Looking for Smartphone w/out Camera

Arch Guru XX

So I've hit the point in my career where the utility of a smartphone that can sync with my office email outweighs the associated cost. I had planned on picking up one of the new iPhones, but today I found out that my current office is going to be moved to a secure location where camera phones are not allowed (it also triples my commute, d'oh).

Is there an easy way to identify smartphones that don't have cameras, and if not do people here have any suggestions? I know there are a couple of blackberry models but I'll admit I'm not totally enamored of blackberries, and from what I've read it seems like phones running Windows Mobile have a more robust suite of available applications (correct me if I'm wrong).

Here's the requirements I've compiled at this point:

I need the phone to:
Be a fully functional phone, including earpiece support (bluetooth or wired is fine)
Be able to receive and correctly display email from a corporate Exchange server
Not have a camera
Use SIM cards
Function on the ATT Wireless network (I'm well locked-in at this point and there's lots of time left on our contract, so being on another network is a deal-breaker, although if there's a good phone that fits my requirements feel free to point it out)

I want the phone to:
Be able to open and correctly display MS Office documents, particularly Word, Powerpoint, and Excel
Be able to easily surf the web and render pages correctly
Have a decent battery life
Fit easily in a jeans pocket (not super tight jeans, but not ridiculously loose either)
Be capable of real-time GPS navigation

I don't care if the phone can:
Play music
Download ringtones
Assign my mp3s to be ringtones

Any thoughts, fellow H/Aers? Thanks for the help.

Organichu

Would it be possible to go for a cheap phone and then a very nice PDA?

illig

Good God, Man! Go for the blackberry!

Seriously, they're designed as email devices and phones 1st and foremost... all the other crap is secondary... Email just works, the keyboards are spectacular, you don't have sudden unexplained moments where the device 'thinks' for a while before letting you pick up that important phone call, etc. etc.

The interface is so simple that you can do anything, including typing, with a single hand while hanging on for dear life with the other on a bus or train, etc.

Applications are few and far between, and most of the good ones are pay (i.e. the best AIM client isn't free,etc.) but they all WORK. It's difficult to find an app that will do something bad to you phone.

Windows mobile, Symbian, or Palm devices tend to be PDAs 1st... they give you the flexibility of working as portable media centers, remote PC terminals, super nintendo emulators, etc. etc. Everyone and their mom has written an application for it, so there's lots of free apps out there... Unfortunately many suck, cause crashes, eat memory, etc.

Windows mobile as a phone platform sucks even more... many of the devices have underpowered radios, so you'll have fewer bars than anyone else.... and the phone software is often an afterthought...

For reference, I went from Palm->Windows->BB... and for work needs, I'm not using anything other than BB ever again.

MayGodHaveMercy

I dropped my Blackberry Curve in a drink, and it was the saddest thing that's ever happened to me. Of course, I don't think it's possible to get a smartphone without a camera, these days. You might be better off just picking up a PDA of some sort.

Elin

Blackbery 8820

review for said blackberry

MayGodHaveMercy

You win this time, Elin.

vonPoonBurGer

illig wrote: »

For reference, I went from Palm->Windows->BB... and for work needs, I'm not using anything other than BB ever again.

I haven't used a Blackberry personally, I'm sure they're wonderful to use, but the lack of VPN clients really kills any interest for me. I have a Windows Mobile 6 based smartphone through work, and I can VPN into the office network in the event of hair-on-fire type emergency system issues and connect to servers with PuTTY or RDP. That's only really necessary if you're on the support/IT side of things (like I am), so I don't know if it's a consideration for the OP, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

RUNN1NGMAN

You can buy Treos w/o a camera.

MongoBigHead

Palm Treo, HTC Tilt, and Samsung Q are all available without cameras. I work for a DoD contractor and we can't have cameras either. These are the 3 models IT can order for the employees.

Edit: We use AT&T. I don't know if other carriers have more options.

Usagi

Alternately, leave your phone in your car. This is what I end up doing before going into the shipyard or into a building on base.

Also, if you can remove your Sim card you can transfer it to a dumb phone, which is something a lot of shipyard workers I know do.

corcorigan

Nokia E51? No GPS though.