While I don't get that excited about camera phones, I have to admit that I find myself using mine more than I imagined, in places where I wouldn't think to bring a nice camera. I've even had the passing thought that it would be nice to have a built-in flash for indoor shooting. As long as I'm using my phone as a camera, I may as well try and take well-lit photos even if the camera quality itself is lousy.

I would never consider attaching a big contraption to my little cell phone, but the Phlash is just an inch wide and hardly noticeable stuck on or hanging from a phone. Made of "4 exotic light-emitting chips embedded in a specially designed lens," the Phlash is "12 times brighter than most built-in flashes," with "optimal performance at a distance of one meter, or about two arm's lengths away." It runs on lithin-coin type batteries and provides "hundreds of brief flash cycles."

Unlike other cell phone jewelry, this is an adornment that has a practical use. I imagine it could also serve, in a pinch, as an emergency flashlight. The Phlash is offered at an introductory price $19.99 on the Phlash website.