How to use camera flash/led as torch on a Samsung Galaxy Tab?

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You aren’t doing anything wrong. In fact, you are doing everything correct. You are encountering a Device-Specific issue that is very prevalent in the Android world. I have found the following behavioral patterns for FLASH_MODE_TORCH:

  • Works fine in all cases
  • Works fine, but not with autofocus on
  • Doesn’t work at all

Frustratingly, getSupportedFlashModes() will return FLASH_MODE_TORCH on nearly every device when only a handful actually support it.

Also, some device implementations swizzle the supported flash modes. If you go through Camera.Parameters you can try setting the flash mode to FLASH_MODE_ON, FLASH_MODE_AUTO or FLASH_MODE_RED_EYE and see whether any of them work. Note – this is a device-specific hack.

I have filed these types of bugs with Google regarding the DroidX and Nexus S. They closed it as a device-specific issue. I would say to report this to Samsung in hopes for a driver or firmware fix, but their Android support channels do not exist.

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