Sony Ericsson launch C905: 8-megapixel camera phone

The 8-megapixel camera on the back of Sony Ericsson's C905

Sony Ericsson has beat out competing manufacturers to be the first to officially launch an 8.1-megapixel camera phone, the Cyber-shot C905, at an event coinciding with CommunicAsia 2008 in Singapore.

The C905 will be the first slider phone launched under the recently renamed C-Series. The soft-grip plastic handset looks and feels more like a Walkman phone model than a member of the Cyber-shot family. The camera on the C905 is protected by a sliding lens cover and features auto-focus options including face detection, and a Smart Contrast option for shooting subjects with strong backlighting, such as sunsets. A Xenon flash is found above the lens that can be switched on as a constant source of lighting for shooting videos.

Also featuring a long list of connectivity options, the C905 includes Wi-Fi (a first for a non-Symbian Sony Ericsson handset), Bluetooth, A-GPS with geotagging capabilities, and our personal favourite DLNA — a networking protocol used to stream media between compatible devices, such as Windows Vista PC and a Playstation 3. Using DLNA on the C905 will let you show off your 8-megapixel holiday snaps without additional and cumbersome wiring.

Sony Ericsson made best use of the local attractions in Singapore by launching the C905 at the Singapore Flyer, the World's largest observation wheel. This setting was perfect for a brief hands-on with the camera where we were able to photograph the city's skyline, and we can report that the results were as impressive as the camera's enormous resolution, at least when previewed on the C905's display. We're looking forward to really testing the C905 and seeing if our first impressions hold up.

Increasing megapixels is definitely one way to capture the attention of snap-happy camera phone aficionados; however, the camera savvy know that bigger isn't always better when it comes to exposures, especially when talking about the tiny image sensors jammed into mobile phones. A spokesperson for Sony Ericsson assured us that not only is the final image resolution bigger, but more importantly that the image sensor is also larger than recent Cyber-shot releases.

We can expect to see the C905 launched in Australia in Q4 which, with the launch of the X1, is gearing up to be a very busy month for Sony Ericsson.

Joseph Hanlon travelled to CommunicAsia as a guest of Samsung.