AT&T Sony Ericsson C905a strikes a pose; shipments now hitting retailers
Well it looks like Sony Ericsson’s upcoming C905a is just as anxious to see AT&T-subscribed mobile photogs as they are to see it. In fact, it couldn’t even wait until the 19th for its official release to pop out of its retail packaging and say hi to the camera. One of our ninjas just hit us to show off one of many units currently making their way across the country just waiting to be snatched up this Sunday. A quick recap of the spec highlights:
- 8.1 megapixel camera with a xenon flash, auto-focus and video capture
- Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, dual-band HSDPA
- On-device image editing
- Scratch-resistant mineral glass display
- GPS
- FM Radio
- Bluetooth
- Memory Stick Micro (M2) support up to 16GB
In less exciting news, we’re hearing AT&T has apparently crippled the handset a bit more than most would have liked — namely, it will be lacking Wi-Fi and Exchange support out of the box. For seasoned SE fans this shouldn’t pose much of a roadblock but less experienced users looking to bring the handset back to its fully functional state have some debranding research to do. Hit the jump for more shots of the phone and retail packaging.
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious………!
no sd crad slot and no 3.5 mm jack no thanxs
no sd card slot and no 3.5 mm jack no thanxs
what! wi-fi removed? why!
still considering it, though. at&t has pretty good signal almost everywhere i go, but wifi’s just useful for the places it doesn’t. and i like sony’s interface, simple but not too dull.
i wonder how much he paid w/o contract extension?!?
lame!
anyone know if unlocking/debranding will enable the wifi?
Having to buy m2 stinks, agreed. Why not buy a decent stereo bluetooth headset? Like http://www.mobilecityonline.com/wireless/store/productdetail.asp?productid=22448
has 3.5 mm jack. You would think a phone snob such as yourself would already own one….
I would much rather wait for the cs8 (a c905 that has been modified for T-Mobiles 3G netowrk).
Yes de-branding enables wifi and exchange support.
wow, a SE feature phone having exchange support? LOL Blackberry doesn’t even have that…LOL!
Yeah I agree, lame! Whats with the Verizon like crippling!??
please excuse my ignorance, I ordered this phone and am wondering if anyone can help me out and direct me to where can see how to de-brand my phone? Sure would be nice to be able to use wifi
I was told by an sony ericsson rep that it doesn’t have the antennae for wifi at all.. that is why it took so long to come out. AT&t wouldn’t let a phone that wasn’t a smartphone have wifi or exchange support. which i kinda get.. its a mistake on their part but i get it sorta.. but I don’t get why they only have 1 color. silver.. and i don’t get why sony doesn’t release a US unlocked version. the best bet would be get a roger’s Canada version and debrand/unlock that one with divici. at&t is stupid in marketing any phone that is not an iphone. The only reason I would even think about getting the C905a is video calling, because it doesn’t work without 3g.. but i don’t see what good a phone is now adays without wifi.
I have a blackberry bold that is wifi capable and NEVER use it as 3G speeds are fast enough for all my interent browsing needs
@durham,
The WiFi and bluetooth use the same antenna as far as I know. ….
@durham, the c905a does have wifi, go check Rogers’ site; they have the phone and list its wifi.
So far as I can tell AT&Ts custom pack disables the wifi in the phone’s registry. (among other features) I was able to get the threaded SMS working by uploading my own customize_upgrade.xml to the phone and having it set the appropriate registry settings, so here’s to hoping we can do the same for wifi and homescreen widget support.
The original Sony Ericsson apps for facebook and youtube can be found on places like se-nse.
too bad AT&Ts firmware is CID53, otherwise we could easily figure out AT&Ts customizations to undo them without having to reflash (the easy CDA/SEUS trick didn’t work for mine)
I realize these posts are a bit dated by now, so this is likely old news, but:
- Yes, debranding the C905a brings back WiFi, Exchange support, standard POP3/IMAP support, WayFinder navigator, Google Maps (native), and more. And it significantly improves the user interface (who the hell thought of assigning the center button to “AT&T Media Mall”? C’mon AT&T, you’re digging your own grave!)
- When debranding, be sure to chose an Americas flavored firmware (i.e. “C905a”, as opposed to “C905″). That’s because AT&T “Cingular Video” will only work if the “User-Agent:” string in the web browser contains “C905a”. You can always add language support (at least T9) for other languages — see guides at TopSony. And – yes – you can use T9 files for other phones – I added Norwegian T9 support for mine from a “European-4″ language pack for the k750.