Singapore to get a Camera-Less iPhone 4S

By Tech Wire Asia | 17 January, 2012

What good is an iPhone 4S without its venerable 8 megapixel camera? If you have answered that it is no good, you might be right. But there are sectors that believes a camera-less iPhone 4S is still a very good phone. Being in a similar situation myself, I can see why a camera-less iPhone 4S is needed.

Singapore‘s military will get a special iPhone 4S series, which do not have the camera features. The feature stripping will be done by the Singapore carriers to let army personnel to carry a smartphone into military facilities where cameras are not allowed. Removing the iPhone’s camera severely impedes functionality (and might break Apple’s warranty) but this seems to be a better option than limiting military personnel’s phones to really dumb (non smart) phones. Also they still have Siri to play with; it’s just that they can’t ask Siri to take a picture.

Camera less phones and the future

Last night, I went on an expedition to get myself a camera-less phone. That’s right – a camera-less phone. You might think that would be the easiest thing to find. You would think that a country like India would be eager to sell mobiles without cameras, which are now usually the most basic phones. It turns out, however, that not many options are available for camera-less phones today.

Smartphones without a camera are a rarity, and the next best thing to do is to find something that works. Of the phones I checked, Nokia offers most choices. Samsung has one current model. There are few from Karbonn, Maxx and Wyncomm. That’s about it. I finally bought myself a Wyncomm phone, but it’s no smartphone. And I almost forgot how to operate a touch-less interface. The whole experience is extremely frustrating.

Camera-less phones are a dying breed, which is nearing extinction. Just like Tigers in India, the world would soon be without camera-less phones. We don’t want a world without camera-less phones. Do we?

For facilities where photography is not permitted, like military establishments, such devices are necessary, though. Others might include commercial facilities in which portable cameras might be used for corporate espionage. This might be a niche market but it’s a market nevertheless. And, it’s a market that is being grossly neglected.

Perhaps smartphone makers should think about this market, as well, so that people working in secure establishments can enjoy a smartphone, too. But no smartphone manufacturer makes a phone without a camera, because everyone is focusing on specs.

You got a 8 MP camera? Wait till I get my 16 MP camera phone out.

That seems to be the general thinking of most smartphone manufacturers and platforms. Maybe it’s time to look for niche markets instead of subscribing to herd mentality, and targeting the general user base. Maybe that’s the edge smartphone makers are missing out on.

Can anyone strip the cameras from the iPhone 4S for me in India?

Via MacRumors