Sony Ericsson C903 review: Slider-shot

Inspired by the Sony T-series point-and-shoot digcams with an elegant lens cover, the Sony Ericsson C903 is a compact and attractive cameraphone. The C903 is packed with features you'd expect of a high-end phone and it behaves like one as well. A GPS-enabled 5 MP slider with a nice large display, nifty feature-phone interface and friendly size is a welcome addition to the company portfolio. And yes, we think the Glamour Red version will be a favorite with the ladies.

The C903 official announcement served the humble purpose of warming the crowd up for the Sony Ericsson deployment at this year's MWC. Obviously no match for the Idou and Hikaru, the C903 simply completes the Cyber-shot lineup of the house featuring some welcome upgrades over the C902 like screen size and GPS. There's a distinctive design highlight too and the Sony T-series digicam back styling may as well be a strong selling point.

   
Sony Ericsson C903 Lacquer Black and Glamour Red
Key features:
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and dual-band HSDPA/ tri-band HSDPA in US version 
5 MP AF camera with dual LED flash, geo-tagging, face and smile detection, active lens cover 
Built-in GPS with A-GPS support, Wayfinder Navigator software, geotagging 
Dedicated camera mode switch and gallery keys 
Scratch resistant 2.4" 256K-color TFT display 
Backlit D-pad shortcuts in camera mode 
Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate 
Bluetooth (with A2DP), USB v2.0 
FM radio with RDS and enhanced TrackID, YouTube client 
Threaded conversations in messaging 
Smart dialing 
Main disadvantages:
Video recording limited to QVGA resolution at 30fps 
M2 card slot under the battery cover 
Camera key has almost no feedback at full press 
The glossy surface is a fingerprint nightmare 
No cover for the USB port 
No office document viewer 
No video-call camera 

Sony Ericsson C903 has its candybar counterpart in the face of the C901. Presented in a joint launch last month, the two handsets are trying to meet a diverse mix of cameraphone demand in the higher-midrange. 

Form factor aside, the major differences boil down to GPS and the camera flash solution. We can't help but note that xenon could've been more at home in the T-series-inspired C903. But no sir, Sony Ericsson C903 is GPS-enabled instead while the more conservative C901 bar flaunts the better camera flash.

The lengthy spec sheet of the C903 only omits Wi-Fi support, while everything else is on board: GPS with Wayfinder 7 software, 5 megapixel AF camera with dedicated setup keys, a large 2.4" display and accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate.