Sony Ericsson C902 review: Cyber-touch

Full steam into the megapixel chase, Sony Ericsson C902 is trying to show off its best before the 8 megapixel monsters start stealing the show. The Cyber-shot pedigree, touch-controlled camera and metal outfit are true predator stuff and now that we have a retail unit in our hands it's time to revisit our pre-release preview of the device and see if there are any chinks in its armor that may turn predator to prey.

   
   
Official photos of Sony Ericsson C902

   
Lifestyle photos of Sony Ericsson C902 in camera mode
Key features:
5 MP autofocus camera with unique active lens cover and touch controls 
Smile detection, image stabilizer, geo-tagging (via cell-ID) 
Slim and stylish metal case 
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and HSDPA (3.6 Mb) 
Scratch resistant 2" TFT 256K colors display 
FM radio with RDS 
Bluetooth (with A2DP) 
Basic multi-tasking support 
Smart dialing 
Extended TrackID over previous generation phones 
Main disadvantages:
Smallish screen 
Images suffer excessive sharpening and purple fringing 
Poor video recording capabilities 
Slide-up lens cover collects massive amounts of dust 
No office document viewer 

   
Sony Ericsson C902

Revisiting the C902 is also worth it as a taster of what's to come. It's been quite a while since our first glimpse, but Sony Ericsson didn't just sit on their hands in the meantime. The company made the very first announcement of an 8-megapixel cameraphone - the C905, which we previewed this summer. The other exciting prospect is the Walkman-meet-Cybershot W902.

Now, while the two sharpshooters above are yet to be baptized by fire, our Sony Ericsson C902 is right in the thick of action. The ironclad Cyber-shot is the thinnest 5 MP cameraphone on the market and that makes it quite an attractive deal. That alone is hardly enough of an edge though over a bunch of strong contenders.

If every ounce of style should count, the extra sleek C902 is in for quite a challenge against the exquisite LG KF750 Secret. Other than superb exterior, the Secret flaunts VGA video at 30fps plus QVGA at 120fps. The Secret's tangibly bigger 2.4" display is another great asset. The C902 with its 2" screen can hardly stand up to DivX movies of up to VGA resolution.