Photos: Sony Ericsson C903 Cyber-shot hands-on

Sony Ericsson showed off an 8-megapixel Walkman phone today -- the W995 --  so it only seems fitting its latest Cyber-shot camera phone has a 5-megapixel camera, right?

"No wait, there's something amiss," you say. "The music phone has a higher megapixel count than the camera phone?" Damn, you're persistent. But you're also spot on -- the W995 has a higher-resolution camera than the C903.

Except that more megapixels doesn't necessarily equal better photos, and the C903 has a significantly better xenon flash as well, making it a more capable camera, despite taking shots at lower resolutions. We'll be putting them to the test in our reviews later this year when both phones are released.

Other specs of this slightly retro-looking handset include GPS, photo geotagging, autofocus and smile detection, Google Maps, a front-facing secondary camera for video calling, a 61mm (2.4-inch) 240x320-pixel TFT LCD screen, stereo Bluetooth, 3D games and TV-out.

It didn't feel like Son Eric's smartest shooter, and it's no C905. But as a slightly more affordable and marginally more fun-looking camera phone, it gets our thumbs-up. Expect it in the UK in Q2 2009. More pictures over the next few pages.