Hi All,

It looks like I have to downgrade to a phone that does not appear to have a camera for work *cough* Of course, all of the cameraless phones are totally helpless. No solid operating system; no way to install software. Of course I'm a total linux fan.

The only thing I can think of that would allow me to keep most of the functionality I want is to dust off my old N800 (who knew the retractable camera would be good for something?) and get a cameraless phone with bluetooth tethering (if it's possible), so I can still do all my computery stuff from a solid PDA.

So, my questions:
a) Does anyone know of a good unlocked quadband cell phone with no camera that I can still connect to the N800 via bluetooth to browse the web? (Absolute minimum requirements. Everything else is icing. And yes, I travel internationally: quadband is not negotiable). As much as I like Nokia, I'll take any phone that is highly recommended, regardless of brand.

b) What would be the best software to install on the device? I'm playing with a full debian distro on my N810, but am not quite sure how many bells and whistles are too many... it's all so goshdarn pretty!

Thanks!

So you do work at a power plant or a strip club? Only two places I know that ban Camera Phones. : )

N800 has a camera

Add childrens schools and mental health hospitals.........

I know it's hardly an ideal solution and possibly not in line with your work policy, but if you look around there are dodgy back case covers for various phones without the relevant holes for the camera. I saw one for the N900 in a delightful shade of vomit green (why!?!?!) but it had no camera slider... just solid plastic. Perhaps you could get away with something like this?

thats quite a good idea - front camera issue? - sticky tape or another crappy front case and you are sorted hehe

They must ban camera phones at LOTS of government institutions. I edited secret documents for a few years, and restrictions are taken very seriously.

Well, in the case (if you'll pardon the expression) of the N900... the front camera is completely hidden beneath the glossy touch-screen cover that goes over the entire face of the phone. It wouldn't be hard to get away with it - I'm looking at mine now and it's hard to see when you know it's there actually.

Errr.. we have a ban on the use of cameras, but almost all the patients carry camera phones. In practice, I'm usually called on for anything that need photographing as my camera-phone is generally the best in the building. Of course, there's a trust issue that I won't go taking pics of the patients. But frankly, with a pass key to the whole building I could do so much worse than take a few pics.

I believe kindergartens are now making the use of camera phones illegal - but keeping it in your bag is still ok.
The only case I can think of is the military. I believe there are people out there who will disable a camera by software means and supply a certificate to that effect if you need them to. Try asking around military friends.

There are lots, including Nokia factories. Nokia even introduced E51 without camera few years ago.