The Sony Ericsson C905 is a very good phone with a decent camera, but don't expect this to be the model that has you selling your stand-alone camera on eBay.

Design
When we saw this phone at Communicasia earlier in the year, our first impression of the C905 was that it seemed like a cheaper model in the growing Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot range. Examining the handset again our first impressions were a little off the mark. The body of the C905 may be thicker and without the glossy sheen of the sexy C902 but its rubberised body looks quite attractive and sturdy enough to protect the high-resolution camera inside — and the 2.4-inch QVGA TFT display is fantastic.

The keypad on the C905 isn't our favourite, despite fitting stylistically with the handset's design. The keypad is flat and lacks the definition of previous Sony Ericsson models, and the navigation controls on the top of the slider feel stiff and cramped together. When correcting mistakes in text messages using the Clear key, we found that we had to be extra careful not to press the 'end call' key and cancel our work mid-message.

While we may not love the keypad design we do love that Sony Ericsson have given dual purposes to a number of the keys when the phone is in camera mode. Each of the four directions of the central navigation button have photographic functions assigned and two keys above the screen, on either side of the earpiece, have dedicated camera controls. On the left hand side we find the main buttons; zoom, capture, and a selector switch between camera and video modes.

The C905's camera lens is hidden behind a stainless steel panel on the back of the phone. Sliding the panel open not only exposes the lens, but unlocks the phone and activates the camera, ready for taking a quick pic. We had been concerned that this would unlock the phone too easily in our pockets, but during our test period this hasn't been an issue.

As with all Sony Ericsson handsets, the bundled headphones don't come with a 3.5mm connection but instead connect to the combination charging and USB port. The C905 takes M2 memory sticks, and Sony Ericsson have bundled an M2 USB adaptor in the box for easy transfers of files and photos to your PC.

Features
For those of you who've been living under rocks, or following presidential elections too closely to keep up, the C905 is Sony Ericsson's first 8-megapixel camera phone — 8.1-megapixels to be exact. The camera features a range of focus modes including auto, macro, face-detection and sports a Xenon flash. Delving deeper into the camera settings we find Smart Contrast and BestPic shooting modes, an extensive list of pre-configured scene modes, a digital image stabiliser and geo-tagging.

To geo-tag your photos the C905 uses a built-in GPS receiver, and the phone can also transfer data over HSDPA and Wi-Fi networks. The C905 also features DLNA network support for media sharing with a compatible networked device, like a Sony PlayStation 3. Once connected the C905 is cable of pushing media (audio, photos and video) to the PS3 and having it displayed on the connected TV.

The C905 runs on Sony Ericsson's proprietary operating system and includes all the software we expect to see on its handsets. These applications include its excellent media interface and support with MP3, AAC and MP4 media files. The C905 can also sync with MS Outlook to transfer contacts, calendar entries and upcoming tasks.

Performance
Before we go into detail about the performance of the camera we would like to say that the C905 is an excellent mobile phone. Call quality is superb and messaging is great, as per usual, and is fantastically easy to use with zippy menu navigation. Multitasking is possible with the C905, however, most applications close when you exit back to the menu and this helps the phone to run at top speed.

Also impressive is the C905's above-average battery life: during our testing we found ourselves charging this phone after at least two full days. When you consider the bright display and full range of connectivity in this Cyber-shot, two or three days of battery life is excellent.

The sign is in focus but the background lacks detail
Click for full-size image
(Credit: CNET Australia)

The camera, for the most part, is usable, but our test images suffer from the same issues we've seen in the last generation of Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot camera phones. The most notable of these problems were over-saturated colours and high levels of digital image sharpening resulting in very noisy photos. The camera seems to represent the subject in focus quite well but the backgrounds of these images are messy mixtures of pixels with little detail.

It is important to put these criticisms into perspective. Being an 8-megapixel camera phone we have brought a stricter approach to our testing than we usually would for a camera phone, and the results certainly don't hold the C905 up well against standard 8-megapixel cameras. That said, the C905 is more than capable of taking the kind of snapshots people tend to capture with camera phones, and issues like over-saturisation may actually be seen as a bonus for some, as a way of giving their photos a larger-than-life colouring.

Overall
Despite its 8-megapixel camera sensor, the C905 is not the camera phone to replace all cameras. It is, however, a very good mobile phone with a camera capable of capturing those impromptu moments of frivolity with friends. However, for a device that isn't a smartphone the AU$1,149 ticket price for the C905 is outrageous. If you find yourself drawn to this handset we suggest you wait six months for the C905 to end up on a low-to-mid range mobile plan.