== C905 ==
Key features:
8.1 MP (7.9 actually) Cybershot Camera
Wi-fi
aGPS
2.4" TFT Screen with 240 X 320 pixels resolution
1st Product of Project Capuchin
and... Instant bragging rights... (For now)
= First Impressions =
= In detailed... =
Build:
Software:
GPS:
Wi-fi:
To be continued...
Key features:
8.1 MP (7.9 actually) Cybershot Camera
Wi-fi
aGPS
2.4" TFT Screen with 240 X 320 pixels resolution
1st Product of Project Capuchin
and... Instant bragging rights... (For now)
= First Impressions =
Ok... Let's get straight to the point. *pause* After waiting for almost 3 hours in SS2 for the phone to arrive, the 3 units of Brand NEW Sony Ericsson C905 arrived at Atlantis SS2... And thus, we set our eager hands to work on the boxes immediately...
Box: For a flagship feature phone, I definitely expected more from the packaging... Not to say that it is bad or cheap looking... But I feel that Sony Ericsson (SE) should've done more and make something significant and special for such a high end phone. Having said that, there is no complains about the quality of the box. The exact fit of the boxes in the packaging is definitely a plus that makes the whole thing neat.
Note: The box is glossy... (Finger print magnet)
Phone: Yeay! Hands on for the first time on the phone is definitely awesome, A-W-E-S-O-M-E! Not to mention the prolonged anticipation and desire for the phone which obviously fueled the "awesome-ness". The heft of the phone is a little tad on the heavy side, but it suited the size of the phone just nice. The material used for the phone had a little rubbery feel at the back that sort of "prevents slipping of phone" feels good too. And the slider? Feels quite solid and responsive. Not too draggy or sensitive. Just nice.
Software: The software of the phone is R1BA042 in this unit. When the device boots up for the first time, it feels a little draggy actually. This is probably due to the phone getting use to the animated wallpaper. Besides, it was also because the SIM card inserted was invalid (The phone is struggling to find a signal?). Anyway, after 1 or 2 minutes, the software stabilised and was quite agile in between the menus. Opening apps or camera doesn't feel as sluggish as I thought. Yeay!
Camera: A definitely plus plus of the camera is that C905 has a big, juicy, vibrant screen. Slide open the lens and you'll be greeted by the familliar Cybershot welcome screen. Then... Tadahhh!! Nice, beautiful, viewfinder for your lovely camera! The screen refresh rate was quite good. It did not lag that much or blur when you move the camera around. The settings menu did a good job by being fast and responsive too. After all that, just half-press the shutter button and "dee deet!" it'll focus to something/someone automatically. Then...it's picture time! Fairly quick shutter speed (less blur) and adequate lighting makes a good picture. =D
(More on camera later...)
Box: For a flagship feature phone, I definitely expected more from the packaging... Not to say that it is bad or cheap looking... But I feel that Sony Ericsson (SE) should've done more and make something significant and special for such a high end phone. Having said that, there is no complains about the quality of the box. The exact fit of the boxes in the packaging is definitely a plus that makes the whole thing neat.
Note: The box is glossy... (Finger print magnet)
Phone: Yeay! Hands on for the first time on the phone is definitely awesome, A-W-E-S-O-M-E! Not to mention the prolonged anticipation and desire for the phone which obviously fueled the "awesome-ness". The heft of the phone is a little tad on the heavy side, but it suited the size of the phone just nice. The material used for the phone had a little rubbery feel at the back that sort of "prevents slipping of phone" feels good too. And the slider? Feels quite solid and responsive. Not too draggy or sensitive. Just nice.
Software: The software of the phone is R1BA042 in this unit. When the device boots up for the first time, it feels a little draggy actually. This is probably due to the phone getting use to the animated wallpaper. Besides, it was also because the SIM card inserted was invalid (The phone is struggling to find a signal?). Anyway, after 1 or 2 minutes, the software stabilised and was quite agile in between the menus. Opening apps or camera doesn't feel as sluggish as I thought. Yeay!
Camera: A definitely plus plus of the camera is that C905 has a big, juicy, vibrant screen. Slide open the lens and you'll be greeted by the familliar Cybershot welcome screen. Then... Tadahhh!! Nice, beautiful, viewfinder for your lovely camera! The screen refresh rate was quite good. It did not lag that much or blur when you move the camera around. The settings menu did a good job by being fast and responsive too. After all that, just half-press the shutter button and "dee deet!" it'll focus to something/someone automatically. Then...it's picture time! Fairly quick shutter speed (less blur) and adequate lighting makes a good picture. =D
(More on camera later...)
= In detailed... =
Build:
Mmm mmm... The C905's build is a blend of soft and hard plastic, some brushed aluminium which adds up to a mix of smooth, rubbery, glossy and metallic surfaces. The materials used for the C905 was definitely a good choice IMO. The top sliding part uses hard plastic which doesn't attract finger prints easily will make the phone look "less messy". Besides that, its paint was matte and it's good 'cause it won't reflect light when you're looking at the screen.
Moving on to the overall build of the phone... As the C905 is a slider phone, many people would be worried about the quality of the sliding mechanism. Well so far, the slider have not given me any problems yet. As I've written above, the slider is quite firm and solid. However, the only problem for me is when the slider slides up, it will wobble a little to the left or right depending on which button you press. This is particularly obvious when you are surfing the internet in landscape mode due to the heavy usage of directional keypad. The thing is, the slider moves for about half a millimeter to either side. Which makes it feel as if it's going to worsen every time it moves. Bad feeling... =(
Then, there is the keypad. IMO, the keypad is quite responsive for a heavy SMS user like me. Getting use to the keypad is not a problem and can be achieved after 1 or 2 days of use. Furthermore, the directional keypads are excellent contrary to the many complaints posted in the internet. The call key, end call key, left and right soft key, etc. are fine too. Just a little too close together if you are in a hurry. Otherwise, it's fine. Another small complain is the 2 buttons at the top of the screen - the "Game A" and "Game B" keys. The buttons feel tofu-ish. =_=" I had hoped for a more tactile feedback like the usual keypad feel. But i guess it's due to the space constraint... Nevermind, I rarely use those buttons anyway. =p
Besides that, there are the camera dedicated buttons! A total of 5 buttons are located on the side of the phone specially dedicated to the camera function... Zoom In / Zoom Out keys, Review, Camera mode button and Camera Shutter button. All these buttons are absolutely fine. Tactile feedback, no wobbly feel, and the shutter button is illuminated! Yeay!
Moving on to the overall build of the phone... As the C905 is a slider phone, many people would be worried about the quality of the sliding mechanism. Well so far, the slider have not given me any problems yet. As I've written above, the slider is quite firm and solid. However, the only problem for me is when the slider slides up, it will wobble a little to the left or right depending on which button you press. This is particularly obvious when you are surfing the internet in landscape mode due to the heavy usage of directional keypad. The thing is, the slider moves for about half a millimeter to either side. Which makes it feel as if it's going to worsen every time it moves. Bad feeling... =(
Then, there is the keypad. IMO, the keypad is quite responsive for a heavy SMS user like me. Getting use to the keypad is not a problem and can be achieved after 1 or 2 days of use. Furthermore, the directional keypads are excellent contrary to the many complaints posted in the internet. The call key, end call key, left and right soft key, etc. are fine too. Just a little too close together if you are in a hurry. Otherwise, it's fine. Another small complain is the 2 buttons at the top of the screen - the "Game A" and "Game B" keys. The buttons feel tofu-ish. =_=" I had hoped for a more tactile feedback like the usual keypad feel. But i guess it's due to the space constraint... Nevermind, I rarely use those buttons anyway. =p
Besides that, there are the camera dedicated buttons! A total of 5 buttons are located on the side of the phone specially dedicated to the camera function... Zoom In / Zoom Out keys, Review, Camera mode button and Camera Shutter button. All these buttons are absolutely fine. Tactile feedback, no wobbly feel, and the shutter button is illuminated! Yeay!
Software:
First of all, the most important thing that everyone wants to know: This phone is not laggy.
OK, moving on. The C905 is a feature phone. NOT a smart phone. Therefore, its software is an A200 platform similar to the recent SE's phones like C902, W902, etc. User interface is quite normal, as I said, similar to the recent SE phones. The menus are smooth and vibrantly coloured too. So, no complains at all. =D
If I am not mistaken, the A200 is a Java based platform in general. That's why you cannot install S60 softwares into it. For example: Garmin XT. The C905 is the first phone that is developed under the Project Capuchin (A project that's trying to develop a bridge between Java and Flash Lite platform). So, there might be more goodies to come in the future. Yeay!
P.S. There's a firmware upgrade coming up soon that will add some sweeeet functions to the C905!
Note: I am not going into detail about what applications and games this phone comes with. Why? Because the software's useful-ness is subjective and all information can be found through the internet. And... I'm lazy. XD
Anyway, the speaker phone is quite...acceptable. Compare to my old modded K750/W800, it is definitely softer. My test conditions: Driving around 70km/h, radio on at moderate volume, windows closed and air-cond off. Under these conditions, the speaker phone is just adequate at maximum volume. But I rather have it softer than cracking the speaker. So, it's fine with me. =D
Note: I have not tried Video Calling yet. No 3G. =p
Contacts searching is improved too! If I am not mistaken, it's called smart search. This means that if you want to search for a person named "Lee" in your contacts, you can just type "533" at standby screen! Then it ill show a list of "Lee(s)" at the bottom. It also works when you are searching for a number. Such as "012345XXXX"...you can type in "012345" and it will list down all the contacts in your phone book that starts with 012345. Nice? I would say it's smart! =D
SMS-ing is OK on this phone. Not as fast and as comfortable as the K750's keypad. A few misses in one message is quite common and a full size message takes about 30 seconds? to type. Whereas I'm confident that I can do that in my old K750 in under 20 second. Haha. However, the good thing about the C905 is that the messages can be saved into your memory stick. So... there's absolutely no reason to worry about your phone running out of space for messages. For heavy texters, it would be a very convenient function.
OK, moving on. The C905 is a feature phone. NOT a smart phone. Therefore, its software is an A200 platform similar to the recent SE's phones like C902, W902, etc. User interface is quite normal, as I said, similar to the recent SE phones. The menus are smooth and vibrantly coloured too. So, no complains at all. =D
If I am not mistaken, the A200 is a Java based platform in general. That's why you cannot install S60 softwares into it. For example: Garmin XT. The C905 is the first phone that is developed under the Project Capuchin (A project that's trying to develop a bridge between Java and Flash Lite platform). So, there might be more goodies to come in the future. Yeay!
P.S. There's a firmware upgrade coming up soon that will add some sweeeet functions to the C905!
Note: I am not going into detail about what applications and games this phone comes with. Why? Because the software's useful-ness is subjective and all information can be found through the internet. And... I'm lazy. XD
Phone functions:
So far, no dropped calls caused by the phone. Signal is good most of the time. However, I found that the earpiece's voice cracks a little when the volume is set to maximum. It's not a big problem actually...just set it half a notch lower and it'll be OK. The earpiece is loud enough to use in moderately noisy conditions IMO... I've never tried it in SUPER noisy environment yet. XDAnyway, the speaker phone is quite...acceptable. Compare to my old modded K750/W800, it is definitely softer. My test conditions: Driving around 70km/h, radio on at moderate volume, windows closed and air-cond off. Under these conditions, the speaker phone is just adequate at maximum volume. But I rather have it softer than cracking the speaker. So, it's fine with me. =D
Note: I have not tried Video Calling yet. No 3G. =p
Contacts searching is improved too! If I am not mistaken, it's called smart search. This means that if you want to search for a person named "Lee" in your contacts, you can just type "533" at standby screen! Then it ill show a list of "Lee(s)" at the bottom. It also works when you are searching for a number. Such as "012345XXXX"...you can type in "012345" and it will list down all the contacts in your phone book that starts with 012345. Nice? I would say it's smart! =D
SMS-ing is OK on this phone. Not as fast and as comfortable as the K750's keypad. A few misses in one message is quite common and a full size message takes about 30 seconds? to type. Whereas I'm confident that I can do that in my old K750 in under 20 second. Haha. However, the good thing about the C905 is that the messages can be saved into your memory stick. So... there's absolutely no reason to worry about your phone running out of space for messages. For heavy texters, it would be a very convenient function.
GPS:
Honestly speaking, I hate the way the bundled GPS softwares are programmed. Reason? The program REQUIRES you to have a data account to even start using the application. Even though I've set the "Allow local connection" to "Yes", it still requires me to have an data account even though I obviously can download the maps through wi-fi. That is why, I rarely use GPS nowadays. IMO, if you really want to fully utilize the GPS functions in the phone, get an unlimited data plan. Then, you can download maps everywhere and also take advantage of the aGPS function that speeds up the locking of your position. Hmm...when will the telcos provide cheap unlimited data plans?
Wi-fi:
Mmm mmm! Having a wi-fi on a phone is definitely quite fun IF you have access to free wifi hotspots. Haha. In general, searching for wireless connections on the phone is quite fast. Almost instantaneous when you are next to the router. Besides that, the connection is quite stable and so far, no problem with it. Internet surfing on the phone is quite pleasant too. So far, I've only been using the default browser and its acceptable. Why? 'Cause Operamini REQUIRES me to have a data account too. =_=" How stewpid.
Anyway, of course browsing the internet through a phone wouldn't be as simple and user friendly as using a computer. But it's all about mobility....and bragging rights too. Haha. OH! One more important thing! Watching youtube from the phone is FAST! Due to the "shrunken" version of the video being downloaded. If you can stand the smaller screen and slight decrease in video quality, I would recommend you to watch youtube from your phone. Reason? Our beloved str**myx is too SLOW to load a full version of youtube videos. =_="
Anyway, of course browsing the internet through a phone wouldn't be as simple and user friendly as using a computer. But it's all about mobility....and bragging rights too. Haha. OH! One more important thing! Watching youtube from the phone is FAST! Due to the "shrunken" version of the video being downloaded. If you can stand the smaller screen and slight decrease in video quality, I would recommend you to watch youtube from your phone. Reason? Our beloved str**myx is too SLOW to load a full version of youtube videos. =_="
To be continued...
.JPG)