Vodafone Sharp 903SH Cell Phone Specification Review

The handling of 903SH is very similiar with 902SH. It adopts a 180 deegree swivel display that folds back on itself to transform the handset into a standalone camera pose. The camera is automatically activated when you twist into action, and the shutter button, 2x optical zoom switch and menu keys run along the top. This means you can alter the settings easily while in capture mode. The viewfinder screen displays a host of icons to guide you on your current settings or you can choose to have these cleared. It's all straightforward to operate.

The 903SH offers many adaptable modes depending on your photographic environment. Action, portrait, text, sunny and night-time conditions are all catered for. The unique 2x optical zoom is a particular boon. It works perfectly when searching for more detail on distant shots and picture quality isn't lost, unlike with digital zoom. Zoom in for more specifics on close-ups and it again struggles for sharp focus. Similarly, the macro setting does on occasion lack true focus. The optical zoom is disabled on this mode but you will have to experiment with distance to get acute results.

The snaps arrive in a 1536x2048-pixel resolution and range from between 650KB and 1.3Mb in size. One minor drawback is the time it takes to save to your handset's memory. You can preset the profile to save automatically to the internal or MiniSD card or decide manually between the two after taking a photo. Once you've decided, it can take up to 15 seconds to save in some cases. Frustrating if you want to capture another snap quickly.

Despite this, the 903SH, as we mentioned earlier, really does take outstanding snaps. Highlights are controlled and not overblown, colours and tone are consistent and seemingly unaffected in overcast conditions; this adept interpretation of light is reassuring. However, there are drawbacks: sharpness can fall off at long distances and pictures can suffer from a little camera shake occasionally. But such shortfalls won't spoil your overall appreciation.

The 903SH is also an adept camcorder. Its video performance ranks as the finest around (how can you fail with a 3.2-megapixel lens?) but there are still traces of noise and pixel drag. Despite the colouration it still delivers clear images but the video footage at the highest quality can eat up the memory.

Video streaming is always prone to outside influences like the 3G signal and buffering skill but even when the 903SH locked onto a weak reception its performance was still highly watchable. It handled the pell mell of Premiership highlights skillfully with only a dash of digital noise. Better still, if you download the footage and playback on the built-in media player, the results are even slicker.

Film trailers and sports action are almost free of pixelated colouration. The accompanying audio is best experienced through the bundled headphones even though the handset comes with embedded stereo surround sound speakers. You really have to strain to hear the football commentary, for example, and even music playback is too tinny, so the speakers are pretty redundant.

Vodafone Sharp 903SH Cell Phone Specification Review