The Sony Ericsson C905 is set to become the new standard for camera phones when it's released in October (just in time for Christmas!). Forget the 5 megapixel camera phones of last year - the C905 comes with a huge 8 megapixel camera, some serious camera wizardry to get the best out of all those pixels, and a huge range of other features, such as HSDPA, WiFi and aGPS, as well.

The question is - how well does it work? Only one way to find out - read on after the jump for our Sony Ericsson C905 review.

Sony Ericsson C905 overview

First of all, an overview of the C905. It is, as you can see, a slider phone, with a keypad that's apparently extremely easy to use, and a simple sliding design that actually looks rather good.

It's not the smallest of phones, but then it wouldn't be, given the amount of features that Sony Ericsson's managed to cram into the thing!

Ah yes, the features - let me remind you of just some of them:

• GPS and aGPS
• Bluetooth™ technology
• Modem
• USB support
• Wi-Fi™
• DLNA™ support, letting you share your pics and vids wirelessly across hundreds of other devices
  
• Video streaming, recording and playback
  
• Bluetooth 2.0
• MP3 player
• FM radio
• GeoTagging and mobile blogging features
• TV-Out
  

Did I mention the 8 megapixel camera?! Yes? Well what about the following camera-specific magic:

• 8.1 megapixel camera
• Xenon flash
• Auto focus Face detection
• Smart contrast
• Image stabilizer
• Red-eye reduction
• BestPic™
• Digital zoom – up to 16x
• Photo fix
• Photo flash
• Photo light
• Video light
• Video recording
• Video stabilizer

What all this means is that the Sony Ericsson C905 isn't just a camera phone - it's actually more camera than phone, and is set raise the bar for camera phone when it launches in October.

The Sony Ericsson C905 camera

An 8 megapixel camera takes photos at a resolution of 3264 x 2448 pixels, which leads to photos that can be blown up to ridiculous sizes without loss of resolution or detail. However, in doing so, any shortcomings from the camera are also made immediately apparent. So confident are Sony Ericsson with the quality of their C905's pics, though, that during its launch they displayed its photos on A3 display boards - that's 297mm x 420mm - and there wasn't a trace of any picture degradation.

The C905's face detection feature will also ensure that people's faces always remain in focus when you're taking a pic, regardless of whether there's one, two or three people in the shot. Apparently, it'll even recognize ugly people, although really ugly people may cause it to throw a bit of a wobbly!

There's the usual array of image improvement software, including digital stabilization, smart contrast (which helps ensure you don't over-expose your subject) and red-eye reduction. There are also several different modes that you can shoot with, including panorama for extra wide shots.

There are even a couple of applications that make use of the camera in innovative ways. CamPlus, for example, is a Java application that lets you take time-lapse photographs of a sense at time intervals that you define, and also lets you take photos whenever any motion is detected within the camera's field of vision. Imagine the fun you could have with this!!

The picture above was taken by the C905 and published on Flickr. There aren't that many sample photos taken with the C905 yet, as it hasn't officially been launched, but you can find a few over at Flickr (note that some of the pics that have incorrect colours are due to the C905 unit in question being a prototype, which hadn't had its colour imaging adjusted correctly at the time the picture was taken).

Things you can do with the Sony Ericsson C905

What's exciting me the most with the C905 isn't just the amazing picture quality, it's the combination of the camera and all the features that the phone contains. HSDPA and WiFi, for example, will let you upload the pictures at high-speed no matter where you are. The aGPS device will let you GeoTag your pictures so you can view them by location as well as by time.

Better still is the DLNA compatibility, which lets the C905 communicate and share media with a variety of other home entertainment devices, such as a PlayStation 3. For example, you can wirelessly connect the C905 to a PS3, and using DLNA, use the PS3's controller to browse through the C905's videos (it records at 30 frames per second) and pictures, which are displayed on your TV. DLNA is also available in other devices including HDTVs and HiFis, all of which are able to seamlessly share the videos and pics contained within the C905.

Sony Ericsson C905 reviews across the Web

It's a bit early for proper in-depth reviews of the C905, but here are what some of the people who've had early pre-release devices have been saying:

GSMArena had a hands-on test with the Sony Ericsson C905, and were "...highly excited by it even at this pre-release stage and we just can't wait to get our hands on a final unit. For now we are left with good impressions that we hope will be reaffirmed when we start a full featured review some time in the future."

KnowYourMobile, meanwhile, were there at the press event, and were really impressed with the demos that they saw: "Overall then, the Sony Ericsson C905 is a very impressive looking mobile phone. Sony Ericsson has addressed most of the issues with the K850i and come up with a phone that feels good in the hand and does all the standard phone things well, but also boasts the highest specced camera on the market."

Availability and Sony Ericsson C905 Release date

The Sony Ericsson C905 release date is expected to be early October, with October 7th being the most likely date.

• You can see a video and read more about the offers that will be available for the Sony Ericsson C905 at Phones4U.co.uk
• Alternatively, you can see more offers and read a comprehensive Sony Ericsson C905 review at DialAPhone.

Both companies will have their hands on the C905 as soon as it's released, so check back there often in early October to be the first to get one.