Ask Engadget: best smartphone without a camera?
By Darren Murph 
posted May 20th 2010 10:39PM
posted May 20th 2010 10:39PM
This is a fairly common question, actually, and despite the fact that few phones are made any more sans a camera, many organizations refuse to allow them. We'd hate for your friend be stuck with a dumbphone, so here's hoping our readers can drop some knowledge below. Otherwise, we suggest he / she just mail in a two-week notice -- Sent from their iPhone, of course."I have a friend who's taken a job in a security field and the employer doesn't allow cameras on cellphones. He's currently happy with an iPhone 3GS and would definitely consider an Android device but is having trouble finding a decent phone with no camera. The only caveat is that for whatever reason he doesn't want a BlackBerry. Does anyone else make a decent smartphone sans camera? Thanks!"
Do they make these?
@tyjb9x
They certainly do. The question was "which one" not "do they make".
@tyjb9x
Motorola Startac!!
@tyjb9x
Keep the iPhone 3GS, buy a broken iPod touch off of eBay, and find a way to fit that back cover on it in place of the 3GS's back cover.
DIY FTW.
@Luxury Guy
The two backs are not even close to being the same. Won't work.
@BryCivicSi
how about buy those stick on protectors for the back? (those ones that only protect against scratching) im sure you can get one for the ipod touch
@BryCivicSi
In that case, buy a broken iPhone, remove the back plate and fill, sand, and paint that badboy. Fit the filled and painted backplate onto the working iPhone and presto!
Best part is, you can just change back to the original backplate if you ever want to restore camera function.
Couldn't you just scratch the camera lens up (sandpaper, pointy object) until it's rendered unusable? Seems a quick and easy solution.
@Luxury Guy Won't work. If a company, say as an example Lockheed Martin, finds out, your ass is grass. Even damaging the camera is not enough in many cases. I'm a contractor that needs to go into secure locations and I know for a fact that in many cases NO phone with a camera is allowed, period. Functional or not. If it has a sensor, its not allowed. Now for places like Honeywell its the opposite. Allowed, but if you use it you are in trouble (Pretty much the honor system on their part.)
Dont think there is such a thing. Even dumbphones have cameras, trying to find a smartphone without one would be close to impossible.
Try buying any smartphone, and removing the actual camera [=
@John Doe
Well I guess you could remove the actual camera and them fill, sand, and paint the back housing.
@TonyMontana2367 Honestly, this is the best choice. Nothing else even comes close.
Well there are Nokia E61 and E51 with camera-free edition.
Sprint Blackberry Tout without Camera
http://shop.sprint.com/NASApp/onlinestore/en/Action/DisplayPhones?phoneSKU=SP9630RIMN
@TonyMontana2367
OMG I HAD ONE OF THOSE. Sad days indeed.
@TonyMontana2367 DUDE!! I had to google it and when I did, I tipped over my pc table I was laughing so hard!! Those were good times though. Gotta love the 90's!!! XD
ATT sells many of their phones without cameras in their premeir store for buisness customers.
most are BB, but they have a Tilt 2 Sans camera.
I think a quick call to customer service would help
@Moeferd
"I think a quick call to customer service would help"
That may very well be the first time in history those words have been strung together.
@lowtolerance Which is more silly, the 'Quick+CS' or the 'Helpful+CS'? There's the real 'Ask Engadget' for ya.
@lowtolerance Touchè lol
@lowtolerance
"Quick"? You must be in la la land.
@SuperModified it's touché :/
@SoulinEther
You spelled "douche" wrong
@Moeferd Actually guys, AT&T Business Premier customer service is quite nice. My calls are always answered very quickly and they actually do help. Gotta love business accounts.
@lowtolerance
You think AT&T is slow? VZW has kept me waiting for NO LESS than half an hour, from what I remember.
One would think that walking to their local retailer would be a faster solution...
@Moeferd
AT&T's Premier store:
http://www.wireless.att.com/businesscenter/phones-devices/all-phones/index.jsp?wtLinkName=ViewAllPhones
There's an option to select phones without cameras in the bar on the left side. HOWEVER, if he doesn't want a Blackberry, the only other option is the Tilt 2. Which is a good phone IMO. Just make sure the first thing you do is hit up XDA and flash that sucka with a few ROMS and find out which one you like best.
Also, he may want to reconsider Blackberries. They may not be the trendiest phone, but they are solid devices in both build quality and features.
@BigJayDogg3 Lol
"Also, he may want to reconsider Blackberries. They may not be the trendiest phone, but they are solid devices in both build quality and features."
Could you believe that those horrible/crappy phones are still being marketed here in my country as bleeding-edge tech (and people bite that sh*t here)
Wow. This is a tough one.
@kpenning That's what she said. LOL.
In reply to actuality, take your iPhone apart and remove the camera. If needed, go enroll in a machinery class at a local college and make your own case. Would be badass!
Why not just buy the phone you like and remove the camera, and fill the hole with some black silicon? Or just cover the camera lens with something...
@asvrootdriod5
Covering the lens would never fly with security, but physically removing the camera would probably require a hacked ROM or something to keep the phone from flipping out if any apps ever tried to access the non-existent camera.
@lowtolerance Why would it require a hacked ROM? Just delete the camera shortcut... or don't hit the camera button. Simple as that.
@Luxury Guy Apple doesn't allow native app deletion
@shadowj0
You're the idiot. Removing the camera would more than likely not cause hardware issues. Have you ever taken apart a phone? You can remove a good deal of components before the phone decides it won't start up anymore.
@Luxury Guy
So the definition of an idiot is someone who hasn't taken apart a phone before?
@teehoo
No, its someone who calls someone else an idiot when they are obviously talking out of their ass.
And it would seem to me that having a nonexistant camera wouldn't change anything. It isn't like the phone is missing a processor or something. I know when you port Android the reason the camera doesn't work often times is because the OS is making a call in the wrong place. It would seem to me that these are comparable situations.
@BigJayDogg3
Children! That's enough! Now go sit in the corner until you can learn how to communicate without acting like a huge bag of dicks.
This guy will do camera removal on a 3GS
http://www.ithinkitsbroken.com/services.php
@10nisman94
Wow, I think this is the winner.
@10nisman94
And only $30 too! Why aren't you upranked yet?
@Spaceshipped
The majority of those places don't replace the back housing. Without a custom solution for the back housing (i.e. DIY fill and paint), the phone still won't pass a casual inspection, as it still looks like it has a camera due to the camera hole.
@10nisman94
Or do it yourself for nothing:
http://www.ehow.com/how_4836549_disassemble-iphone-g.html
i honestly cant think of a smartphone wihtout cameras these days. heck its hard to think of a dumbphone without a camera. but im from hong kong so perhaps my lineup -although larger- is different from what people can get in the US
perhaps some way of software disabling the camera or smashing the lens in?
@joshky Smash the lense in. Bite your fingers man we're talking about this guys iPhone not some guy tied up in a bag room for loosing a prototype.
How about an EVO with a piece of tape over the back.
@Eggie197 You can remove the tape. Security would never go for that. Finding out what wires to connect together after prying the camera out would probably be the wiser venture.
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF06a/215348-215348-64929-314903-3352590-3551665.html
Most of the iPAQs don't seem to have cameras, but they all come with Windows Mobile. I have yet to see an Android handset that doesn't come with camera, so your best bet is a business WinMo device, those are usually pretty no frills.
@superstar
That iPaq one does have a camera, but as mentioned higher up, AT&T does sell a business TP2 w/o a camera.
Dumbphone+iPod Touch
@Giovanni6 but soon iPod touch will not be allowed anymore too.