Hi Gvc -
I think it may end up depending on what type of shops you are going to take.
The great thing about the camera phone is that I can be very discreet. If I am in a Mall - and you will find quite a few shops in Malls - I can't very well carry around my camera. However, I can pull out my cell phone and play around with it like I'm texting or checking mail and then lift it up, snap a pic, and keep playing to throw off "suspicion". With a camera you carry around - I just think it is much too obvious.
I also use my phone to text myself - or rather, I text stuff to my husband and he does back to me. Things like description of employees, time in, time out, location cleanliness, etc. Funny thing is, I've had a smart phone for about a year now, and since I've been mystery shopping in October 2011, I've used my smart phone features for shopping more in the past 3-4 months than the first 8-9 months!
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Proud To Be A Soldier's Mom