Sony Ericsson Frances Rumored to Come as C903

The yet unannounced Sony Ericsson Frances is rumored to hit the market under the name of Sony Ericsson C903. The handset is another Cyber-Shot phone coming from the maker, as it has been spotted a while ago, along with Kate and Filippa, and is reported as being much the same as the latter, except for the included GPS receiver.

The new Sony Ericsson Frances / C903 is expected to come to Sony Ericsson’s Cyber-Shot lineup featuring a 5-megapixel camera, and is seen by some people over the Web as the down-range sibling to the Sony Ericsson C905. Nevertheless, there is no word on the inclusion of a xenon flash with the C903.

From what the reports say, the device should include Cyber-Shot features like PhotoFix, Face Detection, and Smile Shutter in a sliding form-factor. Moreover, to help the phone gain more traction among users, the mobile phone maker is stated to have included an active-lens setup with the handset, similar to those featured by Sony’s point-and-shoot Cyber-Shot cameras. In the end this should prove an appealing feature to most cameraphone fans out in the wild.

This upgraded version of the SE C901 (Filippa) is also reported to come with a 2.4-inch TFT screen that would provide a 320×240 pixel resolution. Besides the lack of xenon flash, the Sony Ericsson Frances will not sport Wi-Fi connectivity either, which is supposed to account for the fact that it has a lower selling point than C905.

There is no official word on Frances / C903 from Sony Ericsson, yet the company is expected to announce the phone at the Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona from February 16 to 18. As reported by SEMC Blog, the Cyber-Shot handset should start shipping at the end of the second quarter of this year.