In the recession we’re all feeling the pinch. Cutting back on some of life’s luxuries has become necessity as people look to tighten their purse strings and manage their outgoings. But one area that is surviving the cutbacks is in communication technology.
The C903 s yet another offering in the worryingly large Cybershot range from Sony Ericsson. It has been seen by many as the little brother to the C905 and in many ways I would have to agree, a smaller price tag, a drop from 8MP to 5MP and the presence of the somewhat familiar Sony Ericsson navigation.
That said the C903 does manage to maintain its own personality and looks, well sort of, it is a slider like its older brother but does still have a unique look and styling.
Whats in the box?
Note that there was no USB transfer cable in the box with the review device so I don’t know if this was simply missing or if this handset simply doesn’t come with one.
Have a look at Matt’s Sony Ericsson C903 unboxing video for more.
Sony Ericsson C903 specification:
General
As mentioned the C903 is a slider and although we have seen many slider from the cybershot range and Sony Ericsson in general the C903 still manages to establish a distinctive look easily recognisable with the range of colours available. As Matt stated in the unboxing the C903 does have a very plastic like feel and this is something which you would usually associate with perhaps cheaper products on the market however the C903 is not a particularly cheap phone and I have to say I was surprised that although the device is housed in this plastic case it still manages to maintain a solid, well built quality feel.
The C903 is is also somewhat weighty, not as heavy as the C905 but still fairly substantial and from experience this is something I have discovered with allot of Sliders, but overall I was impressed with the look and feel of the C903. As I mentioned the C903 comes in a range of colours and the one I reviewed was the very sleek looking piano gloss black model which I managed to keep surprisingly finger print free.
The Front of the C903 from Sony Ericsson is I think an extremely sleek and stylish looking device it offer clean symmetrical styling which is something I think Sony Ericsson do really well, so often you see a device with cluttered presentation which tends to just look messy. When Open the phone again remains clean and sleek with a brushed silver effect numeric pad which unfortunately for some does not include individual buttons but given the size of each key this should not present the average user with many problems. One thing I will mention is ‘shake’ on some slider when open the display panel can occasional feel loose and shake however with the C903 it feels very secure which just backs up the build quality of this device and although the plastic case hints otherwise the device is clearly a well though through well constructed phone.
The left side of the C903 continues the clean and sleek style with a simple Sony Ericsson proprietary connection input and although what looks like it should be a M2 memory card slot is in in fact just the Memory type logo allowing you to see where under the cover your card is which as you cannot access it externally seems to me a little pointless.
The right hand side of the device houses from top to bottom, volume rocker, playback and camera quick launch control and finally the dedicated 2 step shutter button. Again the silver stripe is present which does continue in some form around all sides of the C903.
The back of the device in true cybershot style features the quick launch lens cover which interestingly spans the length of the phone and slides down away from the shutter button which unlike other phones sets the C903 up for standard landscape shots instead of the phone favoured natural portrait which does make the phone feel allot more like a digital camera than other phones out on the market. The lens is accompanied by a dual LED flash.
Highlights
+feature packed high quality camera
+battery life
Lowlights
-no forward facing camera
Review
One of the issues with expanding a line of phones as rapidly as Sony Ericsson seems to be doing with the Cybershot range is that very quickly each new device struggles more and more to set itself apart from the last and this is something I certainly found with the C903. The problem is it does not feel that they have a place in the range and that they may be lacking somewhat when it comes to others for example want a decent camera go for the C905, want decent build quality at a lower price grab a C510 and this is a problem I found throughout using the C903 I just felt almost that I could do better elsewhere however despite this apprehension I decided that as every person deserves a chance so does every mobile phone so on with the review.
First of all style wise although not groundbreaking the C903 is a very decent stylish looking piece of kit, the clean, sleek design lends itself perfectly to the build quality which on a slider phone can often be shaky in more ways than one. The C903 is clearly a well though out phone design wise, buttons are easily accessible and everything is where you would expect it to be. As I mentioned earlier the numeric keypad is something which I am personally not a fan of what I am referring to is that the the C903 does not feature individual keys and although they are large enough to make them easy to use the fact that there is no clear divide between keys does lead to a few slips of the thumb, these keypads will require your full attention leaving very little opportunity for a sly text under the table.
The phone is as with any Sony Ericsson these days extremely simple to use as you would expect from a device like this, menu navigation is effortless and if you have used any Sony Ericsson is the past year I would not bet against you being to able to find your way around the phone with your eyes closed which is not necessarily a bad thing, although the C903 may throw a curve ball or two along the way. One addition to the main menu is the Location Services icon this acts as your HUB as it were for all things navigation, through this you are able to launch services and features such as NearMe, Google Maps, Navigation and the name tracker could possibly fill you with fear however it is in fact a harmless training aid allowing you to track, set and monitor a personal running or walking workout. NearMe was something I really liked on the phone as well, it acts in a similar way to Points of interest on a Satnav offering local attractions from the database. The phone comes bundled with all the Sony Ericsson associated software we have come to expect from simple features such as the organiser, calculator etc. to the more advanced video, photo and music DJ which are always nice to have.
Being a cybershot phone it is important that the device lives up to the name of the Sony Cybershot range. I have never been disappointed by a cybershot shot phone when it comes to the camera and have often found them vastly superior to other camera phones on the market and I am pleased to say that the C903 does not let this record down. It is a 5 megapixel camera with a dual LED flash, on the surface nothing special but they seem to have a knack of getting the best out of every level of camera whether it be 3,5 or 8 megapixel the colours are always fantastic, sharp and defined and ease of use is another big pull for the Sony Ericsson cybershot range.
The C903 camera boasts a massive 16X digital zoom which although is not always the most effective option especially at close range to see it included on a mobile phone is a real bonus, the dual LED flash is great for taking shots in low light situations however something I have found with dual LED flashes is that they do tend to somewhat blinding when used to capture people in your shots, fine for scenery etc. however it almost becomes impossible to capture people without blinding them in the process. Playback allows for quick viewing of your photos enhanced by the C903’s built in accelerometer which can also be used in video playback. TV out is possible with the C903 however Sony Ericsson have not included the relevant cables for a phone costing around £260 is a bit of a disappointment. The usual camera modes and features are present on the C903 including of course macro mode, face detection and auto focus. Geotagging is also included on the device which is yet another fun feature that Sony Ericsson is making a habit of including. One thing that did surprise me as almost every phone I have encountered in the past year have included it is the lack of a forward facing camera meaning the C903 is not capable of video calling which for some may come as a bit of a set back.
Music playback is as you may expect from Sony Ericsson the people behind the walkman range very impressive, the navigation works in much the same way as the walkman range however will not have you stumped if you are unfamiliar with Sony Ericsson devices. Sound quality through headphones is crisp however the old problem of not only the large Sony Ericsson connection but also the fact they insist on placing in on the side of the device which just makes carrying the phone in your pocket an uncomfortable experience. The C903 also included an FM radio and the fantastic track ID and with the M2 card support of up to 16GB the C903 in unlikely to let you down storage wise.
The Sony Ericsson C903 is a 3G device and as a result extremely fast when it comes to web browsing the screen is a fair size and the accelerometer means using the phone to update your facebook status or check you email is an enjoyable experience however heavy usage browsing did become a bit of a problem just because of the amount of information that can be presented on the screen at once compared to the likes of the touch screen devices available today. And of course heavy browsing can impact heavily on battery life, speaking of which the battery life of the C903 in quoted at 10 hours talk time and 400 hours stand by which is highly impressive and although it will differ depending on the usage of the device you will certainly find yourself reaching for the charge less often than you may be used to. It always makes me laugh how the mention of the actual phone doing what a phone should do is now often left to the end of the review but that said the C903 has very clear speaker and I had no problem with muffling or stutter and the speaker is certainly loud enough for those apprentice style moments.
Conclusion
Overall the C903 is yet another solid offering from Sony Ericsson which will not disappoint however I was left as I said earlier feeling as though this phone as good as it is may be slightly unnecessary I feel that the cybershot range has now become a solid bet for those in the market for a new phone, they are all reliable devices which will not let you down and it more a case of pick the one you like the look of, a sad state of affairs or a great move by Sony Ericsson to give the customer a greater choice allowing for a more individual style perfectly matching the personality of the user.
Review by: Nick
Now I’ve heard everything is available on websites, but you don’t really care for websites, do you? You prefer having it all in apps, that bring additional benefits like offline-viewing and nice multitouch user interface and other fancy stuff.
Here we are reviewing an official (at last!) app for the biggest British website that offers properties for sale and rent – rightmove.co.uk. Yes, this is a British thing, so if you are not interested in Blighty – nothing to see here! Seriously.
The good people over at Devicewire.com just dropped me a line to remind me that they currently have an excellent deal on the HTC Hero. If you order between now and Sunday you’ll get if for just £394.99 with free delivery PLUS if you use our promotional code HEROTAM you’ll get a further £10 off!
Head on over to devicewire.com for more details and to order yours today, remember, the vouchers expire on Sunday 9th August so get a move on!
Don’t forget you can see our HTC Hero review on site too.
Posted by: Matt
Well folks, if you are reading this then it means that our webserver is now back up and running again!
Last night something nasty happened to our webserver that resulted in it eating one of its drives, suffice to say that’s a bad thing! 😉
So we’re back up and running on another drive and we’re scheduling a replacement some time next week. For those of you that visited earlier today I apologise for the down-time and for those of you that didn’t visit us already, well never mind! 🙂
Big thanks to Paul for getting us back up and running so promptly.
Posted by: Matt
Straight off the back of my HTC Magic review, and earlier than expected, Matt called to announce we have one of only 2 HTC Hero handsets in the country but we haven’t got it for long, as apparently it’s quite popular already.
How will it stack up against the Magic? I was pleased overall with the Magic and would have been tempted to buy one if it wasn’t for the Samsung Galaxy and Hero due to be released, so was the wait worth it?
As Matt mentioned in his HTC Hero unboxing video this is probably the final retail unit, but not the final box.
Edit – the final box is now available here.
What is in the box?
HTC Hero Specification:
General
The top of the device is the slot for removing the back as well and the much welcomed 3.5mm audio jack
The left hand side is the recessed up/down volume rocker which fits nicely with the bevelled shape of the Hero. There is also a small logo stating ‘HTC innovation’.
Nothing on the Right hand side as with the Magic
The base as the miniUSB sync / charge housing which is next to the microphone hole
The back of the phone is found the F2.8 Auto Focus 5 mega pixel camera, once again lacking any flash or portrait mirror. In the middle of the back casing is the lanyard hole and at the top beside the camera a speaker hole.
On front of the HTC Hero there is a large slot holding the earpiece, under which is the brilliant 3.2-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen with 320×480 HVGA resolution, covered in the review.
Next is a row of 4 buttons from left to right the ‘answer’ button, ‘home’, ‘menu’ and finally the ‘end / power’ button.
Below which is the trackball and a longer rocking button which is ‘search’ on the left and ‘back’ on the right.
Overall the device is a good size, again, being a good compromise between a big enough screen and not too big a phone. It feels well made, with a silver bezel running ¾ of the way around the sides and top, as picked up in the video the 4 buttons on the front, are also highlighted in the same.
The talked about lip on the bottom of the device wasn’t an issue for me and made the device easy to handle and although I expected not to like it (because if it jutting out and being noticeable in the pocket) it really wasn’t a problem. When on desk face down it actually lifts the majority, if not all, of the screen away from the surface and stops it getting scratched.
Software
I am not going to cover this is great dept as it has been done on Matt’s preview at the launch and also covered on the G1 and Magic reviews. I would like to mention a few highlights for me.
The new HTC sense UI is a great step forward, and with the additions of things like ‘aHome’ and the normal ‘Android’ home makes the device very customisable, but out of the 3, I now prefer the new HTC variant. You can change the screen regularly to stop it getting tired and you can have it as cluttered or basic as you like.
Points of note here is the introduction of the widgets which can be added or not as you wish, me being a gadget freak couldn’t have enough of them. Handy inclusions are application widgets, as seen, which allow you to quickly turn on and off things like Wifi, Bluetooth or GPS on the tap of the screen. I have also included a countdown widget to important events such as cycling to Paris.
Further extras, like a bookmark widget for your most commonly used websites, and shown here a twitter widget. Not to mention the improved and impressive keyboard.
All add together to make life easier and a pleasure to use.
Matt has also lent me some software to try out and me, being me, thought I’d try to get it to work on the android, it was at this point that I realised there is no File Manager on the HTC Hero, or the Magic come to that, fortunately the ‘Market’ came to my rescue with the free download of ‘Astro’ which let me interrogate the SD card. Just one example that for all the things the manufacturers omit, someone out there has solved it and developed it, mostly free of charge, I like android.
Review
In an awful lot of ways this is exactly the same as the Magic, different people will have different views as to which they prefer, Me, I prefer the HTC Hero, as for me it looks more professional and the black/chocolate/grey version looks even better. Put side by side with the Magic the Hero is slightly longer and pretty much identical in width and depth. The addition of the Sense UI is a huge step forward and I liked it so much I added a similar style interface to my trusty old Asus P526 as well.
The screen is, as with the Magic, brilliant, it is totally responsive with even the lightest of touches. Swiping the home from side to side is registered immediately without the need to keep repeating the actions as with previous less sensitive models. I have been using my Diamond a little this week and I have to admit the Hero makes if feel silly and sluggish.
The camera has seen an upgrade to 5 mega pixel from the Magic and although better still not that good, missing the flash etc. Still a lot of room for improvement HTC.
The call quality is also up to the job as with the Magic, I have read about issues with these units freezing up, but I must say that I have found the Hero to be completely reliable and no issues at all.
There is a issue in trying to sync these devices with Windows, having to download and install the SDK (458 MB) wasn’t the easiest thing to do in the world, and once loaded it wasn’t that easy to use either, that said sync with Gmail and contacts was a doddle and easy to set up straight from the off with the phone doing most of the work, as soon as you register or log in via the initial set up screens.
Conclusion
I like it, I prefer it to the Magic, but that is personal choice and I am sure many will like the Magic over the Hero.
The day to day use and the endlessly customisable screens make this device great to pick up and play with in quieter moments. The automatic updating of weather, twitter and so on keeps everything up to date and current without any hassle.
Would I buy one? I might well; I just need to have a look at the Samsung Galaxy (i7500) to be sure. A leap to the android side is definitely on the cards, but I will still have to have a windows variant hanging around as well.
From what I hear the Galaxy is not far away and hopefully with the swift release of the Hero, Samsung may be obliged to get their finger out. Overall being spoilt for choice can’t be a bad thing.
Review by: Steve
Agile Partners (creators of GuitarToolkit iPhone app) and musician Jason Forrest introduced Star6, the application that transforms the iPhone into a performance-ready sample instrument. Star6 is now available at the App Store for an introductory price of $6.99 (http://itunes.com/app/Star6)
Those “clever” guys over that CTA Digital have come up the the must have peripheral for the year, the iPhone steering wheel. You are encouraged to violently shake anyone you happen to see using this, especially in public.
Starting from today, I will no longer be writing for Mobile Tech Addicts, due to increased workload professionally and in my own personal life I can no longer find the time to write for the site which has been very frustrating for me.
Thankfully Gareth has agreed to take the reigns and take the site forward however I am sure he will be looking for help in doing this, so if anyone is interested in getting involved drop him a line at [email protected].
I would like to thank everyone for their support and especially all our friends at Clove and Superetrader and wish Gareth all the best with the site in the future, I will definitely be a subscriber.
Chris
Introduction:
The Samsung i8910 Omnia HD is the first mobile device capable of HD video recording and playback. This snazzy feature will certainly generate some interest but there is a whole lot more to the Omnia HD as it has superb specs all round.
The ten second review:
Device: Samsung i8910 Omnia HD
Price: £451.95
Summary: A top end Symbian S60 device sporting HD capabilities and an 8MP camera.
Best of: 8GB internal storage, HSDPA, WiFi, Camera.
Worst of: Symbian OS, Quick office, Dimensions.
What’s in the box:
Take a look at Matt’s Samsung Omnia HD unboxing video for more details.
Samsung Omnia HD Specification:
General:
The top of the handset contains a speaker and also the 3.5 headset jack. It has a nice plastic cover to protect it.
The bottom of the device houses another speaker and also the microphone.
The left hand side of the Omnia HD contains the microSD card slot and also an up/down volume rocker.
The right hand side has the phone lock button, the USB port and also the dedicated camera button.
At the top of the front of the device is the front facing camera and also a light sensor. At the bottom are the send, end and menu keys.
The back of the handset contains the 8MP camera lens and the flash.
Review:
Part of me was excited about reviewing the Samsung i8910 Omnia HD and part of me wasn’t. I was looking forward to checking out the hardware but the Symbian operating system defiantly does nothing for me. Anyway, I decided I would give the device a fair review so here goes.
The Omnia HD is a big handset. That’s not a bad thing but it can make using the handset one handed a slight problem. I couldn’t actually reach my thumb to the top left corner of the screen. Like many other devices the Omnia HD has a 3.7 inch screen but unlike other devices it also has a few centimetres above and below the screen. I was comparing the phone to the HTC Touch HD. The Omnia HD is not as wide as the Touch HD but is defiantly taller. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing I don’t know. It all comes down to personal preference. I would have a go of the handset in store before deciding if it’s the right one for you. Especially if you have small hands!
The device certainly feels well made. In fact it feels a bit of a beast in the hand. It’s quite weighty and feels almost rugged. The hardware buttons on the phone are made from a combination of plastic and metal and I would say they are built to last.
Like the recently launched Samsung Jet, the Omnia HD sports an AMOLED screen. This produces crisp bright vibrant colours that defiantly give the home screen the wow factor. The only downside is that it’s not great outside in direct sunlight.
Like many recent Samsung devices the Omnia HD uses Samsungs Touchwiz interface. This is a nice way of customising the three home screens with widgets. Each screen can contain different widgets and the theory is that this makes it easy to select your favourite programs. In reality though this was a bit of a pain as switching home screens can only be done once the widget bar is open. I could select programs in the menu using the same number of screen taps as if I was using the multiple home screens.
The Omnia HD has another feature while on the home screen. Swiping the screen to the right opens the main menu. A bit pointless I thought considering the device has a dedicated menu key between the send and end keys. Swiping to the left opens up a favourite contacts application. Here you can add your friends and family etc and have each one represented by there photo. This bit I liked.
At the bottom of the screen are four shortcut keys – telephone, contacts, messaging and menu. Yes a third way to access the menu! The screen is extremely responsive and these shortcut keys do a good job.
Using the on screen keyboard was a nice experience. The Omnia HD has three options for inputting text when creating a message. Option one is a standard alphanumeric keypad. The keys are really big and make typing with speed easy. The second option is a full QWERTY keypad which automatically switches the phone into landscape mode. Here the buttons are slightly smaller but still fairly easy to use. The QWERTY keyboard is made up of three rows of letters and can be switched with the tap of one key to access numbers and symbols. The third option is handwriting recognition. This works but certainly needs some practice. If you are in a hurry to compose an email or SMS then don’t bother with this option.
I was rather impressed with the camera on the Omnia HD. Most people think that more megapixels equal a better picture which is not the case. However the camera hardware is clearly of a reasonable quality as I took some pretty good pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/41110738@N04/3785646440
The settings on the camera were very easy to use and if you had the original Omnia they are very similar.
Viewing images on the device is also good. You have the option to view them full screen and swipe to move to the next or there is a slideshow option.
Video recording on the Omnia HD was impressive. The phone is never going to replace a real HD camcorder but compared to all other mobile phones on the market its way better. You can actually record video and watch it full screen on a PC without the video appearing blocky. The video recording interface is just like the cameras so dead easy to use and tweak settings.
Listening to music on the Omnia HD was pretty good. The speaker was nice and loud and produced a good quality sound. Once I connected the supplied earphones in to the 3.5 headset jack (thank you Samsung) and performed my “Metallica” test I was blown away. The sound quality was fantastic and I cannot fault it at all, apart from me being a bit deaf now!
The music player interface is always nice on Samsungs. The buttons are a good size and everything is straight forward to use. Rotating the handset into Landscape mode removes the music players keys from the screen and replaces them with the album cover work. You can then swipe forward and back through all the albums and select the one of choice.
There is certainly plenty of room to store music, videos and pictures. The Omnia HD I was sent came with a respectable 8GB of onboard storage and the option to extend this with a microSD card. I believe there is also a 16GB version but either way that’s a tonne of storage space.
Web browsing on the Omnia HD was as good as I expected but as it’s a Symbian device its not the best browsing experience. The web pages themselves render well and reading what’s on the page is nice. One of the nicest features with the Omnia HD is that the web browser supports both flash and java. This will allow you to watch videos on websites without having to use dedicated applications such as youtube.
Zooming can be performed by either a double tap or there is a dedicated on screen key which pops a zoom bar onto the screen. This way you can select the level of zoom.
Rotating the phone allows for a landscape view but on both views I could not get the webpage to be full screen as there are always a few on screen buttons which I could not seem to get rid of. This problem does not exist on some other operating systems.
Whatever my personal opinions are, the browser does what it’s meant to and that is lets you browse and it performs well.
The Omnia HD has built in WiFi to make web browsing as fast as possible. If you do not have access to WiFi fear not as the handset comes with HSDPA/3G.
Another Symbian disappointment is the Quick Office document viewer. You have to buy an upgrade for it which really sucks. If you are buying the phone SIM-free and paying hundreds of pounds for it, in this day and age you would expect it to be easy to at least create a word document straight out of the box.
The Omnia HD has built in GPS and although my handset did not have any pre-installed navigation software on it I did download Google maps and the GPS found my location quickly.
Conclusion:
I would love to say I really like this device but I can’t as there is one thing that in my opinion lets it down and that’s the Symbian operating system. The hardware is good but the device would be better if it were a feature phone like the Samsung Jet.
If you are looking for a media device then it will serve you well. There are certainly other handsets out there that do pretty much the same job (apart from the camera/video recording) and these will give you a better user experience.
My advice is that if you are currently a Symbian fan or looking for your first smartphone then you will enjoy the Omnia HD. If you are already using a smartphone then I would suggest choosing Windows Mobile, iPhone OS, Android or the forthcoming webOS from Palm.
The Omnia 2 will be with us soon. It’s a Windows Mobile device with a heavy Samsung interface over the top of version 6.1. If I were you I would definitely wait for this device before making any decision.
Review by: James
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