There's a new Android smartphone on the market that promises to be durable, unique, and so expensive you probably won't be buying it. The Vertu Ti, which has a version available in 18-carat red gold, retails for about $10,000. It also runs Android 4.0, which is two updates behind the current standard.
Vertu, which is a UK based luxury mobile phone maker, unveiled their Ti this week. At $10,000, with various design tweaks that can run up the bill to almost $20,000, and coming with some swanky, and exclusive features, the Vertu Ti is aimed at a very select audience.
The phone features a push-button concierge service, which is basically speed dial to a membership service which books tickets, hotels, reservations, and other assistance for the on-the-go globetrotting member of the elite. Two other Vertu Ti- exclusive apps include Certainty, which is a security and storage app, and Life, which features information and articles tailored to elite tastes.
As far as the hardware, Vertu is going for durability and swagger over contemporary design or up-to-date components. The Ti comes with a sapphire-crystal screen, which supposedly can withstand a 110g ball bearing being dropped on it. (Do rich people throw ball bearings around often?) The body of the phone is wrapped with leather, and edged by gleaming chrome. The case is supposed to be five times tougher than most smartphone bodies.
The technical specs are not very amazing, especially for the price tag. The 3.7-inch display is rather small compared to most Android phones on the market. The 1.7GHz chip is fast, but it's a dual-core, compared to the similarly clocked quad-core processors that are hitting the market in most Android devices. The camera on the phone is only 8 megapixels, though with this phone, if you don't have a professional cameraman handy to immortalize whatever you're doing, you probably shouldn't be toting one around anyway.
Finally, the Vertu Ti runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, which is two substantial updates behind the current operating system, 4.2 Jelly Bean, which itself will probably be outdated by the end of this spring, when Google moves on to Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie.
Basically, this means that the Vertu Ti is a status symbol. Its claim to durability is silly, considering how much it would cost to replace if still you managed to break it. Its concierge system is dispensable, because anyone with the kind of money to afford the Ti probably won't have trouble getting reservations through their personal or executive assistant.
It's more for the person who wants to say he or she bought a $10,000 hand-made phone than anything else, because if you can afford that, you can afford to buy whatever the top-of-the-line smartphone is at the moment, and simply replace it a month (or a day) later when the next best (or more expensive) thing comes along.
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