I have Front Camera app as well, but it captures a pic for me anyway. Is it possible to make it capture pics from front AND back camera as well? Maybe the phone can be lost up-side down too. You never know.

You said Prey periodically checks the control panel for status change. How often is "periodically"? I've kept my device laying around while it was not connected to GPRS or WiFi, but it didn't try to connect, even for an hour. Maybe because WLAN scanning is switched off? It only seems to work if it's already connected.

Is it possible to force a connection through Prey? It would impact battery life, but maybe a condition can be given that if a device isn't moved from standby state for 3-4 hours or more, then force connection and check control panel to see if it's missing. If no, disconnect connection. If yes, do whatever actions it is supposed to do.

Maybe impossible, but worth a try?