I’ve long been over the ridiculously overpriced-ness of idiotic Vertu phones. 300 grand for a dumbphone? Whatever, the stupid rich who spend that stupidly are beyond saving anyway. But Vertu has hit a new low (or high?) with this one: a $US190 Vertu USB cable.
So you’ve spent a few grand on a Vertu phone, but need something else to illustrate just how much of a high roller you are. Would a matching Vertu pen, Bluetooth headset and memory card reader do the job?
Late last night we passed by Martin Cooper, inventor of the mobile phone, in front of the Vertu store at the Wynn. Yes, that Vertu, the makers of the $US310,000 mobile phone.
With even top end luxury houses seeing declining sales, I guess Vertu’s decided that it’s new $US30,000 phone, made in conjunction with jewellery house Boucheron, should reflect how we’re all feeling these days—a little crumpled.
newVideoPlayer("/colbertvertu_cc_giz.flv", 506, 423,""); Times are tough, friends. And even wealthy conservative mouthpiece Stephen Colbert has to cut back on his gadget spending habits. Needless to say, the guy is still doing alright; he continues to dial numbers that most of us haven’t even dreamed about. We also hear that he smells of peppermint and lilacs at distances closer than four feet. [via geeksugar]
I’ll admit this is a teeny bit tenuous, since the Hacha PF02 is only an MP3 player while the Vertu Signature is a fully-fledged and bejeweled mobile phone…but you have to admit the lookalike-ness is pretty amusing. And the fact that a $US15 naff screenless MP3 player with 2GB of storage, USB 2 connectivity and MP3, WMA and OGG files compatibility can pump out your tunes while a $US10,000 mobile phone can’t is priceless. [Product page via GadgetLab]
Watchmaker Tag Heuer today announced its Vertu wannabe, the Meridiist. Like others in its class, its high price doesn’t seem to justify the goods, unless you count a choice of crocodile, leather or rubber, a sapphire crystal main screen and a famous name. The specs are almost entirely unimpressive: 1.9″ QVGA main screen, monochrome OLED on its outer rim, 2-megapixel camera, MP3/AAC/MPEG-4 playback. There’s no mention of 3G functionality, so I’m going to guess it can only do GSM/GPRS, and though the 7-hour talk time is pleasantly above average, it had better have something to brag about besides style for the price, which will range from about US$5300 to US$6100. [Le Journal Du Geek via Reg Hardware]
Nokia’s luxury subsidiary Vertu is celebrating 10 years of selling overdesigned, overpriced mobile phones with a new collection of overdesigned, overpriced mobile phones called the Monogram Constellation. Soon to reach your nearest Louis Vuitton shop in Chinatown, these models have the V monogram printed on the leather back in a four hour process that is for sure going to increase battery life and reception signal. The Pewter, Green, Red, Skye Blue or Cerise coloured Monogram Constellation will be launched on April 1st, and their price won’t make you laugh.
Those fellows at the Chocolate Design Agency have come up with another smashing concept. This time they have gone to work on creating the best phone, ever. The design is modelled around the same E-Paper Slap Bracelet we saw earlier, but this time the e-paper system—four layers of sustainable material, and an Organic Radical battery—is put to use in the P-Per mobile phone concept, which shows a transparent display for camera mode and a browser that spans the entire surface of the display. Checkout the video after the jump to see what all the fuss is about.
We told you about Vertu’s Ascent Ti a few months ago when it was found in an FCC filing. Well, it’s been a couple of months and the Ascent Ti is finally being released along with official details. So what does $6,628 get you? For starters, a quad-band GSM phone with 3G and a 3MP camera.
