Many flip phones had cameras by then. For instance, the Razr V3 was the best selling phone of 2005, and had a 640×480px camera.
Not saying that cheating was impossible but uneasy unlike to now where there's a library for everything.
Cameras just weren't as ubiquitous as today. Unironically arguing that point is silly. They just weren't (I know you didn't, but we're in a comment chain that made that argument).
Yes, in most groups of people, there were a few of them that had cameras readily available, but it wasn't the norm for everyone.
What was available (not just cameras, but ocr etc pp) was a lot less accessable then it is today - where you just point your phone at it and it transparently extracts you the full text of whatever is on screen/lens, consequently the issue got a lot more problematic and widespread, which was the only thing what was put forward here.