Images
After recently announcing the mighty 8 megapixel C905, we feared Sony Ericsson’s newly appointed C902 five-megapixeller might lose some of its camphone lustre. We needn’t have worried – this Cyber-shot member is every bit as eye-catching, with a fabulous slimline bod and a cool covert camera slider action.
Measuring a rail-thin 10.5mm thick, the HSDPA blazing C902 has unceremoniously dethroned the LG Secret as the slimmest 5MP camphone on the planet. It’s like the K810i has gone on hunger strike while simultaneously pumping iron. But while it may be lean, its torso is still incredibly solid with a nice heft behind it.
Downsized flash
Unfortunately, the size zero physique comes at a price: Sony Ericsson has ditched the Xenon flash. After digging the bulb flash in the K850i we thought this sacrifice would dampen our love but once you handle its slender chassis, all is forgiven. The replacement flash is still capable if a tad weedy in some low level lighting environments.
Sony Ericsson must also have been watching too many espionage movies because the C902 sports a nifty spy camera type slider action. Pull open the top of the phone and the lens is revealed, firing up the snapper within a couple of seconds. We wonder if frequent usage may loosen the mechanism but it appears firm and resilient enough.
Camera shortcuts galore
Flanking each side of the two-inch display are eight highly receptive touch-sensitive shortcuts to let you tinker with the settings. Ace face detection and image stabilisation technology now run alongside standard issue Cyber-shot photo trickery like BestPic and PhotoFix, and you still get a truckload of effects, such as white balance modes, to play with.
Naturally, with all these photos mods to polish your snaps the C902 keeps up the Cyber-shot rep for taking quality photos. The autofocus and Macro focus for close-ups sharpens its eye and, just like the K850i, the pictures display a cute sense of detail and true colour depiction.
Geotag your photos
Using cellular triangulation location technology, the C902 can now geotag your photos, letting you view where you took them on embedded Google Maps. It’s not as pinpoint accurate as having a built-in GPS receiver to tag your position, so the photo thumbnail will appear within a ballpark 5000 metres of its location.
Like the K850i, this slim shooter packs accelerometer motion sensors for viewing snaps or web pages in landscape mode and a tidy under-one-roof media menu that’s spot on for accessing your Mega Bass boasting music player, video, podcasts, photos, games, web feeds and podcasts.
Unless your K850i is starting to look a tad chunky and a Xenon flash isn’t a top priority, we see no reason to trade your Cyber-shot in for the C902. But we’re so smitten with its slimline figure and secret agent camera action that the temptation might just be too strong.
Tech Specs
- Bluetooth
- Yes
- Dimensions
- 108x49x10.5mm
- FM radio
- Yes
- Main camera resolution
- 5MP
- Memory card slots
- Yes
- Memory card type
- Memory Stick Micro (M2)
- Quad band
- Yes
- Screen resolution
- 240x320px
- Standby time
- 360 hours
- Storage
- 160MB internal memory
- Supported music formats
- MP3, AAC, AAC+
- Talktime
- 4 hours
- Weight
- 107g
- Xenon flash
- No
Comments
helena21
4 years ago
I love the look of the phone and the features, but I've had so many problems with it, it's put me off getting another Sony Ericcson. The first one I got kept freezing, turning it's self off and cutting out on phone calls. I got it replaced, and the buttons on the front began to lift away from the new phone. This one too now has started turning itself off and freezing. The screen just goes blank and the blue camera lights come on. Bit disappointing!
Jaygee
4 years ago
Having had Nokia phones since 1986, and being a bike rider who wears gloves, this phone is worse than useless as the 'any-key-answer' function doesn't work. Unless you have little girlie fingers, it is hard to hit the 'answer' button in a hurry, and worse if u need to take your gloves off too.. Replacement phones, even the 007 model, have been no different. Sony Ericsson did offer to repair the phone meaning I would be without a phone for 10 days, but now I find the function doesn't work on any other C902s, so sending back for repair would be pointless as it is a general software problem...
hillrhys
4 years ago
i have had one for about 2 months, on a vodafone contract. the battery lasts about 2 weeks if i only do phone stuff, but if i do other stuff like play music on the loudspeaker, which isn't that loud, it may only last one week. but the battery is very good considering the features the phone packs. one of these is the 5 megapixel camera. the lens could be a bit better, perhaps a carl zeiss in the future? the zoom also isn't great, but the pictures turn out great if you just snap, the stills are great, haven't really had a chance to try out teh video function, maybe that's why the iphone doesn't have a video function, noone uses it. although it is nice to have. the touch screen is not very see in high light, but the keys are very easy to use and in the right places. the new user interface is much better than that of old sony ericssons, the media player is an absolute joy. music is great, but it takes a while to load up if you keep a lot of photos or music on it, but quick once it is set up. it is very slim, pocket friendly, but the camera weighs it down, although it is much lighter than other 5 megapixel camera phones, nokia n95 is my main example, as it is my previous phone, but the battery in it is terrible. not the case in the sony. so, in conclusion, a very pocket friendly, good camera phone with a great user interface.
Hfem
4 years ago
hi there I got this phone in July on an upgrade with O2. Lovely phone enjoy it very much till i noticed it doing the same thing and the K850i... which is the screen freezing.... thought could handle it but then I started losing conversations on the phone.. the ear piece would just close then come back. I have took it back and it been sent for repair, came back supposedly mended but as soon as i started it back up did the very same thing so took it back again.. awaiting its return now.. I rang #Sony up and they have a dedicated number to press for the K850i and the C902 whats that say.... i asked them if any faults been found and was told no... yet from readig this post i see at least 4 more people been having similar problems... Why put things on market when they obviously are not ready.
Gadget Monkey
4 years ago
Not sure how long the writers of these previous reviews have owned their C902 but I’ve had mine for a few months now and my experiences (and those of a few of my friends with this phone) have differed greatly and unfortunately, not in a positive way! On first appearances the handset looks and feels like a quality piece of kit with a good weight, slim size and glossy facade there’s no doubt it’s a slick design. And when you read about all the features it packs (5MP Cybershot Camera, MP3 Player + Radio, Internet Browser, up to 8GB of Memory upgrade etc etc) you’d think you’ve discovered the ultimate “all in one” phone. But before you resign your iPod & Digital Camera to the bottom of the draw, try using this phone for a few weeks. HANDSET At first you’ll notice how awkward the keypad feels to use. For some reason Sony have decided to slant the keys slightly forward. Sounds minor, but for the first few weeks you’ll find yourself feeling your way around the keys always unsure that you’re actually on the one you want. You have to try this one to believe it but once mastered, it’s actually quite nice to use. The buttons are useful with some customizable options, well placed (there’s no risk of mashing something by accident common with so many handsets) and responsive. They also feel quite robust unlike other phones on the market and they just may outlast the length of your contract which isn’t that common in my experience. The screen is also a good size so as I say, on the face of it, it is a fantastic phone but… SOFTWARE This is where it all goes so so wrong. It is intuitive and easy to use. There’s loads of good features including a useful organizer, customizable alarms and reminders and a customizable contacts list allowing you to assign any picture to a friend with an accompanying MP3 ring tone just to name a few. Nothing new but still handy and good fun. But the software feels sluggish and there’s a definite delay between menu’s and options. This is very noticeable, as mentioned in the main review, when you slide open the camera and it’s a good few seconds before the camera kicks into life. Now try getting the phone to multitask like texting while listening to the MP3 player and the thing becomes unmanageable to the point of almost useless. This kind of negates all the features it’s packed with as it takes a frustratingly long time to do anything of any complexity. I personally haven’t suffered with this notorious shut down issue but I know that a lot of people have so be aware of this too. CAMERA 5MP! Tried and tested Cybershot technology. This “should” be great! And yes it is if you take all your photo’s on a clear sunny day. Try using the thing in any other circumstances like indoors for instance, and it really isn’t up to scratch. I’ve tried it on all settings and a few common problems keep arising. The Flash (when the phone decides it’s required) is inadequate and doesn’t light the subject well enough producing dark unsaturated pictures. When it’s off, the phone compensates by lengthening the exposure frequently producing heavy camera blur. The focus struggles at short range and at long range the zoom heavily pixilates the image. When compared to pictures taken on a bog standard digital camera, under the same circumstances, it really underperforms. I didn’t expect them to be of a professional quality but when you find yourself deleting a dozen pics in order to keep 1 useable one, you know there’s something wrong. As an ex photography student, I kind of know my way around a camera and can’t understand why the reviews rave about it as it’s pretty bad. BATTERY Don’t believe what you read. OK, standby is good. Leave it sat there, don’t touch it, don’t answer any calls or touch any of the features and you’ll get a good 5 days out of it. Dare you use any of the media features, particularly the camera, and you can reduce that to about 1-2 days. The battery is one of the worst I’ve had to deal with. The only savior is that you can fully charge it within a few hours but try finding a power outlet on a day out. MP3 The Music side of things is actually very good and for me, the saving grace. The menu’s are very bland (text based) but easy to use and the sound I’ve found to be clear & full. I’m sure there’ll be a few connoisseur’s or “Apple Groupies” out there that will disagree but it’s more than adequate for me on a day to day usage. So, in a nutshell the phone looks great, has great features but is let down heavily by the basics. It’s a jack of all trades and sadly a master of none doing everything to a lower than expected standard. I’d wait for the next generation of this phone to appear before buying it if you want all the bugs and glitches to be ironed out as at the moment, they render this as a good phone but poor as multimedia accessory. Once resolved, this will be a must have item.
Gadgetimus Maximus
4 years ago
Ammendement: Forgot to say, TALK TIME is 4 hours with 3g switched in, and 9 hours on GSM only. Ooops!
Gadgetimus Maximus
4 years ago
I have recently upgraded from a Nokia N95 to a C902, and so far, so good. The best with having one on Vodafone is the ability to use the 3.5g network. I was over at my girlfriends gaff over the weekend and the performance on YouTube and Google Maps was triple the speed of normal 3g in the Merseyside area. 3g, or 3.5g can still be patchy. I noticed that it became less stable away from the town centre were I live, but that is basically down to the nature of 3g/3.5g using the 2.1ghz frequency range which is affected more by line of sight/obstructions in the terrain and the simple fact that more 3g/3.5g cells are needed. Naturally, this will improve over time. Problems similar to the user “dundeedunc” were noted on mine, notably the “random reset” fault, which only occurred once. A work colleague of mine had similar issues, but what online reports seem to conveniently forget is this: SOFTWARE UPDATE All the issues noted with this phone ended overnight, as soon as the phone was linked to the PC and a software update was performed – a somewhat fiddly procedure involving removing and reinserting the battery, and holding down the “C” key while it was linked to the PC using the software cable and software provided in the box. The software version (at the time of this post) is 1206-3992 R3CA033 080703 for the Vodafone UK network.. It’s just a shame that people are out to condemn this phone and are ignorant enough to only take note of what the “nay sayers” post online. Mobile phones now suffer from the “Hardware and software spiral”, and over the past 2 years have become as temperamental as PC’s are. A useful tip for these “kitchen sink” specified phones is to go into your network settings and switch it to “GSM only”. This has been observed on many phones (Nokia N70, Nokia N95, Sony Ericsson K850i, Sony Ericsson C902 as examples). Battery standby times, and talk times gain significant improvements. After all, who uses 3g in everyday use? (even the Japanese aren’t into it that much, go figure!) As all you need it for is for video calls and quicker internet access over the phone network (In this case, standby time was 4 hours on “GSM & 3g”, which then improved to 9 hours on “GSM” only). If you have a 3g phone that eats battery life, try it. The camera yields similar results to the Nokia N95, but only if you have a tinker with the settings for scenes, lighting, and focus. Simple “point and shoot” pictures reveal slight differences in quality, compared to the N95. Wi-fi capability would have been nice, but it’s not massively important. Can’t it wait until you go home or return back to the office? All in all, a lovely bit of kit. Just update the software on it first before you do anything with it!
dundeedunc
4 years ago
I bought this to replace the Samsung Tocco that I had purchased and returned to to appalling sound quality (I got a replacement Tocco and it was the same - see review) and the 902 is the business. Not as 'out there' looking as the Tocco but is packed with stuff and the quality of the camera means that finally I don't need to take my digital camera anywhere as for day-to-day snaps this is just the ticket. I took it on holiday recently and it did all I needed it to do with no problems. Put the Tocco's 5MP camera to shame! Battery life is good and the screen allows a decent degree of surfing although I can't get into my btinternet e-mails for some reason - will have to persevere with that and I tried to get Youtube vids but can't get that to work either. User interface is typical good Sony quality and the 1GB card I put in keeps enough songs in it to amuse you on a long journey or holiday. Internal speaker is as good as you could expect from a phone. I still wonder why you need to use the earpiece as an antenna though - thought they would have designed an internal one by now. Anyway, all these plusses, now for the negatives. Problems with crashing - crashes when I plug the charger in, freezes when I play solitaire, alarm doesn't work most of the time, goes wonky sometimes during text messages and fills in the message with symbols, freezes during MP3 tracks, turns off for no reason too. I was warned about this in the carphone warehouse that there had been a few complaints but my girlfriend had just bought one and she had no problems. She has since experienced all of the above with her phone. Will be taking them both back shortly to the shop to see if they can get it ironed out (we've only had them for 6 weeks or so). Anyway, this phone would be 5 stars if it weren't for the above problems, plus I've just remembered, the down key has already lost it's tactility (probably after about 2 weeks) - I believe from heavy solitaire sessions. I'm going to have to give it only 3 stars for this reason. I get the impression SE haven't tested this rigorously or were keen to get it on the shelf ASAP. As I said, girlfriend and I have exactly the same issues with our phones - if you look around on the net you'll see others have too.