March 27, 2002

12:58 AM

oh glorious rapture, vertu has launched.(flash) the phones (called "instruments" in vertu-speak) are okay, but the real meat seems to be the one-touch vertu concierge: allows one to find theatre tickets, make reservations, or (assumably) order KFC. and, as promised, they are indeed clutch-the-pearls expensive: €6000 to €24000. golly.
posted by patricking (12 comments total)

i forgot: click the link marked "create" to see the phonesies.
posted by patricking at 1:01 AM on March 27, 2002

They forget to tell you what on earth the device actually does, other than of course looking camp as fuck.
posted by skylar at 1:59 AM on March 27, 2002

So it's a rather ugly cellphone with a button to call some person who will then supposedly answer every question you have or provide any service you can imagine? Was that it?
posted by c3o at 2:13 AM on March 27, 2002

Uh...regarding the concierge bit: You most likely have this already. They probably won't lick your boots as much as the Vertu concierge might, but they're there, and you're paying for it anyway.
There is a company called MetroOne that doesn't really want you to know they exist. They provide outsourced directory assistance to various cel phone companies all over the country, and also various other services such as restaurant reservations, driving directions, and movie listings down to reading you your horoscope for the day. They don't want you to know about them because they answer the phones transparently ie: as your phone service provider.

Whether they cover you(there are other such companies, but I don't know who they are) and what services are offered depends upon area and the agreement with the particular phone company. Also, there's generally not much in your service contract letting you know of these things. The operators are pretty much instructed to only bring up the extra services only if there's a lead-in from you such as casually mentioning you don't know where you are. Point is, the only way for you to find out what you can get is to flat out ask the operator what else s/he can do for you sometime that you call for assistance. The extra services are free. You might as well get your money's worth, since they're charging you anywhere from 75cents to just over a dollar each time you dial for directory assistance. Or did you think that was free, too? So save yourself the money, and buy me something nice with it.

Oh, and does anybody else thing that the display on that thing looks kinda like the evil Master Control Program from Tron?
posted by Su at 2:18 AM on March 27, 2002

175grams minimum?? My T39 is about 80 and sits nicely in my pocket, and my Palm Vx has nice bookmarks to all the booking places + Vindigo for reviews/directions + multimap for maps if I need them. Thats 120grams or so, so I can have one on each side to keep things nice and balanced and non-bulgy.

Those phones are literally screaming to be nicked. 'Cept for the fact they do look incredibly camp..
posted by Mossy at 3:01 AM on March 27, 2002

These were in the news a few weeks ago if I recall. Don't they cost around $25,000US at minimum?
posted by Qubit at 7:26 AM on March 27, 2002

It looks like a $100 electric shaver to me.

I've got to wonder if Nokia have thought this all the way through. Sure, people will drop that sort of money on a Rolex, but in twenty years a Rolex will still tell time. What will a GSM phone do for you in twenty years time? Try using a ten year old analog cellphone in Europe now...
posted by pascal at 8:14 AM on March 27, 2002

i like the look. i like the analog clock too.

not that i would spend so much on a phone though.
posted by o2b at 9:05 AM on March 27, 2002

if i were the sort who had 25 Gs laying around to buy a designer cell phone, you can bet your ass i'd already have a secretary
posted by milkman at 10:22 AM on March 27, 2002

i like the clock too.
this wouldn't be rolex (a practical watch) this is more like chase durer or patek phillipe and so forth.
rich people are easy to hate.
posted by elle at 8:59 PM on March 27, 2002

pascal: these phones can be upgraded like a PC.
posted by delmoi at 12:24 AM on March 28, 2002

Oh, whats the deal with platnum anyway. It seems like they almost used the exact same image for their 'platnum' and 'stainless steel' phones.
posted by delmoi at 12:25 AM on March 28, 2002