Sharp 903 spells trouble for digital cameras

[3GScottishUser]

From GuardianUnlimited (08/09/2005):

Is the budget compact digital camera in danger of extinction? With camera phones like the Sharp Vodafone 903, which launches this week, it looks a possibility.
The clamshell 903 is virtually identical to its predecessor, the 902, except that it has a more angular design, comes in black, not white and boasts a 3.2 (as opposed to 2.0) megapixel camera. The images are a clear leap forward, too, in that they feature superb colour, definition and contrast.

Sharp has also worked hard on the camera's facilities, which now include an effective auto focus, a useful 2x optical zoom and a variable exposure option. The handset includes a top-quality MP3/AAC music player and excellent integrated speakers, a high resolution 2.4in 262k colour display and access to Vodafone's Live! 3G services.

Unfortunately, it is still saddled with the 902's primitive web browser. In spite of a few enhancements, the POP3 email client and personal organiser remain fiddly.

Nevertheless, the 903 is as much a camera as it is a phone. Its only weakness is its chunky size. The price is to be confirmed.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/sto...564450,00.html

[Jon3G]

What network is this getting launched on

[whatleydude]

Vodafone exclusive I reckon.

[3GScottishUser]

It is a Vodafone exclusive as was its predecessor the 902.

It looks like they will be charging for it even on higher value contracts, so its being pitched as a premium product.

[getti]

I asked at my local Vodafone store how much I can get one for WITHOUT a contract. it's never going to be on PAYG but you can buy the phone with no contract, locked to vodafone and use your own vodafone PAYG card in it.

£600 is the price they have for the 903

[whatleydude]

Excuse my french but F*** ME!

JEEZ LOUISE!

That's mental.. 600notes?!

Wow.
Do they have a release date for it yet?

[Ben]

Mhm, it's overpriced and a bit of a bruiser - far superior digital cameras can be had at a fraction of the price and in far more pleasing form factors.

I think the 903 will go the way of the 902... nowhere fast!

[Gagz]

Dudes, I just took out a contract on the Sharp 903 today wicked fone and its only £30 for 6months then £15 for 12 months (18 month Con) not bad really It rocks not to many improvments from 902 except really the design looks really cool, MP3 TONES FINALLY !!!, and the 3.2mp Camera + some more stuff i gota find lol

[whatleydude]

Cool!

Any chance of some pics with it?

I bet the camera's amazing.

[Gagz]

Yup will do infact i just took a pic on max res and size and it looks fooking great lol. I'll upload them in a while i'll go take some more

Edit: Ok just uploaded a winzip file with 3 pics i took, there pretty good i couldnt upload them on imageshack.us lol they were over 1mb each so but there good. Download link here just wait for the clock to hit 0 on the top right to download - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=29EE7QBH

[Gagz]

Right ive edited the images down to get them in a smaller file size so you can see them without downloading the file in the previous post

[Bleubean]

Woah! and i thought the N90's were good!

[Ben]

They're really sharp shots, Gagz, nice job!

[Gagz]

Alright well ive had the 903 for about 35hours now, although at first I didn’t notice to much difference from 902 i was really impressed with the 3.2mp camera.

First Thoughts
Well the guy at the VF store put the battery in so when i got home with the 903 i took the battery out, its really thin but still about the same size as the 902 surprising really since its alot better then the 902's one. The design of the 903 is brilliant, from images i saw on the net i thought the black wasn’t that good but it does look really nice and has a shiny black plastic on the front which protects the phones screen chips in side and looks great.

Also upon holding the 903 the back almost felt like light leather and fits comfortably Into your hand whereas with the 902 it had a more flat back cover and tended to slip down in your hand the 903 grips a bit. The 903’s camera on the back is right at the top and is in a perfect position as you won’t accidentally touch the lens with your fingers (fingerprints!!!).

Ok turning on the phone didn’t take as long as it would on 902 took about half the time, menu is really fast too + The speakers are now on the side of the phone rather then on the front. The phone does have like a black colour behind the logos on the menu which does let the menu style down a bit but good news is NO VODAFONE BRANDING !!! This is the first Sharp phone without tons of Vodafone Branding.

What’s in the Box
Ok basically you get the same items you get with the 902 – Actual Handset – Vodafone booklet + CD – TV cable – Headphones – Charger and a 64mb MiniSD card (had a 32mb SD Card with 902)

Menu Options
There are quite a few differences on the 903 menu compared to the 902 menu. First of which are that in the Entertainment part of the Menu you have a TV & Video option which allows you to watch SD videos on your Mobile/MiniSD card and also enter a URL of a streaming 3G video and watch it directly in that part of the phone. You also get 3 Game demos in the Entertainment Menu including a great looking ski boarding demo.

Message menu is basically the same as the 902 not much difference. Organizer and Tools option is also the same except you have a E-Book option which I don’t know that much about but will find out soon. Connectivity is also identical to 902 theres not much difference you still have the usual wap/mms setting choices. You can also check how much space you have on your memory card from this menu + You have a ‘Flight Mode’ option will will deactivate the 903’s mobile capabilities but still allow you to listen to music, watch your SD videos and play games on a plane so no interference on planes then its safe. I’ve also noticed that Vodafone Live! Is much faster on 903 it may just be because im on Contract whereas my old 902 was on PAYG and was like 3 times slower.

Ok Camera menu loads up the super cool 3.2mp camera within less then a second and you can instantly notice the superfine quality of images on screen. Almost mind blowing. Contacts menu is about the same of the 902’s except there is a new styles throughout the phone with new logos and images. The Music Section is similar to a Ipods as you have a ‘Last Played Music’ option which simply plays your last song you listened to, also there’s a ‘My Music’ option which you can go into and see all your music on the phone/Memory card and you have a ‘Browse Music Store’ which takes you to the Vodafone Music Wap store to download music from. Most of the remaining menus are the same as 902’s.

Ringtones – Games – Vodafone Branding and Camera
Well decided to cover 3 things in one section here. Ringtones good news finally MP3 RINGTONES!!! It’s been a long time coming all previous Sharp phones would not let you use a MP3 as a Ringtone but that is now history on the 903. MP3’s and previous Ringtone formats are accepted.

Game wise as I said you get 3 game demos and you can more easily download new 3D games for the 903. Obviously the 903’s speed is much superior from the 902 and I believe it can cope with a lot bigger games that are more 3D heavy.

Vodafone Branding is basically non-existent on the 903 I haven’t seen a lot of VF branding except on their Wap Site, the bottom of the menus and options is black instead of the Vodafone Red color and just doesn’t seem to be related to Vodafone which is nice to have finally.

Ok the 3.2mp camera, well what can I say really it’s just amazing. It must be the best camera phone available on the market pictures are crystal clear. On the downside the images do look a bit dark on screen however when you transfer them onto your PC they look 100 times better (ive uploaded some in my previous post). You can have 1536x2048 maximum size which is just huge. Aswell as the main 3.2mp camera you can also choose to view the internal camera on screen which is the video call camera. You couldn’t do this with the 902 unless you were video calling someone and its Full screen on the 903 too. The saving of larger images takes between 5-10 seconds but may be faster with a faster memory card but that’s to be expected.

Closing thoughts + Good / Bad areas
Well I think this will be one of the top phones for at least 3-5yrs as it has the highest camera resolutions and features like Text reader. It feels good to hold and offers the consumer a wider range of features now including MP3 Ringtones which weren’t available on previous Sharp models so sharp has listened to people this time round. It just looks amazing when closed and feels good open and closed. Also what I forgot to mention is when you open the screen, swivel it round and close it the phone automatically loads up the camera which is great if you want to take pics quickly. Im sure there’s so much to this phone could take a while to find everything. Its really fast and looks great.

Good Points – Fast, MP3 Ringtones, Streaming TV on menu option, 3.2mp camera is fast, Nice style, More clear menu from 902 & Virtually no Vodafone Branding

Bad Points – Takes a while to save images to memory card, bit dark on screen when in a average lighting condition

That’s all hope you all enjoyed that lol. If you need any more info just let me know.

[Bleubean]

Nice review! If you can it'd great to be able to see more pictures taken with the 903 ie indoors, night time, flash, no flash, brightly coloured things (am i asking alot lol?) just to see how it handles everything!

[Gagz]

Lol nope thats fine i'll take some pics in a few mins and upload them and i'll take some pics later tonight or tomorrow and upload then + I'll get a video or 2 up as well. I forgot to mention 902 records video in .ASF format aswell as .3GP

[Gagz]

More pics 3 of some coins lol

Pic 1 (1.jpg) - is of a 50 coin on my table and it was took about 30-30cm away using Macro mode

Pic 2 (2.jpg)- Was basically same picture except IT WAS TAKING IN PITCH BLACK with the mobile light on. Its amazing

Pic 3 (3.jpg) - This was about 2 metres away from my PC in pitch black again with the mobile light on

Pic 4 (4.jpg) - Basically same as Pic 2 except its much closer about 10cm away to pic up on the detail on the coin

Good or what lol.

[Gagz]

Alright i just took my old 902 out the box which i closed to sell on ebay lol. Got about 11 or 12 pics that i took of my 903. (notice the wallpaper looks a bit yellow lol 903 dont do that )

Heres 4 pics of 903 i took with 902

[Gagz]

4 more pics of 903

[Gagz]

Heres the final 3 pics of the 903 i took with my kaky 902 lol got some Pics i took with 903 coming up next post