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After Math: Paying more for less
The rent is too damn high unless you're living in a van down by the river, medical care routinely puts people into bankruptcy, gas prices are still floating around $3 a gallon nationwide and Senator Ted "Zodiac Killer" Cruz is worried that his six figure salary won't enable him to buy a second house anytime soon. Times are tough for everybody so one has to wonder why the companies below are seemingly trying to make things actively worse.
Vertu rises from bankruptcy ashes with $4,000 Android phone
Like a very expensive phoenix emerging from gold-and-sapphire-tipped flames, Vertu has returned from its bankruptcy with its latest luxury smartphone. Aster P is a handmade device with a price tag that reflects that handiwork and the premium materials used to make it -- it'll cost you at least $4,000.
Vertu’s fire sale phones are still too expensive
Last month, we reported that British luxury phone maker Vertu was closing up shop due to financial difficulties. Now, the company is auctioning off pretty much everything in its warehouses. If you ever wanted to snag a Vertu phone on the cheap, this is your chance.
Luxury phone maker Vertu is calling it quits
Luxury phone maker Vertu is in the process of being wound up after an attempt to rescue the business from administration failed. The Financial Times reports that the firm, which apparently had debts of around £138 million, will close with the loss of around 200 jobs. The news comes as a surprise, given that the outfit recently signed a technology-sharing deal with Chinese giant TCL.
Vertu will use TCL tech in its next generation of phones
Vertu's smartphones are hand-built in England, but sold all over the globe to a glittering array of people with more cash than taste. But beneath that bejeweled case and green leather, it looks like what you'll really be buying is a device from Chinese conglomerate TCL. The two companies have released an opaque statement, saying that $40 million has changed hands to let Vertu use TCL's "innovative technology" inside its next run of 30,000 handcrafted phones.
Vertu sells its luxury phone business to a Turkish exile
Vertu has been sailing rough waters ever since it Nokia spun it out, and it's not clear that things will get any calmer. The Telegraph reports that the luxury phone brand has been bought by Baferton, a company backed by Turkish exile Hakan Uzan, for about £50 million ($61 million). The move puts Vertu into the hands of a family whose relationship with Nokia is... troublesome, to say the least.
Vertu's latest luxury Android phone is built for jetsetters
Luxury smartphone maker Vertu may have undergone some operational changes over the past couple of years, but that doesn't mean it has broken the tradition of selling people expensive Android smartphones. With its latest update to the premium Constellation handset, the company is targeting the "global traveller" with support for dual SIMs (for the first time) and access to iPass, the world's largest WiFi network.
Vertu's sudden CEO swap spells trouble after Chinese buyout
It's only been three months since we met Vertu's then freshly-appointed CEO Billy Crotty, an Irishman who was brought in by the company's new Chinese owner, but for reasons unknown, it appears that he's already left the luxury phone maker. That's according to the LinkedIn page of Gordon Watson, who has since been promoted from VP of Sales and Marketing to CEO. Needless to say, it's an unusually short stint for such an important role, though there were already signs of trouble beforehand with the recent departures of other key execs.
Chinese-owned Vertu vows to keep making luxury phones in the UK
It's been a little over a week since Vertu announced that it is now under full ownership of Hong Kong's Godin Holdings. Which, as we found out, is linked to Godin Cyberspace Security Technology -- aka GodinSec from mainland China. This raised two questions: Will Vertu be ditching its "Handmade in England" slogan in favor of the classic "Made in China?" And does Godin intend to make use of its own secure smartphone OS on future Vertu devices? The short answer to both is no, according to the newly appointed CEO Billy Crotty.
Vertu's mysterious Chinese buyer has its own secure smartphone OS
In recent years, we've watched Vertu evolve to a luxury phone maker that actually cares about specs, and you can thank CEO Massimiliano "Max" Pogliani for that. But according to Financial Times, Swedish private equity group EQT has recently sold Vertu to Hong Kong's Godin Holdings, and Pogliani has since decided "to pass on the baton" to someone else. While these changes may bring a tear to some eyes out there, things are about to get real interesting for Vertu. You see, after some digging around in the Hong Kong Companies Registry, we found out that this Godin Holdings is actually just a four-month-old shell company of Godin Cyberspace Security Technology (translated name), which claims to be working on its very own secure smartphone OS dubbed "GOS." If you put the pieces together, we could be looking at a luxury equivalent of the Blackphone or the BlackBerry Priv in the making.
Vertu's posh smartphone is probably more powerful than yours
If you're going to shell out $9,900 or more on a smartphone, you're either nuts or you've really made it in life. Or both. Either way, Vertu's done its part by updating its flagship luxury smartphone line, the Signature Touch, with pretty much all the best specs available in the current market. As CEO Max Pogliani put it, this "is the most complete Vertu smartphone that we have ever produced." Most notably, this new titanium device runs on Android 5.1 and packs an octa-core Snapdragon 810 chipset with 4GB of RAM, along with 64GB of internal storage plus another 64GB on the included microSD card (expandable up to 2TB). Funny how at a time when mainstream players like Samsung, Xiaomi and OnePlus are staying away from microSD expansion, Vertu found no issues with this feature and has therefore chosen to side with spec-hungry folks like us this time.
Vertu's latest 'basic' luxury phone goes well with your Bentley
So you just bought a fresh Bentley, but you're worried that it clashes with the look of your basic cellphone? Never fear, as Vertu is coming to your (totally unnecessary) rescue. The luxury phone maker has unveiled its second Bentley-inspired handset, and this one is all about matching the look of your car without having to join the smartphone era. Buy the Signature for Bentley and you'll get the same carbon fiber weave and calf leather as the automaker's Mulsanne Speed sedan, but none of the technological sophistication -- you can call and text, but you won't be getting Google Maps directions to your beach home. The focus is instead on loads of creature comforts, such as buttons that sit on ruby (because they offer a nicer click, naturally) and concierge services. While this simple-yet-upscale phone will cost a steep £14,500 (about $22,800) when it arrives on September 18th, we suspect that you won't mind the astronomical price tag if you can afford a Bentley in the first place.
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Need a little more Adam Sandler in your life? Lucky for you, Netflix just landed four exclusive films with the comedy star. But that's not all we have on deck -- read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last 24 hours.
Vertu Aster is a luxury smartphone with 'mid-tier' price, top-tier specs
Since the launch of the Signature Touch, Vertu CEO Max Pogliani promised that "technology will be more a merging factor and not a differentiation point" for his phones. That's literally the case with the new mid-tier Aster launched today: This titanium Android device is identical to its flagship sibling device internally, just wrapped within a more contemporary and unisex design. We're looking at a 4.7-inch 1080p display, 5.1-inch 117 carat sapphire screen, 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 chipset, 13MP/2.1MP cameras (the former certified by Hasselblad), 64GB of internal storage, 2,275mAh battery, front stereo speakers, NFC, Qi wireless charging and great LTE compatibility (though no love for China, for some reason). With the specs out of the way, let's look at why this swanky phone starts from $6,900 or £4,200.
Vertu, maker of the $22,000 smartphone, is considering luxury wearables
Last month was a special one for Max Pogliani: Not only did it mark his first anniversary as Vertu's CEO, but it also saw the launch of his very own baby, the Android-powered Signature Touch. This new phone's up-to-date specs have already silenced critics; and despite the luxury market's slowdown, the Italian exec said his team's already ahead of budget in the first half of this year. Vertu's not stopping there, as it plans to expand its portfolio with an even more affordable smartphone, as well as new accessories like audio products and maybe even smart wearables.
Vertu to launch 'Bentley' collection of luxury smartphones
What happens when two British luxury brands make a baby? In the case of phone maker Vertu and automaker Bentley, the pair have just announced that they are working on "Vertu for Bentley" phones -- with the first one due in October, followed by four more models over the course of the five-year exclusive partnership (sorry, no more love for Ferrari). There's little info on what to expect here at the moment; all we know is that these special edition devices -- presumably running on Android with nice specs à la Signature Touch -- will offer exclusive Bentley content to their users, and that they "will be jointly designed by the Vertu and Bentley design teams, based on a relationship that goes far deeper than the utilisation of materials and cues on design." Jeez, get a room, you two.
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This week, we went hands-on with Amazon's Fire Phone, learned about T-Mobile Test Drive, investigated laser-cut clothing and more! Read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last seven days. Oh, and be sure to subscribe to our Flipboard magazine!
Engadget Daily: Amazon's Fire phone, Adobe's digital sketching hardware and more!
Today, we take a look at Amazon's new handset, the Fire, go hands-on on with the $22,000 Vertu Signature Touch, learn about Amazon's new Firefly feature and review Adobe's set of premium sketching accessories. Read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last 24 hours.
This is what a $22,000 Android phone feels like
With Vertu finally offering an up-to-date luxury phone, we naturally had to check out the Signature Touch up close and personal. After all, it's not everyday that one gets to play with a $21,900 phone for free (though you can do so at any Vertu boutique, as long as you're nicely dressed). For those who haven't caught up with the announcement, we're looking at a 4.7-inch 1080p display, a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 chip, 64GB of storage, 13MP/2.1MP cameras, a 2,275mAh battery, Qi wireless charging, NFC and a handful of LTE bands. With the exception of the battery (which, to be fair, is already much larger than those on previous models), these are all very decent for an Android 4.4 device.
How much would a real-life Siri cost you? Around $3,000 per year
Listen, Siri is great, OK? She can look up the definition of a word, schedule reminders, play songs, and with iOS 8 she can even make purchases for you. But, and this is a big "but," not that Siri's butt is big, at least I don't think so, let me ask... Ok, that was inconclusive. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, so Siri is great, but no matter how smart her pre-programmed responses may seem, she's just not real. If you want an actual living, breathing personal assistant, you have to look to an obscure, high-end smartphone maker called Vertu and its newly launched Vertu Signature Touch smartphone. The US$10,300 phone comes with a titanium frame, sapphire-coated touchscreen, and a real life personal assistant that can get you just about anything your heart desires. The Signature Touch has a feature called "Concierge" that connects the user to a personal assistant with the tap of the screen. The person on the other end can do everything from provide Siri-like information services to much more wallet-busting requests like scoring you tables at exclusive restaurants and booking you flights with a moment's notice. So how much does this one-on-one attention cost? Well, the Concierge service is free for the first year when you drop the cash for a new device, but if you want to keep it going past the 12-month mark it'll run you roughly $3,000. Siri, of course, is free... and way more sassy. I think you know which one is the better value. [Photo credit: audiolucistore]
