Which phone can take pictures without appearing "available"?

<p>I know little or nothing about phone cameras besides that I regret not having them with me sometimes. Since receiving calls can be annoying and drains battery: I wondered if there are smart phones which can act as "just cameras" i.e. take pictures but don't take calls although they are within their network. - Any Suggestions? - Or should I stick to seperate devices?</p>

<p>There isn't much point in having a camera phone if you aren't going to use it as a phone. They are fairly expensive as just a camera, especially compared to digicams. You can get inexpensive digicams with built-in wi-fi so you can upload them, if that's what you want to do.</p>

<p>If you really want a phone cam without the phone, just get a new account and don't give out the number. However, phone calls are rarely the major drain compared to GPS, wi-fi and 3G/4G data. </p>

<p>Hello Jochen<br>

If you have, or get a smart phone (or even some earlier models that aren't designated as "smart") you can switch them to "Air-plane mode". This effectively switches off all transmitters and receivers in the phone (such as phone network, WiFi, Blutooth etc) while allowing you to use the phone's other functions like camera, music player etc.<br>

Where this function is will be different in different phones unfortunately.</p>

<p>Also, if you don't want any phone functions at all I believe you can just operate the phone without a SIM card. I am not 100% sure on that and it will depend on the phone.</p>

<p>Laurie</p>

<p>Remove the SIM card or just deactivate or never active the phone service. I have an Android phone that I bought off contract and have never used it as a phone. I use it like a tablet over WiFi for various home automation stuff and as a portable video / audio player because it was a lot cheaper to add a 128GB MicroSD card to it than getting a tablet that comes with 128GB flash. I also have an old iPhone 3GS that I removed the SIM card from and use the same way. The cameras in both still work fine.</p>

<p>The iPod Touch is in effect an iPhone without the phone. I don't know how well the camera of the current (or upcoming) generation compares with those of current smartphones, however. </p>

<p>Laurie has the answer.<br /><br />I can only assume you're asking about smart phones with cameras because you might at least SOMETIMES want to use it as a phone. If you want to disable the telephone and networking features temporarily (or even most of the time), any smartphone you'd find for sale today has that ability. In the iPhone, it's a couple of gestures with your finger. Done.</p>

<p>Thanks for all the replies - Yes I can imagine emergency calls for which I l'd ike to have a phone at hand but with maybe 4 annual calls to make and without camera function and maybe even demanded to enter a PIN after power on, I can 't be bothered with recharging a simple phone. I'm way more interested into anything else besides "phone", the toys are offering and the thought of ending "usually available" scared me. No clue if I'll rush to get something, but now I know I won't regret doing so.</p>

<p>If you are only going to make four calls a year, buy a good digicam and a non-smart phone. It makes no sense to spend extra hundreds for four calls a year.</p>

<p>I wonder if there's a market for a small digi-cam with downloadable apps to give you those hipstamatic type effects without having to buy a smart phone...hmm.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>I wonder if there's a market for a small digi-cam with downloadable apps</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Samsung makes small digicams running Android so you can download apps. There may be others doing the same.</p>

<p>Besides Airplane mode, current iPhones have a "do not disturb" setting where you can shut off incoming calls altogether or choose which ones can come through. They're also pretty good cameras compared with cheap point and shoots. But for what you pay upfront and in monthly phone fees, you could buy a high end point and shoot or micro four thirds, etc., even a low-end DSLR. That probably doesn't make sense moneywise if you're not using the phone. <br /><br /></p>

<blockquote>

<p>current iPhones have a "do not disturb" setting where you can shut off incoming calls altogether</p>

</blockquote>

<p> <br>

This does not fit with his question. He doesn't want battery drain. "Do not disturb" does not help that much, it just silences the phone.</p>

If you want a non-phone smartphone, what you need is an iPod Touch. They're excellent. You could even put Google

Voice on it to make a call in a pinch (when Wi-Fi is available).