Another year has gone by so that means that prices must go up – Vertu, the English maker of luxury smartphones is at it again with its Signature Touch series of handmade devices – at a cost of over $11,000. What is so sad about these custom-made smartphones is that generally, the specifications are of a mid-range variety – such is not the case with the Vertu Signature…but certainly, nothing to get $11,000 excited about! Massimiliano Pogliani, Vertu’s Chief Executive Officer, explains:
“Signature Touch is our pinnacle smartphone, designed for a global consumer who appreciates and expects unique products and first class performance…In Signature Touch we have created a phone that exceeds our customers’ expectations and that we believe will cement our position as leader of the luxury mobile category…Our commitment to hand craftsmanship and perfectly selected materials is equally well demonstrated through the beautifully stitched calf leather and skillfully polished and brushed titanium casing…We have deliberately elected to excel in the areas that are most relevant to our customer base, however, namely the audio and imaging. The fact that we have met the very exacting standards of B&O, Dolby and Hasselblad illustrates the lengths that our engineers have gone to, to deliver an exceptional user experience for our customers.”
It is quite clear from that statement that Vertu’s customers are not buying this device for the specifications, they are buying it for the prestige of owning a handcrafted status symbol whose main concerns are audio and photography – hence the Bang & Olufsen (B&O) speakers with Dolby Digital Plus virtual surround sound and a Hasselblad certified 13MP camera for crystal clear imaging.
The body is made from grade 5 titanium with both brushed and polished accents. The 4.7-inch Full HD 1080p display sporting 473 ppi, is protected by a fifth generation, 118 carat 5.1-inch piece of solid sapphire crystal. The Signature Touch uses a Snapdragon 800 processor clocked at 2.3GHz and comes with 64GB of internal memory. The main camera is 13MP with dual-LED flash and autofocus as well as a 2.1MP front-facing camera. The device features wireless charging for its 2275mAh battery, as well as NFC, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, and Wi-Fi. It is running Android 4.4 KitKat out-of-the-box.
Please jump onto our Google+ Page and let us know what you think about this beautifully new and expensive smartphone…as always, we would love to hear from you.