Sony Ericsson to debut 8.1 megapixel camera phone

Sporting a design and feature list not unlike Nokia's N95 and N96, Sony Ericsson's C905 Cybershot blows Nokia's devices away in one area: picture resolution.

Sony Ericsson officially announced today its Cybershot C905 handset which had been shown through "leaks" last week. Offering support for GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 UMTS/HSDPA 2100, Sony Ericsson has announced that the C905 will be made available in select markets as early as the fourth quarter of this year.

Evinced by the Cybershot name, this device is being marketed for its camera functions. In addition to the banner 8.1 Megapixel count, the C905 offers a xenon "real camera" flash, face detection, image stabilization, autofocus, 16x digital zoom, red-eye reduction, support for print sizes up to A3, and GPS-enabled geotagging features.

But for all that marketing, one missing element is data about the lens. While blogs have speculated that Sony Ericsson would include a Zeiss lens, mainly because they have before, there's no indication from the data we've been given about the lens' actual manufacturer or specifications. BetaNews has pending requests with Sony Ericsson, and once we do learn the facts, we'll share them with you.

The built-in geotagging functionality is another of the banner features of the C905, as interest in devices providing this service has been strong this year. Among mobile phones, it is a feature still limited to the higher end of the pricing spectrum.

Onboard memory lags a bit behind its Nokia N96 competitor, which has upwards of 16 GB of storage. The C905 comes with just 2 GB on Memory Stick Micro storage, but attempts to supplement that somewhat by including a USB adaptor for frequent transfer, and support for DLNA Wi-Fi and TV-out connections, so pictures can be viewed on the user's television.

Non-photo related features include A2DP stereo Bluetooth, Sony Ericsson's trademark TrackID and PlayNow music services, sound recorder, 3D J2ME games, FM radio, video calling, as well as limited PIM and Email functions.

Though it's been almost two years since Samsung first showed off its 10-megapixel handset at CeBit, and Broadcom developments could make 12-megapixel phones a reality as early as the first half of 2009, Sony Ericsson's new Cybershot will still be one of the highest resolution offerings in consumer handsets.

Another missing data item is the MSRP, and once we learn the price, we'll let you know that as well.