[fidz]

Buy a pocket camera. Those are really cheap right now, with far better image quality, including taking a photo in a very low light environment. Those things are also very fast to get started. Press power button, aim, shoot. (instead of turn on the phone, tap the camera button, aim, pinch to zoom, then tap camera button)

[wmboy]

I thought the purpose of having a 'dumb' phone would be to simplify things, not carry around multiple gadgets!

Also, taking a photo with an iPhone is very quick. Press home button, swipe up and you're ready to go. Arguably faster than a lot of pocket cameras (plus, are you really going to carry a pocket camera with you everywhere you go???).

[stephengillie]

I thought the purpose of having a "smart" phone was to simplify things, not carry around multiple gadgets!

[dwild]

My first smartphone literally cost 50$. It was an LG Optimus One. No contract, no obligation. It was 200$ but it came with 100$ gift card for BestBuy and a rebate of 50$. It was first on a monthly contract but it was WAY too expensive (30$) for my use so I switched to prepaid (100$ a year).

3 MPX camera (don't need more for an emergency camera), AM/FM radio (always useful) and enough battery to last more than a week. It was really solid, only a cheap plastic on the screen, it's not flip, so you can't break that.

There was a button for the camera too, which means that you could press the power button, aim, shoot, like your pocket camera.

I fail to see why I would pay the exact same price for an old phone... it has ALL the quality of the old phone. Also most of theses old phone in Quebec doesn't have a SIM slot, which means that you CAN'T change the carrier, like I did.

[fixxer]

That would work.

I've actually been thinking of setting up some sort of ubiquitous monitoring system (like a button camera that is nearly always running). Still on the drawing board... Google Glass might fit the bill, but they're too obvious.

(this is not for pervy applications, I swear)