Would a module with LED instead of the front camera be possible?

[Zebrafax]

Hi, does anyone of the more techie people here know, if it would be possible to build a module with a LED light, that could replace the front camera? I never use the selfie camera but would like a notification LED on my FP4. Do you think, a module with LED instead the module with the selfie camera could be technically possible? Anyone else who would prefer a LED and doesn’t need the front camera?

[AlphaElwedritsch]

how much would you be willing to pay for it?

[Zebrafax]

I think it should be a little less than for the front camera module, perhaps ~ 20-25€. I would probably buy it still for a few euros more, if Fairphone would sell a LED module.
But I think before discussing the price it would be interesting to know, if such a LED module is possible and if anybody else would like one.

[AlphaElwedritsch]

However, development costs are out of proportion.
I would assume that a maximum of 1-5% would do without their front camera. The few would then have to share the development costs. Thus, 20-25 euros is rather not enough.

[Paperpilot]

I can certainly imagine a notification LED fitting. Physically, just need to make a little 3d printed housing for it the same shape as the camera, and a suitable cable coming out of it. Isn’t there precedent with the bottom module for the FP2 designed by Leo?
(What’s the name of the cables used inside the FP4, anyway? I would like to know this.)

I can think of three main problems, I don’t know how hard they will be to overcome:

Software. Can you reprogram the phone to turn the LED on and off.

Power. Can you just tap into the camera plug for power?
I imagine this will be tricky without schematics.

Soldering the little cable to the LED or to the intermediary driver chip if one is needed.

[qrdnyce]

I don’t know how the Snapdragon SoC works, but if the onboard camera is using a dedicated hardware line to the CPU, I doubt the the connector is capable of carrying arbitary data to something like a LED module.

My reasoning for this is from observing similarities between the FP3 camera upgrade and the original FP3 camera. The sensors seem almost identical to me, only differences being quad bayer and 1080p 120fps capability. If the FP4 is designed similarly, this would be a problem…

You could of course design a dummy camera module with LEDs that accept special commands from the camera connector, but then I assume the drivers will need to handle that additional complexity