C905 brings my pictures alive! (Sony Ericsson C905)

Member Name: dididave

Product:	Sony Ericsson C905
Date:	26/08/09 (72 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Superb camera, wide ralnge of features, good for calls and texting.

Disadvantages: Still the age old slide phone issue. Battery life varies with use.

After a string of truly dreadful phones from LG I was more than happy to return to old faithful Sony Ericsson. You know what are you are getting with Sony and despite being unimpressed by my wife's Sony K850i I fell in love with my C905 from the minute it landed on my doorstep.

This is a phone that goes back to basics. After owning numerous flawed touch screen or semi-touch screen devices it is an absolute joy to get back to some good old fashioned buttons. Not a single touch screen function in sight (unlike the weird hybrid that is my wife's K850) and the phone is all the better for it. This is a sturdy, weighty beast of a phone and lacks the style of many of Sony and it's competitors other efforts. Despite being a slide phone it is quite definitely a brick and is one of the heavier phones I have owned. However, what it sacrifices in looks it more than makes up for in functionality.

It would appear that this C series of phones may well have replaced the previously successful K series with this being, at time of writing, the newest Cybershot phone available. Sony have always been different from other phone providers refusing to succumb to the all rounder argument and instead emphasising one strength for each model. The Walkman series are great for music whereas the Cybershot series concentrate on the digital camera and in the C905, Sony have undoubtedly the best camera phone yet.

Indeed closed and held sideways the phone is a dedicated 8.1 mega pixel camera. The re-addition of a slide open/close lens cover (something that was removed from the K850) is a master-stroke making the camera very easy to operate and far less likely to take pictures of the inside of your pocket! Opening the camera reveals a powerful Xenon flash and on automatic settings this is a true point and click device giving faster shutter speeds than I have seen and exceptional photos for a camera phone. As with all phones on the market the only thing that stops it replacing a digital camera entirely is a lack of a decent optical zoom. However, I have found it more than adequate in everyday point and click situations and far better than any of it's predecessors.

The amount of features the camera has also lifts it above other phones. Bestpic is a great idea, especially in sports events. Your camera will take numerous photos one after the other allowing you to pick the best one. No more blurry runners in the distance at Sports Day! The camera also has a very clever face fit recognition which highlights your subjects face and emphasises it when taking a photo. This makes portrait style shots absolutely top quality and of course you can edit them to your hearts content. You can even order prints via the phone and publish them very easily to facebook.

The camera functions are all easily reachable with buttons along the side of the phone able to perform all major functions including zooming in and out, turning the flash on and off and putting on a timer. I love the fact I can easily access all my photos thanks to two new buttons along the top of the phone unique to this model which take me to my photo gallery and everything regarding the camera is functional, easy to use and accessible with little or no experience of the phone.

In fact the whole phone set-up is very functional with the zoom in/out buttons doubling up as volume sliders and a number of useful shortcuts available at just a button press away. I can access the internet, my messages, my phonebook and even customise my own shortcuts. The Internet has never appealed to me on a phone before but with 3g+ it is actually really quick and faster again if I connect to a wi-fi connection (which then also makes it free). The phone's own browser is adequate but by downloading Opera Mobile I now have a fully functioning web phone that 99% of sites are compatible with. The addition of a facebook and youtube applications are also a godsend and I actually find facebook for mobile far more functional and enjoyable than regular clunky facebook.

The usual range of java games are available for the phone and they are wide ranging and improving all the time. My touch screen LG Viewty was impossible to play most games on but this phone is ideal for it as the keypad is very responsive.

Perhaps most importantly, this phone is also actually great as a phone! Calling can be very easily accomplished with your one touch access phonebook or customisable speed dials. I also like the fact if I start typing in any part of a number my phone finds the contacts associated with it. Particularly handy if you know several Davids for example. Call quality is high and clarity is excellent. I have no crackling on the line and from what I have experienced, caller and receiver have no issues. Ring volumes can also be very loud if required and needless to say can be customised to your own super annoying mp3 track. I like the fact the speaker phone is easy to access and clear enough to use handsfree without any kits. Reception, something I thought was a problem with my carrier Vodafone is no longer an issue. My LG Viewty never seemed to have reception no matter were I was, my C905 always does! The antenna must give out a really strong signal and this is further re-inforced by the phone's ability to pick up wi-fi in a decent range.

Texting is also another strong point, the t9 predictive text is intelligent and has a decent sized dictionary. The phone generally keeps up with my super speedy texting and I can add punctuation, symbols and a range of smiley's with comparative ease. Being a large phone I find texting a joy on this phone as I am able to type as fast and clumsily as I like rarely hammering the wrong button. Turning texts into multi media messages (MMS) is easier than I have encountered elsewhere too. A simple downward press while writing a standard text allows me to add pictures, animations and sounds to my messages. I also can get delivery reports and view the status of my messages. Perhaps the most useful features is the conversation option which allows me to text people as a thread of conversation. I find this a very good way of chatting to friends, organising texts and deleting. A very intuitive and useful way of texting and it makes this the best texting phone I have used.

In fact, in spite of Sony dedicating itself to the camera on this phone, there are few things it does not accomplish flawlessly. The MP3 is not likely to replace your ipod with a 2GB storage with the supplied (if expandable) memory. However, it is adequate and has good sound quality for listening to tunes and podcasts on the way to work. The radio is also good with auto tuning and storable stations although you do need to plug in the supplied wired dongle to listen. Furthermore, you can subscribe to web feeds and have them showing on your phone. I really like this feature and can keep up to date with all the latest news and sport thanks to Sony and those lovely people at the BBC. Connectivity is also something that is very straightforward using wireless connection, bluetooth or the usb cable supplied. I find it very easy to use the drag and drop feature to transfer files to and from my phone and the phone is recognised by my computer instantly. There is a supplied Sony media suite but I found it was not required for anything I needed. Simply switching to mass storage mode turns the phone into an easy access storage device.

Despite being the best phone I have owned it is not quite perfect although I have to admit I am nitpicking. Being a slide phone once again there is the issue of the 1 to 3 keys being in contact with the slide. Why can't phone companies find a solution for this? It is not a big issue on this phone thanks to the large buttons but would it be that difficult to sort? Being a slide phone it is also prone to scratching although the screen is set back slightly to offset this and after a few months I am scratch free. The battery life is undoubtedly impressive (around three days for calling and texting). However, this is cut down to about a day and a half if you are a frequent internet or games user like I am. Still decent though. My final minor moan is that when my battery does go low I get one warning from Sony and then the phone switches off seconds later! No chance of getting to your charger before your phone dies. Oh yeah and the video recorder is rubbish.

Nonetheless, this is still a superb phone offering something that could well be an Iphone beater although it is perhaps more of a complete alternative to it. This is a proper phone for those who have fell out of love with the touch screen revolution or perhaps never saw the appeal in the first place. It still has all the bells and whistles but in a proper old-fashioned phone shaped box. Highly recommended.

Summary: A superb phone, Sony's best yet.

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