The iPad 2's Rear Camera Mostly Going Unused: Report

For a time, there were rumors that the iPad 2 would have a front-facing camera, but no rear-facing camera. After all, the thought was, who'd really want to lift up a tablet to take an image? That thought appears to have been correct.

We can extrapolate that fact by using Flickr's stats on the average number of daily users uploading images to the online image site. Among the iDevices, here are the averages for daily users:

• iPhone 4 - 4402
• iPhone 3G - 3314
• iPhone 3GS - 1948
• iPod touch - 446
• iPad 2 - 23

Of course, there are many more iPhones than iPad 2s, right? There is also another possible reason: the iPad 2s rear-facing camera is only 0.7 megapixel, ridiculous when compared with the cameras on the Motorola Xoom or even a smartphone like the Droid X or Apple's own iPhone 4.

In addition, it's a lot easier to whip out your smartphone for an impromptu picture.

Additionally, it would seem that the most compelling use for the rear-facing camera is probably not imagery but FaceTime, as in "Hey, look what's going on around me." How about it readers? Do you use your iPad 2's (or any other tablet's) rear-facing camera for still images?