That's one thing I also thought of, when considering buying the PMP
equivalent (smartphone without the "phone" part) of this model - covering the
cameras with dark and thick stickers, or with something I could easily
remove, when I wanted to.
I've even considered opening the phone and removing the cameras completely.
(And you can find, on the web, disassembly instructions for this specific
model...)
But, to spend that much money, to then remove components... I didn't think it
was worth it. (So, I've decided to keep my old PMP device instead...)
(Who cares what other - ignorant and alienated - people think?) ;)
If your future problem is the phone's battery, and it's a recent enough
model, you may still find compatible batteries...