Tag: Vertu

Vertu Launches Aster P Luxury Smartphone At $4,200

Vertu, the well known manufacturer of handmade luxury phones is back with its latest device, the Aster P. The Vertu Aster P is an Android smartphone with a Snapdragon 660 chipset, 12 MP camera, 3,200 mAh battery and more. But, what really sets Vertu apart is the luxury build of the device. The Aster P has a titanium alloy frame, with a Sapphire Glass screen and back panels made from real leather. To add to all the glitz is the hefty starting price of $ 4,200 which translates to approximately Rs 308,637.

The device was launched in an event held in China after Vertu had sent out an invite earlier this week. This is Vertu’s first smartphone after a while as the company had some turbulent years after Nokia sold it. The ownership changed hands numerous times and might finally be making a comeback for good. Each Vertu device is handmade in Britain by specific craftsmen who resonate with the design ideologies and vision of the company.

Specifications

The Aster P has a 5 inch AMOLED, FHD display. It runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC and has 6 GB of RAM with 128 GB of storage. Under the hood, it packs a 3,200 mAh battery and has a USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer. The device has a 12 MP rear camera and a 20 MP front facing camera. The device runs Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box and has NFC support as well. While these specifications are surely not right for such a steep price, the Vertu Aster P shines in terms of other features.

As mentioned before, the device is handcrafted and is made form materials such as leather and Sapphire Glass. This is however, for the cheapest variant. The device also has a ‘Gold’ variant which sells at a price of $ 14,000. This specific model is made from genuine Titanium jewellery with Gold accents and Crocodile Skin lining. On the front, the screen is lined with 133 carat Sapphire Glass.

Also Read: OnePlus 6T To Release With Night Mode For Better Low Light Photography

The Vertu Aster P also has a Ruby button which provides users 24/7 access to high level support from a professional Vertu team. The company also allows users to customise the design of their smartphone by adding gems and choosing a desired style. The device will go on sale starting October 30 and will be available online. The launch of the device outside China is expected soon.

October 18, 2018
Vertu Is Dead

The luxury smartphone maker, catering to the elites, stars and the rich is dead. Established in 1998, Vertu, originally a part of Nokia, hit bankruptcy as a result of firm’s £128 million debt. The bankruptcy is reported to cost Vertu it’s UK’s manufacturing operation along with the 200 job cuts. The company changed hands before finally being acquired by the exiled businessman Murat Hakan Uzan in March. According to reports, Uzan plans to bring Vertu back from the dead.

The luxury smartphone provider manufactured phones which ran an older version of android and last year’s processors. But the precious metals, Sapphire Crystal Screens, fine hand-cut ostrich leather, precious metals, snake skin and jewels made up for the antiquated technology. The extravagant luxury smartphones were priced from $11,000 to excess of $30,000, offering a 24/7 concierge services as a freebie in the price. Given the hype created at its recent launches, it’s surprising that Vertu struggled to find a customer base for its high end luxury phones.

Even the launch of Vertu’s latest luxury device “The Constellation” in January 2017 couldn’t do much to save the company from hitting a dead end. Maybe the handmade exquisite anodized aluminium, wrapped in soft leather with a 5.5 inch Quad HD display and fingerprint reader wasn’t enough this time, and the high end world seems just happy with the iPhones and the edgeless Samsung Galaxy S8.

July 15, 2017
These Are Five Phone Design failures You Should Know

“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again”, reads a famous proverb; and the mobile phone industry did take this one very seriously. It is only after a series of miscalculations and faux pas has the smartphone now become one of the savviest tech gadgets to carry around. So let’s take a look at our past and see what our ancestors might have thought to be uber cool.

Nokia 7600

Let’s just look at this phone for sometime. Among the various questions that confound us, one of them is just where is the keypad? And that is not even the most important question. What was Nokia thinking by revealing this mobile phone in 2007, just when Apple launched the iPhone? Anyway, to answer the question about the keypad, there’s a 2 inch display and if you look at it hard enough you’ll see that it is surrounded by alphanumeric buttons on the sides and other keys (Menu and navigation keys) below the screen. Oh, and this tear drop Nokia phone was created for ‘fashionistas’. Well, we didn’t see Anna Wintour carrying it. ‘Nuff said.

Nokia 7280

If you thought Nokia would learn from their previous mistakes, you thought wrong. At least previously we only asked about the keyboard; over here? Where is anything? Nokia thought that a lipstick shaped phone would be more fashionable than a tear drop. They were technically right, but this lipstick is making tears drop from our eyes. This phone has a 35 mm x 20 mm display and no keypad. That’s it. Just look at it until it disappears.

Sony Ericsson Jalou F100i

Do you know why this one has a visible keypad? Because it’s not Nokia! Regardless even Sony Ericsson Jalou F100i has its faults. First of all, it’s called ‘jalou’, which means jealousy in French, and unfortunately for them, it arouses none. The Sony Jalou was created especially for women and that is why the display could also double up as a compact mirror. Yes, Sony really understood women, they don’t really want to get any work done, they just want to look at themselves in the mirror. Hopefully, most people stayed away from this futile attempt at fashionable smartphone making.

HTC G1

The HTC G1 was ironically called the “Dream”. Now, compared to the last few phones we mentioned, it probably is a dream. But it still falls short in design with his rather chunky and bulky looking keypad and screen. However, this seems to be its only fault, so it does look like we were getting closer to the “dream” of owning a modern and sleek cellphone.

Vertu Boucheron Cobra

Just when you thought things were getting better, Vertu brought to us the Boucheron Cobra. Yes, a snake is one of the sleekest reptiles we have around, but putting them on a mobile phone will not make it look sleek, even if it is embedded with the costliest Swarovski diamonds. Yes, those are real diamonds on a rather ugly looking snake, which has been dumped on a rather small and expensive (Rs 1.75 crore approx) phone. This snake doesn’t look powerful or sleek and neither does the gadget. Luckily for us, Vertu has learnt from its mistakes and now creates better looking phones with a similar if not higher price tag.

December 8, 2015
Chinese Investors Buy Swedish Luxury Smartphone Maker, Vertu

Vertu is a well known UK-based manufacturer of coutour, handcrafted luxury smartphones. The company, previously owned by Nokia, who had created it in order to form a niche in the luxury trade market, has now been sold to Chinese investors.

Vertu phones are well known for features that include precious metals, leather casings and sapphire screens. Its chief executive, Massimiliano Pogliani says that it is now “an appropriate time to pass on the baton of leadership to a new team”. And with Chinese investors, occupying a large portion of the smartphone market, they do seem like the obvious successors.

What we know about the company’s timeline is that it was founded by Nokia in 1998 and then bought by a Swedish private equity group called EQT from Nokia back in 2012 for more than 200 million euros. Vertu had shipped its first phone in 2002 and had sold around 450,000 devices by 2015. The company will continue to conduct its business via its headquarters in Hampshire, England.

Vertu was created to provide premium handsets for those who were willing to pay for it. For example, its latest handset costs almost 7,000 pounds or Rs.70,8074 for a basic version and up to 17,000 pounds or Rs.17,19,609 if you want a rose gold frame! It’s most expensive handset is priced at almost 200,000 pounds which is approximately Rs.2,02,30,696 and this comes signed with the name of the craftsman who made it. Yes, that’s a lot of dough indeed.

However, with smartphone companies like Apple providing consumers with a smartphone that bettered Vertu in technology and also came with some sort of a status symbol attached to it, the Swedish company began to struggle in its own niche. Therefore, Vertu has in the recent past tried to improve the technology in its latest phones while also lowering its prices, so as to create a slightly larger customer base.

So, hopefully with the new ownership of Vertu will be able to maintain its position in the luxury phone department while catering to the need for high end specs as well.

November 4, 2015

New Vertu Signature Touch Comes at a Starting Price of Rs. 6,50,000

The cat is finally out of the bag as Vertu announces its official upgrade to Signature Touch. The smartphone will now sport a Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 chipset and a RAM of 4 GB.

Touch will also feature 5.2″ display covered with sapphire crystal and a 1080p resolution. The main camera would be of 21 MP along with 4K video capture, while the selfie camera is a puny 2.1 MP. The internal storage of the phone is 64 GB, expandable up to 2 TB. Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC are the connectivity options packed in this beauty, along with 4G LTE support . The operating system is Android 5.1 Lollipop, and Vertu’s own concierge goodies.

With its release date on the 18th of October, the phone will be available for pre-order in some countries from 28th September to 8th October. Price would be located within the bracket £6,500 (Rs. 6,56,000 approx) – £13,700 (Rs. 13,84,000 approx) depending on the buyer’s choice of the combination of metal and exotic leather. And no, these figures are not typos – just when you thought Apple was stealing the show for the most ridiculously expensive gadgets.

Here’s a spec sheet of all features of Signature Touch:

Specification	Signature Touch
Display	5.2″ display covered by a 5th Generation solid sapphire crystal screen
Resolution	1080p
Chipset	Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810
Processor	64bit Octo-core
RAM	4 GB
Storage	64 GB of internal memory
Expandability	2 TB
Rear Camera	2.1 MP
Front Camera	21 MP
Battery	3160 mAh (min 3010 mAh) Li-ion
Operating System	Android 5.1 Lollipop
Connectivity	Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC
Price	£6,500 (Rs. 6,56,000) – £13,700 (Rs. 13,84,000)

Source: [tw-button size=”medium” background=”#07ABE2″ color=”” target=”_blank” link=”http://www.gsmarena.com/updated_vertu_signature_touch_goes_official_with_snapdragon_810_and_4gb_of_ram-news-14147.php”]GSM Arena[/tw-button]

September 24, 2015

Top 5 Smartphones Which Have Style, But No Substance

In this over-crowded smartphone market, there are many low and high-end phones that complement their price. Spending money on such phones is never an issue as they perform the tasks well. But some manufacturers believe in style, no matter if the phones have the required features or not.

Here’s a list of some handsets that do not stand up to the true definition of a smartphone and bear style with no or little features.

Vertu Signature Cobra

This extravagant device is a limited edition phone designed by French jeweller Boucheron. The Vertu Signature Cobra is adorned with two diamonds, two emeralds and 439 rubies and is priced at $310,000. The phone, unlike today’s smartphones, doesn’t pack top-notch features and provides only basic functionality of calling, texting, etc. Released in October 2011, only eight of these phones were produced.

Heart 401AB

Next in the list is the stylish heart-shaped mobile that was announced recently. This weird piece is made for women who want something really extraordinary. But we are a little dubious about its market value in India as it is more of a toy with no camera, a monochrome screen of 0.9-inch, 128x36p resolution and no messaging feature.

Ancord Diamond Crypto

Ancord Diamond Crypto is a massive bling accessory for tech lovers. Designed by Peter Aloisson, this luxury smartphone is one of the most expensive phones out there and is studded with 50 diamonds. The navigation key is made of 18k rose gold, and this piece of jewellery/phone comes at a whopping price of $1.3 million. The phone has a TFT display and features SMS, MMS, E-mail, Internet capability, WAP, JAVA support and a media player, which you can find on any phone of sub-Rs. 5000 range. However, we agree that it was released in 2006 when Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Hotspot and 4G capability were not common, but still, it is not worthy of spending $1.3 million on a phone/accessory.

Sony Ericsson Black Diamond

Sony Ericsson has earned a name for good but slightly expensive phones, but this smartphone has broken all price records by the company till date. Costing $300,000, the phone cannot stand next to the devices in sub-Rs. 8000 category. It has an unimpressive 2-inch OLED display, 4 MP camera, 128 MB internal memory and regular connectivity features. The phone was released in 2006 so nothing much to expect in terms of feature.

Buddha Phone 268

Another device that may be impressive through its concept, but will fail to dazzle tech geeks, is the Buddha Phone 268. It’s a gold luxury round mobile and is inspired by the Buddhist design. With a 2-inch LCD display, 1.3 MP camera, and other standard capacities, the phone is below basic.

January 29, 2015
Vertu Introduces the Aster, a Luxury Android Smartphone Priced at Rs. 4,75,000

Just when people were raising a hue and cry about how pricey the new generation flagships are, Vertu the king of luxury phones has brought its Aster to India. Vertu, which was formed by Nokia (hope you still remember that name,) is known for its premier hand-crafted and ornamented phones. The Aster too comes from this family of opulence.

The phone comes in multiple color options that are made of elegant materials.

Vertu had for long stayed with the Symbian operating system but now it has made a shift to the Android OS. The device runs Android KitKat. It comes with a 4.7 inch Full HD display protected by Sapphire Crystal display.

The Aster is powered by a 2.3GHz Quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor. It comes with 2 GB RAM and 64 GB internal storage. It is juiced up (or rather champagned up) by a 2275 mAh battery. The phone is Qi Wireless Charging Compatible.

Vertu also offers multiple phone case options

It comes with a 13 MP camera on the back and a 2.1 MP camera on the front provided to have a skype chat about your new multi-million acquisition.

But with Vertu, it’s not about what lies inside the device, but what’s on the outside. The materials used in the production of this device include carefully selected leathers and skins and space age hardened titanium for the side rails, back plate, pillow and sound bar. There isn’t anything as ostentatious as this one.

The Conceirge service is a really attractive feature for the elites who buy this phone.

The main service feature offered by the phone is the concierge service. Aster comes with six-month concierge service that can be extended. Using the service you can get in touch with a personal concierge who can assist you with recommendations and priority bookings. They facilitate your every request, from finding the perfect gift to accessing exclusive events. The service is accessible 24-hour from anywhere in the world.

So if you have half a million rupees to spare for a communication device, this must be it.

October 18, 2014
Vertu Contemplates a Luxury Smart Watch

British Luxury Smartphone after making a shift to Android are now contemplating going into the smart watch business. Vertu was established by Nokia as a wholly own subsidiary. The company is known for their ostentatious designs which separate them from all other phone companies. The company uses premium materials in designing their phones for their exclusive clientele.

As the market has slowed down for luxury products, the company now is intending to make a entry into premium wearables. Though it’s still in an exploration phase right now, but it can be a real game changer in the watch business. In a market which is dominated by Rolex and Swiss watch makers, a premium Smart watch will be appreciated by the opulent clientele of Vertu.

The Premium watch decision was inspired by the current Smartwatch boom

Until recently, Vertu was one of the few companies which still used Series 40 Symbian OS as their mobile OS. The company released their Android series under the name Vertu Ti and Constellation, thereby finally keeping up with times.

The part about Vertu that separates it from rest is that it offers an experience that matches to its customer’s opulent taste. The phones are handmade and they use materials like calf leather, alligator skin, lizard skin, ceramic, sapphire glass screens. They also use premium metals like titanium and Gold. As these customers have to deal with privacy concern, a basic Symbian set up helps them to access basic phone functionality while looking good doing it.

With their premium pricing which starts from $6000 and can go higher than $168,000 while just being a basic feature phone. If exclusivity is what the users are looking for, Vertu sits at the top-echelons of feature providers. With this affluent buy, the customer gets access to Vertu’s Concierge service. The service offers offers 24-hour worldwide assistance, recommendations and priority bookings, all with a personal touch. They facilitate users every request, from finding the perfect gift to accessing exclusive events, they do it all.

The company now also plans to make an entry into its “affordable” segment, which will still be far away from the reaches of regular consumers. By accepting Android into its phones, Vertu has brought back the aspirational aspect back but it will still be limited to people with unfathomably deep pockets.

July 19, 2014