Is the camera lens glass and multi-coated on the inside?

Bump... does anyone know the answer to this question? I'm trying to figure out how much protection is needed for the camera lens to ensure that photos look good. With the original iPhone, my camera lens got very smudged and scratched and photos started suffering.

i saw your post and wanted to chime in because i had to return my iphone 4 because the camera was taking pictures of very dark images. i called applecare and they had me go the local applestore for a genius appointment and eventually returned my iphone 4 for a new one.

getting to the point... when i was waiting for the sales rep to come back with my iphone i was closely examining the camera on the back. i noticed good amount of scratches on the lens, mind you the phone i returned was 4 days old. so i looked closely at the back of the iphone with the "engineered glass" and no scratches there.

so i asked the sales representative and a genius, is the outside of the camera lens glass the same hardened glass that the back and front of the phone are made of. they said they did not know and was under the impression it was. so i showed them the lens with all the scratches and they were surprised it was scratched as much as it was.

Not satisfied with the i do not know answer... i called applecare to ask them, the first person did not know, i was elevated to another representative and they said that they did not have access to know that information, only general specs on the phone. I asked if they could elevate me to someone else and they said that they would have the same info i have access to. I asked if there was any way i could get the question answered and the answer was i will take your info and if we find out we can try to reach out to you.. i am not holding my breath.

So the question is... is the glass that protects the camera on the outside back of the iphone made of the same engineered glass that is on the front and back of the phone?

I would say no.

I would like to know because it is one of the main reasons i upgraded to the new phone. it is like the camera has an lots of mini eyelashes in its eye after a few days, what are the pictures & video going to look like after weeks, months, years of use?

i have owned a 2G & 3GS and do not see the same level of potential scratches because the 2G camera was slightly recessed by the aluminum back and the 3GS had a curved back that kept the lens off the surface that it was placed on.

Looks like it's covered with a separate piece of circular glass that is flush with the back, and therefore much better than the 3G which is recessed and collects muck.

On the i4 you can just wipe right across it and it's clean. Great piece of design.

Anyone who's done photography will tell you yes.

If you look at it at an angle you will see that it has a blueish tint to it.

The rest is just too much talk.

thanks Zebra1 for posting helpful info...

i do see that the tint of the glass is different than the back and is kind of bluish when held on an angle. I guess that is necessary?... because the clarity of the lens needs to be better than the front which is of lower resolution.

Asking you to speculate here, but do you think that the need for a better "clarity glass" over the back camera is why Apple put the "engineered glass" over the front facing camera, and left the back with the "camera manufacturers" glass? Or it has nothing to do with that at all?

All in all i like the iphone 4, but want to know its weaker spots so i can compensate for it as to keep it in best working condition for some time.

As for gunk in 3GS lens, i would presume it would be easier to clean out gunk than figure out how to get scratches out of a lens over time...

Just noticed my camera lens glass cover is scratched with no scratches around that area at all. I only check it after seeing my camera pictures were coming out one fuzzy corner. I'm very disappointed since I don't think Apple is going to acknowledge this problem and replace just the camera lens or give me a replacement. I'm going to give it a shot anyway and wo't be happy until they replace my phone.

I also have a lot of scratches and my pictures coming out hazy. Were you successful in having your phone replaced? What was your experience with the "genius's" like?