[iancw]

> I disable the flash on every piece of camera equipment I own. In my book, there is never a scenario where it is okay to use a flash, if it is too dark to take the photo, then don’t take it.

I think the fact that you (and I) don't trust current camera flashes to make photos worth keeping is actually an argument that it's a problem worth fixing. It remains to be seen how successful the 5S flash will be, but I think it's cool they're trying. I'm also glad Apple made the sensor elements larger rather than cramming in more mega pixels. Normally that's a concern of the geeky DSLR consumers, and point & shooters suffer with noisy low-light performance and more pixels than they need.

[zippergz]

I welcome improvements in the iPhone flash, because there are cases in which I'm forced to use it. But the biggest problem is also the hardest to solve: the flash is too close to the lens. A flash right next to the lens will always look bad, no matter what you do. Being able to pivot and bounce it is even better, but just moving it a few inches away makes a big difference. Unfortunately, all of those things are fairly incompatible with the need to make phones that fit easily in peoples' pockets.

[plorkyeran]

Moving it a few inches away isn't inherently impossible, since you could put the flash at the other end of the phone from the lens. At the minimum it'd be a lot more awkward to use, though.

[pcl]

The coolest use I've seen for the iPhone's flash is the Azumio heart rate app¹. It uses the flash to illuminate your finger, which you place over the lens of the camera. And then they do some fantastic image processing (presumably comparing shades of red) to detect your pulse.

¹ http://www.azumio.com/apps/heart-rate/index.html