"Boater" wrote in message
...


My carrier has a special "hardened" cell phone now that is supposedly
perfect for klutzes like me. No camera, but...water resistant, droppable,
et cetera. Might look into it.


My cell phone account is really a secondary user on Mrs.E's. account and
originally had "the works" for services, but I never used them. When the
original phone died I bought a simple one (still has more features than I
use) and canceled stuff like Internet access and things I just didn't ever
use.

It does have a camera though, which I find handy once in a while. Some of
the phones actually take halfway decent snapshots and mini-movies, although
obviously the image quality doesn't compare to a real camera with decent
lenses.

I have a little bit of personal interest in the camera feature. We
(meaning my company) designed and built several Optical Coating Systems
(vacuum deposition systems) and the tooling required, for a small company
originally located in Rochester, NY. (This company was eventually acquired
by JDS Uniphase or JDSU.)

The systems applied a multi-layer, anti-reflective coating onto the small
plastic lenses used in cell phone cameras. At the time, we were contracted
for the systems, we were also subject to a severe non-disclosure clause as
to the purpose of the systems and the end product. Obviously this was about
a year before the built-in cameras in cell phones became available.

Eisboch