Edof cameras are not so bad (samples/workarounds)
I know it is kind of a bummer the 99xx has an edof camera now instead of auto focus. But there are some pretty impressive photos out there with similar cameras. Some of the current 99xx users have been posting photos in less than ideal settings to show its deficiencies. I'm sure a lot of people have a bad impression now.
Personally, I have been very impressed with my 9550s photos for its time. I think it always outperformed the iPhone 3GS from my experience comparing with friends. The auto focus was great and I saw great results in everything besides low light/night shots.
So I am as disappointed as many of you in the lack of auto focus now. But after doing some research and understanding how the fixed focus works, I see some nice benefits. First, it snaps shots nearly instantly. It has a fixed lense so movement is not required. As a result, it uses less space allowing for a thinner phone design, i.e. the Bold 9900s 10.5mm thin body.
Great pictures have been taken with edof cameras. For example, the Nokia E7 has an 8MP edof lense. Here are some sample photos taken from the guys at Engadget. Like auto focus cell cameras, edof needs a little effort to get shots to look good.
More can be found here Nokia E7 sample shots - Engadget Galleries
Many of them are grainy but I posted some that stood out to me. My point is there is still potential for great shots.
As for close of document shots, there is a solution. It's unfortunate that we have to do it but if you take a shot from further away, you can eventually zoom/crop the subject. 5MP is a large resolution to play with and to allow this to be done without pixelation. Here is a link to explain.
Document capture on Nokia's new EDoF camera phones (e.g. E7)
Edit:
I took a close up shot of some some text from a book I had using my PlayBook. The camera should be nearly identical since they are both 5MP edof. Obviously I'm lacking flash but wouldn't need it in this situation as it was pretty well lit. I used the method I posted above. I basically held it away while digitally zooming in to get the optimum crispness (cropping), Unfortunately this was the best I could get in the lighting condition. It's still easily legible. There is just a bit of graininess and might not be AS sharp as with autofocus.
http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/3075/closetype.jpg
Also, unlike the PlayBook, the Bold 99xx will have software aids like close-up mode. So hopefully we can get slightly better results using it. Also, we can hope for improvements in the camera with firmware updates.
http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/4895/closeupig.jpg