5 ms·

I always found it crazy that they didn't carry over the hardware "recording" LED to cellphone cameras. I'd really like to see that become a thing, and maybe ano

I always found it crazy that they didn't carry over the hardware "recording" LED to cellphone cameras. I'd really like to see that become a thing, and maybe another LED for the microphone, wired into the circuit so that the camera and/or microphone cannot be in use without the LED lighting up. I'd basically like a row of status LEDs like an old Thinkpad for monitoring all systems on my devices.

XorNot 9y ago
Conversely surreptious cellphone camera use is also a big defense against police abuse of power. Not sure I'd want to be unable to mask the camera and mic being active either.
- tmnvix 9y ago
  Discreet hardware switch?
  - bdamm 9y ago
    Yeah, this is what I want for my money if I'm expected to drop $999 on a cell phone.
- arthur_pryor 9y ago
  i assume the LEDs suggested by the parent are for the protection of the device's owner. for your use case, you might consider tape that's the same color as the material surrounding the light. though, that'd be a huge inconvenience to apply in the heat of the moment, and it'd somewhat defeat the purpose of an easy indicator if you had to peel it back every time you wanted to check the light. though... you might also worry about recording when it's in your pocket, in which case you'd still have to pull it out to look at it. i know that police will often try to interfere with recording despite the legal precedents, but it seems pretty well accepted at this point that recording police activity is completely lawful as long as you're not interfering with said activity. again, i know police have blatantly disregarded that in practice, but it's something. oh, another low tech option for surreptitious recording: finger over the light. still gotta remember to do it, but again, it's something.
- PhasmaFelis 9y ago
  Presumably the status lights would face the user, so unless you're filming the cops with the front-facing camera, they won't be able to see them.
fencepost 9y ago
I'll note that those are soft switches at least as far back as the T510, because installing Windows 10 disabled the microphone mute button.

XorNot 9y ago

Conversely surreptious cellphone camera use is also a big defense against police abuse of power. Not sure I'd want to be unable to mask the camera and mic being active either.

tmnvix 9y ago
Discreet hardware switch?
- bdamm 9y ago
  Yeah, this is what I want for my money if I'm expected to drop $999 on a cell phone.
arthur_pryor 9y ago
i assume the LEDs suggested by the parent are for the protection of the device's owner. for your use case, you might consider tape that's the same color as the material surrounding the light. though, that'd be a huge inconvenience to apply in the heat of the moment, and it'd somewhat defeat the purpose of an easy indicator if you had to peel it back every time you wanted to check the light. though... you might also worry about recording when it's in your pocket, in which case you'd still have to pull it out to look at it. i know that police will often try to interfere with recording despite the legal precedents, but it seems pretty well accepted at this point that recording police activity is completely lawful as long as you're not interfering with said activity. again, i know police have blatantly disregarded that in practice, but it's something. oh, another low tech option for surreptitious recording: finger over the light. still gotta remember to do it, but again, it's something.
PhasmaFelis 9y ago
Presumably the status lights would face the user, so unless you're filming the cops with the front-facing camera, they won't be able to see them.

fencepost 9y ago

I'll note that those are soft switches at least as far back as the T510, because installing Windows 10 disabled the microphone mute button.