What are the two "dots" next to the front speaker?

[mattdreed]

One of them a camera, maybe?

I was using my Focus in the bright sunlight the other day and happened to notice that you could make out two "dots" that at least one looked awfully like a camera.
I'm sure that one is a light sensor for auto-adjusting the backlight, but I doubt a phone would need two for accurate adjustments.

Could enabling a front-facing camera be in the works for the rumored major update next year? One article I saw made reference to WP7 doing in three months what xpple did in three years. The front facing camera and facetime would certainly fit that description.

Thoughts? anyone want to crush my dreams?

--MATT

 

[grandebob#WP]

One is probably a light sensor, the other is probably a proximity sensor. The light sensor like you said controls the back light brightness and the proximity sensor turns the screen off when the phone is near your head.

They aren't going to leave a front facing camera in a device without shouting it from the rooftops.

 

[seaniccus]

I swear I remember reading in early hardware stat sheets that this thing had a front facing camera, but i can't find any verification on this after it's release.

I've heard speculation that one of the dots is a "face sensor" that determined if you have the phone up to your ear or not.

 

[spitothec]

Haha The "face sensor" is the proximity sensor. The other, as stated, is an ambient light sensor. There is no front facing camera.

Edit: and for clarification, yes, the purpose of a proximity sensor on touch screen phones is specifically to tell the phone if it's against yer head, therefore disabling all capacitive touch controls.

 

[grandebob#WP]

Just feel the need to add...

"In yo face!"

 

[mattdreed]

I figured as much, although I still hold out hope that one of the sensors could actually be a camera that's just software disabled (that could work, right? Right?)
I'm sure if the platform continues to grow, we'll eventually see the front facing cameras in other devices, but that's another day and another thread.

 

[Hombaca05]

You will definitely see frontfacing cameras on WP7 devices, but the big question is wether it will actually catch on. To me, it's more of a novelty feature......nice to have, but how often are you really going to use it.