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Vertu's "Strawberry" and "Cream" Ascents
Frankly, we're not sure who's still buying the Vertu Ascent. Contrary to what Vertu might think, its handsets aren't timeless -- as technology plods ever forward, so must the world's phones. Alas, the company is seeing fit to roll out yet another batch of special editions of its most "mainstream" (we use that term very loosely here) model. "Strawberry" and "Cream," as one might expect, are pink and white respectively and feature perforated leather on their rears to roughly approximate the texture of a strawberry. Of course, it takes a very special kind of "rich" to afford a Vertu, so maybe existing owners are snatching these things up and putting them into some sort of ornate, wooden storage box, never to be used or seen again. To you folks, look for these newest models to grace your Vertu retailer come June.[Thanks, James]
Vertu Ascent, now in "I drive a Ferrari" flavor
When you think about it, Vertus and Ferraris have a lot in common: just as Ferraris give a select few the opportunity to spend an insane amount of cash on an object that provides little more value than a, say, $1,000 used car, Vertu offers a product with little additional value (and in some cases, less value) than phones offered free from carriers. Of course, you can't put a price on status, so getting these two status symbols to hook up and co-brand a device seems like a match made in heaven (more appropriate than a Ferrari-branded Moto, for example). The "Ferrari Challenge" rendition of the Ascent -- in red and black leather -- is limited to 1,947 examples (can that many people in the world really afford this thing?), each featuring a couple well-placed Ferrari logos and some weird thing on the back that's apparently supposed to look like a brake pedal. Look for it to grace your local Vertu retailer in July -- but please don't use it while driving, lest you destroy your real Ferrari, k?[Via Autoblog, thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Vertu wraps up Racetrack Legends series with box set
Purchasing a single Vertu handset probably qualifies as conspicuous consumption in most social circles. What term, then, can be used to describe the act of purchasing every model in the company's limited-edition "Racetrack Legends" series along with a matching, handcrafted, carbon fiber display case? We're not sure, but needless to say, we've added this puppy to our "things to buy when we make our first billion" list. As a refresher, the Racetrack Legends handsets hail from Vertu's Ascent line of phones / fashion accessories; with a tri-band GSM radio (no EDGE) and no camera, the meager tech specs have no bearing on the MSRP whatsoever, but you'll get six of the world's greatest race tracks neatly engraved on the handsets' posteriors -- which is more than we can say for pretty much any phone we've ever used. For the record, the last two handsets to be released in the series are Monaco and Nürburgring, which can also be purchased independently of their lavish case. We don't have the list price for any of these goodies in front of us at the moment, but we're not sure we want to know.[Via Autoblog]
Vertu Constellation gets the FCC treatment
If we're gonna drop a couple grand on a phone, the least it can do is give us quad-band GSM, right? As we reported a couple weeks back, Vertu's new Constellation handset picks up where their previous efforts left off, packing GSM 850/900/1800/1900 plus EDGE data all 2003-like. We weren't able to glean much from the draft manual (which still has Signature pictures in it), but the Constellation looks to rock a variant of Nokia's S40 platform -- we leave that to the world's privileged to decide whether that's an upgrade from the Signature and Ascent's OS. Look for this little slice of leather-covered opulence to drop later this year; we're sure you rich folk will find ways to shed some cash while you wait.
Vertu intros first 2 of 6 Racetrack Legends handsets
Ever since their Ascent Motorsport Edition withstood five rollovers by a Porsche Boxster, we've taken Nokia's Vertu luxury handset division much more seriously, and you'll never again hear us questioning the logic of spending $X on one of their products (where X = some obscenely large number). The company's newest designs, called the Racetrack Legends series, each pay tribute to one of six of the greatest circuits on Earth and are limited to 1000 units apiece, with outlines of Italy's Monza and Britain's Silverstone etched onto the back of the first two releases. When you're in the market for a Vertu phone, features are surely not your top priority, and the Legends series meets those expectations with nary a notable spec other than the inclusion of Bluetooth and tri-band GSM connectivity. Likewise, if you have to ask about pricing on these, you're probably not part of the target demographic.[Via Luxist]
