After about two weeks with the Sony Ericsson Cybershot c905, I have had a fair appreciation of the camera phone. Check out my full review below and the previous unboxing photos I took.
More of a Camera, Less of a Phone.
The construction of the phone itself gives you an impression that the device was built as a camera rather than a phone. That’s not saying that this phone is not well-equipped — WiFi, GPS, and 3G/HSDPA are all present so I give it high ranks on connectivity. There’s Bluetooth, FM tuner and DLNA support so you can send your photos wirelessly from your phone to the TV via Wi-Fi.
This is the first time I ever used a Sony-Ericsson phone but I’m impressed with the UI and the very responsive menu. There’s much eye candy actually but I’m surprised that didn’t slowed down the phone a bit.
Pushing the Megapixel Limit.
If my memory serves me right, it was Sony Ericsson that first announced a camera phone in the 8.1 megapixel range.
You can set the resolution between VGA, 3MP, 5MP and 8MP but at full picture size, a single photo can reach over 2MB (3264x2448pixels). The lens module size is 5.91mm and has a large fixed aperture of f/2.8. The ISO is rated between 80-320 but my Adobe Lightroom reads an ISO 64 on some of the pictures.
Dedicated Camera Functions.
A lot of the external buttons of the phone are dedicated to the camera function. On the right side of the device, you will find the zoom function, switch between video and photo, a dedicated play button and a large circular shoot button.
The buttons at the front side of the phone also doubles for camera function shortcuts — exposure, focus, timing and flash as well as the center shoot button. On the top corner, just beside the earpiece, two more buttons control the preset scenes and shoot modes.
Most of these buttons are back lit so you can easily find them even on low light or shooting at night.
Powerful Flash.
Haven’t seen any phone with as much flash output as the SE c905. The camera lens is encased in an aluminum housing along with two flash sources – a small circular one with 4 LED lights for taking videos and a bigger Xenon flash for taking photos.
I took several shots at daylight, at night as well a controlled environment using my DIY lightbox (more sample shots to follow).
No alterations were made on the pictures except for a resize and high JPEG compression. Without the flash, the picture quality becomes a little grainy on low light. You can zoom in up to 16x but resolution on that end isn’t pretty — that’s just cropping out the image but the 8.1MP helps even out the quality. There are many other bells and whistles that came with the camera functions but I might ran out of space if I list them all down.
The phone comes with a 2GB Memory Stick Micro (M2) and an external USB adapter so you can just plug it in and hook up to your PC for easy file and photo transfers.
All-in-all, I’d call this a solid camera phone and I’m sure Sony-Ericsson fans will love this model. I’m not sure though if the price tag of Php28,000 when it comes out later this month will appeal to many.
I would so buy this, but it looks a little thick. And im not a fan of thickish kinds of cell phones.
I’m having problems with my C905. It was the fourth time I’ve returned my unit at Memo Xpress because of the faulty keypad. Keypad Number 1 and the Dpad malfunctions. I just bought my unit last December 2008 pero parang gusto ko nang pagsisihan kung bakit ko binili.
Ok naman sya, this phone serves me well just like any digicams (except for the zoom, wala syang optical zoom eh, sayang..) at magaganda rin ang features nya. My k800i busted on me after 2years.
Naiinis lang talaga ako sa faulty keypad. Yun lang…
I just bought a C905 a couple of weeks ago. I recently lost my n82. I wasn’t very sure that switching to a C905 is a good idea until I’ve tried it.
Being a nokia-loyalist, this will be hard to admit but… c905 is a very good camera-phone. It can replace some stand-alone digicams available on the market (yes, you can throw away your digicams that is less than 5mp). That being said, you can’t expect that the quality of the images produced by this phone is up to par to that produced by a DSLR. It’s like comparing a vios to an SLK mercedes. Still, the images produced by the phone is excellent. It takes better photos than my n82 (make that my now gone n82). The face detection works like magic. That goes the same for the smart contrast and best pic.
I updated the phone’s firmware about a week ago. I didn’t have any difficulty during the process. It now comes with a “smile shutter”. As most of you know, the smile shutter feature can be enjoyed on a Sony Cyber-shot camera. Kudos to Sony for incorporating that feature into the phone. It made it truly a Cyber-shot camera-phone.
The phone also comes with a GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth and a bunch of other stuff. What makes this phone unique is that it is DLNA certified. I can connect it to my Vaio without a problem. Just make your home network as a “favorite” and voila, it works perfectly.
The phone is well built. Unlike to that of the Nseries of the Nokia, this feels expensive (and it is. I bought mine for 25k). Although it feels more expensive and more elegant than nokia phones, I personally think 25k is too much because Nokia Nseries phones have more capabilities than this phone. I can open office applications and files on my nokia whereas I’m only able to store it here. It can’t open word, powerpoint or excel files. The web browser of the Nokia is better too. I’m able to watch youtube videos in the web brower on my nokia phone.
But then again, this is first and foremost a Cyber-shot handyphone. It is (as of today) the best camera-phone on the market. I’ve used and compared the images produced by a Nokia, Samsung, LG and iPhone (yes, although it is pointless, i also compared it to an image prodiced by an iPhone) I can confidently say that this phone is a league of its own.
So… to those looking for a decent music-player and an (dare i say) amazing camera, and a neat phone, then the C905 is for you. A bit pricey but worth the extra bucks.
i bought my phone last feb 8 and after 18 days i think, i returned it co’z its to sensitive!!!! mxdong crain ng phone… in just 4 months 4 times n ung phone bmlik sa service center!!!! i really like this phone before co’z of its 8.1 mp cam.. put bukod dun… wla ng maganda pa.. X(
i want to know if the this phone has a language option for greek …. thank you
i want to know if it has a option for the greek language
i need to know how can i open word, powerpoint or excel files
i just bought my c905 2days ago and i’ve been using nokia phone before as well as ASUS phones. wlang maxadong extravagant sa kanya it’s just that it has 8.1 MP camera, maganda naman but that’s just it.. ndi q xa mapersonalize like what i’m doing with my N73.. another thing is that kelangan mu laging timplahin yung camera wheneer you’re gonna take a shot unlike with the Nseries na on the spot pwede mung gamitin ung camera once you open the lense gowh na agad..ang dami pang emot before mu magamit tong c905..
my boss bought a SE c905 unit. after a few days, the earpiece malfunctioned. we returned it to the shop and asked for replacement. the H.O. too received complaints of the same kind.
so the earpiece is really a problem. and i thought my defective earpiece was brought about by the fact that i dropped it (just 20inches height). and my unit has been with Smart Communications for 2 months now ( what greater injustice could there be?). Pictures with this phone is very good, but like i said, the earpiece died within 3 weeks, and Smart Com has been sitting on it for 2 months.
I suggest you bring it directly to Sony Ericsson shop and ask for replacement. We got our replacement unit after a month.
Hi Thennek Onamor,
I wonder if they gave you the rules on replacement… Did they extend the warranty for another year? Would you be able to get the phone with different color?
Please let me know as I forwarded my phone to Sony Ericsson a week ago.
Thank you for your advise.
Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot C905 has the high quality camera.There are many fascinating features in this mobile like stereo Bluetooth, GPS, a music player Together and many more.It’s quite sleek and also deliberate phone with a sharp design. The keypad device is very good, very spacious.This cell phone will be loved by the music lovers.
Only d unit was replaced, same color, and warranty wasn’t changed because the unit has lapsed it’s 1 week replacement period. We were just given a favor by SE as it was proven that the unit was defective.
But it took 1 month for the replacement to arrive.
hey Thennek Onamor , how much did the phone cost ?
sira c905 ko cra ung navey key na down kpg press down ngeexit.. kahirap pa nman mgpagawa ng SE.. mahina ba talaga slide panel nun? guys give me some advise or something kung my prob din kau katulad ng sakin.. tnx
hi! I need a phone where I can view and EDIT my MSWORD and EXCEL files. What phone can you recommend?thanks!
se c905..though i like it alot…even though i haven’t purchased one yet…im having second thoughts about getting one for myself…
these are my reasons why i’m having second thoughts
1st. from the reactions of the other guys on the review of c905
2nd. complaints…this phone gets alot of complaint..faulty keypad…earpiece malfunction..screensaver malfunctions..and etc.
3rd.they say that the 8.1 mp ain’t really 8.1 mp compared to digital cameras…
please help me decide if im going to get one or not
the WIfi is problematic, and after a quick software upgrade, now the GPS… Why can’t they make it more durable like they used to, which is one of the reason I stop being a Nokia user.
Good camera,but the problems difficult to connect to computer to make internet.needs more setting adjacement.
magkano na po ngayon ang isang SE c905 i like the features pati yung slim sizes niya LOVE it
I made a comment/review earlier. After 4 months of using the phone, the earpiece stopped working and the keypad started to loose it’s tactile feedback as well. It’s been with SE for exactly a month now and they still haven’t started repairing it. They said that the parts still isn’t available. I used to love this phone but now i’m just waiting for it to be fixed so that I can trade it in for the new SE Satio.
For you guys who are still thinking on buying this phone… I’d say go ahead IF you’re willing to take the risk that the unit you’ll buy won’t malfunction after a few months of use. I think the next best thing to this phone (considering the price range and camera quality) is the Nokia N82.
For those asking which phones are capable of opening and (on selected models only) editing office documents, go with Nokia Nseries and/or Eseries phones. SE Satio can also do the job (because it makes use of a symbiam firmware)
I take back what I wrote earlier. I’m switching back to Nokia. I’ve read and heard that Satio has many software problems as well…
98% of the replies are positive. but my wife had the phone first hand 30,999 SE trinoma. dec. 2008. It had tons of repairs na if you compute your fare or gasoline, you can already buy a cheap nokia or se phone. first off, the earpiece is crappy a lot of uk users replace it every time. (nevr happened to us though). second, the dreaded flex cable is so easy to deteriorate on wear and tear. Even if you don’t have a habit of sliding in and out of your phone, the slider wares down the cable inside that makes the keypad malfunction, thus making the phone malfunction, ang dami naming balik. Altough slide phone are often have these problems, c905 tops them all.
Satio would be a very good alternative, since it doesn’t slide in or out. (or does it?). Hay naku, c905 drops from 30,999 to ewan ko kung magkano na lang, but this isn’t good buy for a superb camera feature that wouldn’t surpass the packaged dissappointments.
Yes, for us pinoys, our hard works should be rewarded at least 3 years of what we paid for. nde 3 weeks or 3 months. I’m a loyal SE. but do not cover it’s weakness. sheez, I haven’t even started to talk about my X1.
@MrLeche
I had the same problems with mine… It’s fun at first but once the defects starts to manifest it’s frustrating, wouldn’t you agree? My phone’s been with the service center for 2 months now… It’s very very VERY unnerving. Now I’m just waiting for them to return it to me so that I could get rid of the damn thing. I’m planning to replace it with a Nokia e72. Its camera is not as good as the c905 but at least it’s very reliable and sturdy.
Anyway… To all SE C905 owners out there (and to those planning to buy it) I read an article about a certain company in the United States recalled all c905 and Satio phones due to the C905′s faulty hardware and Satio’s faulty firmware. It seems SE is desperate to compete with the market that they didn’t put much thought on their products. I just wish the X10 would save the company from this embarrassment.