Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot C905a has a very sharp and sleek style that really highlights its Cyber-shot namesake. In fact, from the back, the phone looks more like a point and shoot camera thanks to the sliding camera lens cover. Measuring 4.1 inches long by 1.9 inches wide by 0.7 inch thick, the C905a is quite bulky. It's curved at the top and the bottom, has sharp corners, and is wrapped in a matte silver chassis with hints of dark gray. Weighing in at 4.8 ounces, it has a nice heft when held in the hand.
The sliding mechanism feels solid as well, and engages in a satisfying click each time you slide it up or down. The 2.4 inch scratch resistant display on Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot C905a is absolutely stunning. It supports around 262.000 colors, which results in great looking images and is especially helpful when using the display as a camera viewfinder. It has a simple menu interface similar to other AT&T phones, and can be organized in grid, rotating, or single icon view.
You can adjust the size of the clock on the home screen and the brightness of the display, but not the backlight time. Underneath the display is the navigation array, which consists of two soft keys, a Send and End and Power key, an Activity menu key, the Clear key, and a square navigation toggle with a center selection key. When pressed, the Activity menu key brings up a pop-up menu of four tabs, each of which list new events, currently running applications, application shortcuts, and Internet shortcuts, respectively.
The square toggle doubles as four user defined shortcuts and the middle key leads to AT&T's Media Net browser in standby mode. In camera mode, the toggle lights up in blue, which illuminates four camera function icons they correspond to the exposure setting, the flash setting, the self timer, and the focus mode. Directly above the display are two keys, one on the upper left and one on the upper right. In standby mode, the left key corresponds to the last picture or video in the album, while the right key leads to the camera album itself.In camera mode, the left key is a shortcut to the shoot mode settings while the right key lets you change the scene mode options. In between the two keys are a light sensor plus the speaker. Slide the phone up and you'll reveal the number keypad. The keypad is quite roomy, and there's a raised line between each row for additional texture. We wish there was more delineation between each key and that the keypad didn't have such high side walls, but as we had no problems dialing or texting, it's a pretty decent keypad on the whole.
On the left side of the phone are the charger and headset jack and memory card slot, which takes Sony's proprietary Memory Stick Micro (M2) format. We were disappointed that Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot C905a doesn't come with a 3.5mm headset jack. Though the recent Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot W995a was the first ever Sony Ericsson phone to have a 3.5mm headset jack, we just wished Sony Ericsson would roll that design out to all of its phones.
On the right side are the volume controls, which also double as zoom controls in camera mode, a camera album shortcut, a camera mode key that switches between camera and video, and the camera shutter key. The shutter key can be pressed halfway to focus in on the subject. On the back of the phone is, of course, the camera lens, complete with the sliding lens cover. When you slide the cover down, you'll automatically put the phone in camera mode. There's a very bright LED flash above the lens, and a tiny self-portrait mirror to the side of it as well.
