iPhone 4 white, tested: Flash/LED renders camera unuseable (Video)

Why is there no white iPhone 4? Production problems caused by the transparency of the white case material are rumored as a reason for the continued delay of the white iPhone 4 model. In our test of a modified iPhone 4 with white case, the camera was indeed all but impossible to use with the built-in LED flashlight. Nevertheless – the white iPhone looks cool, its unuseability with the flash camera is really a pity.

(Bericht auf Deutsch) We had a black iPhone 4 modified by our Partner 3Gstore.de – its yet unclear if the modified-white iPhone 4 Models will be offered there. We filmed the camera-test of the white iPhone 4 in their warehouse, where the lights were dim enough to check the effects of the LED flashlight. Simply put: you cannot film or photograph with a modified, white iPhone 4 using the Flashlight/LED.

As shown in the video: the white iPhone wakes from the “dimmed” mode. From sec. 12 onwards, video recording without, from second 20 with LED flash (rendering the picture useless). At second 30, the iPhone is switched from video- to photography mode, with two shots taken with and without the LED flashlight. Both Photos are shown at the end of the video. Again, using the LED flash renders the picture taken with the white iPhone 4 unuseable.
 

 
Using the flashlight, the built-in LED also beams through the white case of the iPhone 4, causing massive overexposion.

Apples Problem: as already rumored, the white case allows light to reach the photosensitive chip of the iPhone-Camera. Using totally intransparent materials may cause the withe to appear not as bright as demanded by apple, using it only in the sensitive areas around LED flashlight and Camera would result in different tones of white on the iPhone case.

Nevertheless, it seems hard to believe that apple is not able to build a well designed, light impermeable solution. After all, the white iPhone 4 is well designed.

 
The white case components are told to be originally manufactured for Apple. Until now, the 3Gstore.de did neither deny nor approve an upcoming modification service for white iPhone 4 devices. After all, its still unclear if apple starts the sale its delayed white iPhone 4 at the beginning of 2011.

Yet, the camera of the white, modified prototype is unuseable in flashlight mode. This won’t hurt many potential white iPhone users, which were lacking a LED Flash until the release of the iPhone 4 itself. They even lacked a decent camera until the release of the iPhone 3GS.