This year, one phone-maker is intent on shaping the world of camera-equipped mobile phones. This company is Sony Ericsson, and they plan to not only corner the market with high-end camera phones, but low-end ones, as well!

Camera phones through the ages – the Sony Ericsson legacy

It’s quite apt, really, that Sony Ericsson should be the ones at the forefront of the revolution in camera-equipped mobile phones. I mean, it was they who kicked it all off, way back in 2002. Let’s not forget that they were the first phone-maker to release a mobile phone that’d got a camera in it, within the British marketplace. That phone was the Sony Ericsson P800, but it didn’t really hit the mass market in the way that Sony Ericsson wanted, as it was an amazingly (compared to other mobile phones at the time) top-end smartphone. But, their most iconic device in history was soon to be unleashed, and that one WOULD get huge mass market appeal. It was the Sony Ericsson T610, and it moved the goalposts. Here you had a mobile that stood proudly over the other mobile phones around it. It was small, it was sexy, and customers went MENTAL for it. The key thing was… the Sony Ericsson T610 also had an integrated camera, and that it was really the first handset to hit the mass audience, and make people go, ‘Hang on, we actually do want our mobile phones to have cameras in ‘em!’

Now, the camera phone world has split, into low-end handsets, and top-end camera-equipped mobile phones; and Sony Ericsson really badly want to dominate both!

Sony Ericsson S302 – snazzy and snappy

If you want a Sony Ericsson camera phone, but you don’t need a big, super-powered device, then the Sony Ericsson S302, the first phone to be announced in their whole new Snapshot range, is absolutely perfect for you. It’s a great little mobile phone, with a compact, sleek shell, a great screen, and a funky little multimedia player. On top of that, in spite of this being firmly in the ‘budget phone’ category, the Sony Ericsson S302 has a great little 2 megapixel camera. Ok, it doesn’t have top-end features like autofocus, but since it’s a budget camera phone, it’s brilliant!

However, the S302 is an entry-level mobile phone… what if you need something that has real clout? What if you desire one of Sony Ericsson’s Cyber-Shot line…?

Sony Ericsson C905 – the ultimate camera phone?

There’s no denying power, and one thing is for certain: the Sony Ericsson C905 has loads and loads more raw power than any other mobile phones on the market in the UK. Why is it so special? Well, this is the first camera phone to be announced in the UK that’s got an 8 megapixel camera. That’s right. 8. That’s a frighteningly huge pixel resolution, and it means that with the Sony Ericsson C905, you have the ability to take the absolute most jaw-dropping photos you’ve ever seen, from any camera-equipped mobile phone, in the world. Oh, and of course, remember that Sony Ericsson have amped it up with Cyber-Shot technology, and that’s going to make the images it produces even more vibrant. Add in a brilliant multimedia player, WiFi, HSDPA and built-in GPS, and you have to come to the conclusion that the Sony Ericsson C905 is, without doubt, the king of the hill!