[MarcinM]

I was wondering what is the purpose of the IR camera that is located to the left of the top speaker alongside with the light-sensitive camera.

I was wondering who is colecting all our eye iris data and what is it being used for. I can notice when the camera is on and when it is watching my iris, for example when I am browsing google-play.

Any resonable answer would be appreciated as I have though this phone should be screaming security, and not showing up with hidden cameras
There is not a single option to control IR camera in the phone.
Is it going to be fixed in the future? Is anybody working on it?

[knottyrope]

to detect your face when on a phone call

[MarcinM]

Originally Posted by knottyrope

to detect your face when on a phone call

Not really if you can see it workign while you are using a different apps. To do what you said normal front camera can be used not IR hidden under the black glass. Also there is nothing mentioned about IR camera on the DTEK software, nor there is an option to turn it off.

[knottyrope]

how do you see IR working?

[MarcinM]

There are 2 sensors to the left of the top speaker when the phone is facing you, face forward.
When you cover one of them the screen-brightness is changing due to different light exposure detection meaning further left sensor is light sentitive. The other sensor to the right of the first one is lighting up when you're using some of your apps like google store for example, and under specific angle you can see redish light flashing under the black glass, looks like a cat eyes when they reflect the light in the darkness or like a TV pilot IR light that can be seen when recorded with camera. You can see and feel the light flashing of your iris under the right angle.

[MarcinM]

Here I have found picture with the camera spots on the front phone cover, picture was taken when replacing the screen of BlackBerry PRIV imgur link /Y9WymNe

Not really PRIV isn't it? Ironic if you ask me.

[tsac]

The issue is your being secretly watched all the time and the sensor is following you to see where your at and what your doing then taking photos to send to the spies. If you look into the camera and take a photo you will see the person.

OR you could read the specks on cell phones and realize the IR thing is a proximity sensor to detect when your face is near the phone and shut down the screen brightness.. Most cell phones have them.
Using another phone camera pointed to the sensor you will see the IR light in the viewer.

link to details. this is for older cells but the new ones have the same feature.

BlackBerry® smartphone touchscreen goes dark during a call due to the proximity sensor

[MarcinM]

Wasn't it be smarter to keep devices like proximity sensor off, for the battery sake? I can see it being on for the most of the time, and there is no option to turn it off. It is annoying.
I have never found specs for this phone, and I have been working with IR before so I had easily notice it. Just reported what I saw and what it looked like.

Wouldn't you think that proximity sensor could be implemented in normal camera instead of the sensor that is hidden under the black glass? It would extend battery life and drop the phone price.
Also there should be software update to let users switch it off. I don't like to see IR flashing on my eyes and I feel as this "proximity" feature is pretty useless.

I know that there are similar sensors in iphones and other smartphones, but others are stating openly that IR is being used for diagnostic data. The proximity idea is pretty daft in my opinion.
Also thanks for the replay tsac.

[tsac]

Cell manufactures use the various sensors to do different things on their phones including proximity.

If you can see IR light your one of very few who can. Maybe try covering it with a sticker or tape.

[nobody7290]

I checked the sensor out on the Passport and the Classic.
The Classic sensor is able to detect 5cm and less, the Passport sensor can measure 25cm and less.
If you go into a dark environment, the light of the sensor is visible in the dark red.
To see the sensor in action, there are several android apks availible, i used one called "sensor box for android" - nice toy.

[tsac]

More info on the sensors

Mobile phones use IR-based proximity sensors to detect the presence of a human ear. This sensing is done for two purposes: Reduce display power consumption by turning off the LCD backlight and to disable the touch screen to avoid inadvertent touches by the cheek. IR sensors have a number of disadvantages, including high power consumption, high cost, blind zones, and accumulation of dirt, as well as unreliable performance over temperature, hair, and skin color variations. Recent advances in capacitive proximity sensing technology address these designs disadvantages and could potentially replace every IR sensor in the mobile phone market.

[MarcinM]

It has been established (RT news for example) that you need to keep your phone at least 15mm away from your body or it is getting cancerogenic, and harmfull to users health.
youtube.com/watch?v=jBp25dG3toE

Neuroscientists says it basically is frying your brain with frequencies, therefore headsets were invented to preserve that important body part.

Those IR sensors are useless, and I wish Blackberry release an update for users to gain control over them eg. turn them off.

Also ear-tunnel is being used as biometric today. Each ear-tunel is like users fingerprint, unique. How do you get ear-tunel picture? By using IR sensors.

It feels like there is much more going on behind the scenes within the smartphone market. Ekhm..Snowden revelations.

[knottyrope]

so how do they get around ear wax build up?

[tsac]

Originally Posted by mantapjaya

The advantages of this phone is the first time there is a BBM button on the BlackBerry device is on the left, and aims to facilitate users

what?????