’ll cost roughly $18 more than the next flashlight. So maybe? I’ve worked on BLE mesh, and it’s enough of a pain at the moment that I wouldn’t be willing to implement this on something as cheap as a flashlight, but then again I was just poking around and found flashlights easily selling for over $100. so there may be a market for this.
Unless it got popular enough that you were making bazillions. It really shouldn't need to cost much more than a normal flashlight plus the $2 Bluetooth SOC. An existing manufacturer would probably charge a premium but a new company could be like "2 buck more and you get Bluetooth".
Actually seems like something Pine64 would do really well.
(I could also be talking out my ass here though, I know nothing about business, and Bluetooth anything might attract technophobia and make some people actually less interested).
Flashlight enthusiasts, I'm looking at you. Doubly so when there isn't a way to know the current state without already knowing the current state.