Tycoons of the world, get out your pocketbooks. Actually, wait, scratch that -- kick back, relax, and let your butler do it for you, because
Vertu has a new multi-thousand dollar toy for your enjoyment. The FCC has revealed that Nokia's ultra-luxe division has finally
updated its flagship Signature model to include 3G, and they've taken the opportunity to completely redesign it to make it slimmer, hotter, and presumably, pricier than ever before. The all-new Signature features quadband EDGE, HSDPA on the 850 and 2100MHz bands, and WiFi -- a Vertu first -- which means we should probably expect a fabulous browser to go with that generously-proportioned OLED display. Well,
we can't, since we'll never get closer than a thick sheet of security glass to this thing -- but someone can.
Update: The phone's officially been unveiled
on Vertu's site as the Signature S Design, hitting a boutique you can't get into unless you're dressed to impress near you come next month.
posted Sep 12th 2008 3:11PM
I don't wanna spend 10,000$ and talk on this phone for the rest of my life...
I'm not sure but I guess it costs more than 10000$
At 50k it starts I think
I wonder what sound it makes when your drunk and you drop it in the toilette?
If I were to get this phone for free I'd ditch it and go with a WM device, or even an iPhone.
@Spyvie
Well of course you would. But you aren't filthy rich. Which is the target demographic here.
it wont be anywhere near 50k.....
they are around 5k depending on the model... obviously if you get a super amazing one with built in sculpture than it will be a lot higher..... this will probably be around 8k....
Most of these stupid pieces of crap are sold in Neiman Marcus at prices under $1000. These things PALE in comparison to the typical cellular phone (iPhone, Sidekick, etc) and rich people don't even buy them. The wannaberich New Moneys do but, there are very few sales.
@ flashpoint
i believe your looking for the word "nouveau-riche"
Even if I was a billionaire I wouldn't be able to buy one.
Because the snooty shops that sell stuff like this don't serve people who don't dress like accountants or club rats.
Sorry, no matter how much money I make, I won't dress like a suit.
If I want to pay thousads for a phone, I'd take E90, thank you.
Exactly - why doesnt Nokia use their best phone for their Vertu line? Doesn't make any sense.
I don't understand how there is a market for this stuff - seriously looks like a crappy 90s cell made out of expensive materials.
I guess its just a case of pricing it so high that it becomes a status symbol regardless of style or functionality, sad.
Back to my diamond encrusted, gold gilded iPhone.
"Gold-gilded"? As opposed to being gilded, say, in silver?
You should be banished to the Redundant Isle of Redundancy Island!
Yes, exactly. Gilded usually applies to gold but can include other metals so in my statement 'gilded' refers to the process of how the 'Gold' was applied to my phone. You must be a Vertu owner.
"Gilding is the art of applying a thin layer of gold, simulated gold, or other metal to a surface. Products employed may be real gold leaf ranging in karats from 9 up to 24; imitation leaf--composition gold, Dutch metal leaf, aluminum leaf, copper leaf; variegated leaf, mica powders; etc." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilded
Ok - my mistake. I didn't RTW[iki]. Still, though, that is the most common usage, so "gold-gilded" comes across as somewhat redundant compared to, say "gold-plated". Fair point though.
Tiny screen. Huge price. I'll take it!
Ok but you better make sure it comes with a backpack.
I will only buy this if the "I'm Rich" app gets ported to it.
For the price you're paying for this phone/the Vertu line, you'd expect the tech and options inside to be on-par or superior to that of higher priced consumer friendly phones. I suppose they're selling it on the name, material/construction, and aesthetics to the ultra-rich, who are less concerned with specs.
2 words
Ultimate Durability.
These things are ^^. and a lifetime concierge service...and a few other things
Go read the website. some of the other models have a solid frame that they show torture testing
Its a piece of Sapphire crystal over the screen to protect it. These are HIGH CLASS phones, tre chic type.
Not personally my thing, but if i was rich, I would consider it
I understood that (hence the material/construction part I mentioned) and I forgot to add in the concierge service. I have been to and read the website before. But still, I would expect its interior to match its exterior ya know? I don't see why you can't get great tech while you're at it.
is that a jack knife?
That thing is so ugly! It looks kinda Russian, no offense Russians. And that logo at the top is cheesy.
Wait... You called Russians ugly and cheezy and expect them not to be offended?
You are an idiot... No Offense.
But isn't the target demographic newly minted Russian Millionaires? If that is true I think they have a real winner of a product on their hands.
Wrong - I didn't mean it looks like Russian people. I meant it had Russian design elements. Nice job putting words in my mouth though.
@Murphy
I wasn't trying to put words in your mouth. I just pointed out how stereotypical your statement was. Saying something bad about a person's food, art, design or culture is equally offending as insulting that person him/her self. Your statement was wrong in two sense that:
a. Saying if a design is ugly it has to be Russian.
b. Saying you meant no offense, even though you did. That's like slapping a person and then saying "Sorry".
IMHO.
IndiaTech -
a. where does it say all things Russian are ugly?
b. how do you know who meant what?
c. do you call strangers idiots in person? I doubt it.
@ BobbyW
A.) "That thing is so ugly! It looks kinda Russian..." implies that ugly is characteristic of Russians.
B.) This makes no sense, idiot.
C.) I call strangers idiots in person if they are idiots. Case in point: Letter B.
No offense.
umm...that wasn't in person Tony.
But I don't doubt that someone named Tony calls strangers idiots.
I thought it looked like a Klingon forehead.
IndiaTech - So - if something is Indian, like you - and it's also ugly, like you - does that mean all Indian things are ugly? I think there might be a flaw in your logic. Idiot. Get over yourself.
1998 called, it wants its Uniden $10 home-phone design back. who is buying this thing? oh right, stupid-ass rich jagoffs.
Just cause you can't afford it don't be so pissed that other people can.
hahaha, you're right. Money IS the reason why I won't buy this phone.
It's got an Autobot-y feel to it.
http://www.pixelhivedesign.com/Tutorials/tutorial_015/autobots_logo_sm.jpg
Yea, but can I run my 345/35-15 P zeros over it and have it work like the 2.5g model?
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/03/business/03pursuits.html
Only problem with that article, which was overall good, is that there has not been a Porsche F1 car (reference in the article) since the 60s.
That looks like something a Decepticon would talk on.
Megatron would so rock this!
So it's HSDPA and has WLAN so it's running S60. Maybe they'll have made a better job of it this time. Like trying to put a silk hat on a pig I suppose.
Or maybe lipstick?
It's S40
Then this is Nokias first S40 HSDPA WLAN phne, and about time too. Hope they are sub 12mm and 100g. Got a link to the source of the S40 proof?
So, if you watch the intro video for the Signature S series, it shows a close-up of the build and a signature inside with the words "Handcrafted by Wendy Beaven." A quick Google search finds me no honorable Wendy Beaven, so I'm perplexed. Do ultra-high-luxury phone assemblers get their own names, whereas my socks say "Inspected by #8?"
That's because regular google is for poor people. If you search on google-for-rich-people you will find a full dossier on Wendy Beaven. Without revealing too much Wendy is one of the top high end mobile phone craftspeople in the business. She is best known for her work on the legendary TTK-2900 (don't bother googling for it, it's not on poor people google).
Holy crap ChuChu, you just google bombed Wendy Beaven.
search "Wendy Beaven Vertu Phone Design"
I googled #8; I'm gonna have to say, socks have much better known designers.
This thing is UGLY! Looks like something you would stab someone with down a dark alley. Probably made to warn people you have a weapon of some sort.
are you saying it looks like your penis?
It's useless to try to find something that makes sense about these uuber expensive phones because there wasent ever ment to be any sense of buying these phones. They are just there to boost the new uuber rich that either just dont care about the price or need to show that he/she got enough to afford it.
..... that said if i wanted phone that just looked nice i would go for the Nokia's 8xxx series even if i would get Vertu for free.
i actually knew somebody who had one of the older models. quite frankly i thought it was hideous. to my eyes, i didnt think it looked nice, and under all those bits of sparkle, its the same boring nokia-esque type stuff anyway, isnt it? she liked her flashy sparkly bits, but for a techno guy like us all, after a few months we'd want to update it, no?
Well techno guy wouldn't probally buy this at the first place....
I dont find anything in Vertu that resembles Nokia's design in any way and in usual Nokia has so big of variety of phones that it's hard to talk about one design language.
one thing though - i think most buy it for the concierge service... it's like having a 24/7 personal butler booking hotels, restaurants, sorting problems out. etc. yea, sure you can do it yourself, but this is for people who don't have time /cant be bothered.
That looks like a Klingon weapon!
wow...you'd think for a series of phones that cost thousands of dollars that 3G would have been added a long time ago. Or maybe they cater to people who have more money than brains.
Like they say, this phone is a piece of jewelry, like a jewel encrusted watch. May not be the best watch out there functionally, but it is made with expensive materials.
Yeah, good thing this thing has WiFi, in case the millionaires run out of anytime minutes, the $0.45 per minute overage charge would really sting...
You know, one day, when I'm super rich, I'm gonna buy a couple of these and STICK 'EM IN A MICROWAVE for like 10 minutes, and then SMASH THEM with a hammer. Only then will I be able to die a happy man.
Microwave would probably do them in (though they do a low power flame torch test on one) but the nhammer? Gonna take a good many whackings.
They is built Tough ^_^
This thing is truly ugly. Is it that the rich have no taste or what?
OMG, how ugly is this thing.
is that optimus prime's face?
If I may add a potentially useful comment...
I have a Vertu Ascent Ti... which is a lower end Vertu. While I did pay around 7000 dollars from Tourneau for the phone, I'd never pay the asking price for this phone.
Specifically, is the Ascent Ti worth it? Yes. Wh? Because I'm accident prone and I've burned thru many a phone, over a few years totaling much more than what that one Vertu cost me. and I've yet to break it. It hasn't been thru the fire/flame test that is advertised on their website, lol, that's silly. Is it feature limited, yes. In some regards. Does it live up to the hype and sturdiness that is advertised. In my opinion, yes.
I'm 22 years old. I'm not filthy rich. My parents, or any other family member for that matter didn't buy the phone, And I don't have "disposable income". It was to save my own behind in future phone replacements.
Have I used the concierge feature. lol. No. I'm perfectly capable of booking a travel vacation on my own, and finding things at a department store by driving there. Or sending flowers via the internet. Etc. You get the idea.
Maybe I'm simple, maybe I'm odd. I think it's useful. It's functional for me, and considering what has already happened to it, e.g. I've left it on my car, and driven away (a few times), I've dropped it many times on concrete, grass, dirt, tile, etc... sound like an idiot klutz eh? lol. However, it still looks new and I'm quite fond of it.
I'm not a flashy guy, and I do think some of their, ok... let me rephrase, most of their products are featureless and behind the times, sensationalized, and over the top. But the Ascent Ti. Is nice.
The phone mentioned above, is just that.
Please. It is ugly, underpowered and expensive. ti is over designed. It is heavy. It is the proof of the adage: the emperor has no clothes. Make it stop.
These phones, like sneakers and cars and everything else, keep getting more and more ugly as time passes.
one ugly mofo
I tried out a Vertu Ascent at Holt Renfrew in Toronto. While I'm not prepared to spend that much money, it really is a great phone. I do find it odd that a fair number of people commenting can't understand that other people may think differently than them. Some people prefer the weight. My watch is quite heavy, and I like it that way. Bentleys, especially the Arnage/Azure/Brooklands, have outdated navigation systems that never get updated (okay, updated once). Why? Because Bentley owners don't ask for it. In the same way, Vertu builds what Vertu customers ask for.
Rich toys are meant to make everyone else envy you. If i see someone driving a supercar, im extremely jealous. However, if i saw someone using this heap of junk, I would laugh my ass off. Their business model is fail.
is this phone sponsored by Citroen?
Looks like someone took a Nokia candybar phone, beat it with the biggest ugly stick they could find, then dropped it into a vat of molten ugly and finished it off by running it over with the ugly train. That poor, poor phone...