By Irene Tham

See the phone:

Photos: Sony Ericsson

THE real spoiler for the 5-megapixel Cyber-shot C902 is the lack of a Xenon flash. Luckily, this problem no longer snags Sony Ericsson's next 5-megapixel snapper, the Cyber-shot C901.

Xenon flash makes a huge difference: Without it, I would not even consider the camera phone, much less a Cyber-shot. Xenon flash lets you take better pictures in the dark than LED flash.

Another thing that the C901 has going for it is its petite size - 105 x 45 x 13mm at 107g - making it the slimmest Xenon-flash camera phone yet.

The sharpest pictures are produced in a well-lit room or in broad daylight. Pictures can be blown up to 5R size without suffering any noticeable quality loss.

Colour inaccuracy problems only surface when pictures are taken in a dimly lit room, like at a candle-lit dinner table. Using the flash, the problem can be corrected satisfactorily.

Overall, its pictures are excellent for a camera phone. However, the 8-megapixel Cybershot C905 is still the king of the hill; better pictures comes at a heftier price too.

In many ways, the C901 resembles the budget Cyber-shot C510.

First, the latest candy-bar talker is also designed for Facebook addicts. With just one click, it lets you upload photos snapped with the phone camera to your Facebook account. Plus, it informs you of your friends' latest status, notifications and activities.

A word of caution: Without a cap on your 3G data plan, your telco bills might hit the roof with this feature turned on all the time.

Second, the phone does not come with a data cable for connecting to the computer - like the budget C510.

Sony Ericsson must have assumed that most Internet-savvy users store their pictures on the Internet - on Picasa or Facebook - instead of the PC. One thing to note is the uploaded pictures are optimised for the Web and so have low resolution. You still need the data cable to quickly transfer high resolution images out of the phone for storage or printing.

One way is to remove the Sony Memory Stick Micro M2 flash card from the expansion slot. The memory card can be inserted in an adaptor for easy access on most netbooks today.

However, the expansion slot is located under the battery cover - which is a drag.

Picture taking is not the only thing the C901 is good at. A Google maps location-based application loaded on the phone helps you find directions in real-time over 3G, making navigation in unfamiliar places less daunting.

You can also search for nearby restaurants via the location-based service, although I suspect the information might need some updates. I searched for "Lemongrass Restaurant" and the Orchard Heeren branch showed up in the search result - although that outlet has ceased operation since March last year.

Final say

A winner in picture quality and Internet features. However, the lack of a data cable and the hidden memory card expansion slot make the phone less user-friendly.

This story was first published in The Straits Times Digital Life.

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