You know how not having a feature is a feature in itself? No, we are not griping about how Apple doesn't want to give users a right mouse button. In this case, we're talking about the camera-free handset. This has become a necessity for a small group of users who work with sensitive data in places like military camps, research laboratories and factories.

The E-Ten glofiish X500+ is one such device which has a lens-free version. This variant is actually not an official product from E-Ten, but provided as a modification service from the reseller.

Starting with a regular X500+, the modification first involves opening up the device. The lens of the camera module is then removed, and then replaced with a custom opaque plastic piece. This effectively renders the camera module useless because light will not be able to reach the sensor for image capture.

After that is done, the ROM of the X500+ is flashed with a version that does not contain the camera application. So, even if a user hard-resets his device, the camera program will not come back.

While nothing else changes from the standard version, users will lose some features. Obviously, you can't take photos. A natural consequence is that the namecard manager application will cease to work as well. This program uses the camera to capture an image of a namecard and then use text recognition to save it into the contact list.

Trends Mobile, a distributor of E-Ten's products in Singapore, sells the modified version at the same price as the standard of S$1,088. It provides the standard one-year warranty for the X500+ without camera, and is also able to reverse the procedure for the user.

To learn more about the X500+, read our full review of the standard version. Refer also to this feature to find out more about other handhelds without cameras.