Now that's a phone. The $2,000 Motorola Aura is here, and lookalikes are bound to follow.
The Aura has the world's first circular display with 16 million colors and a 300 dpi resolution. The lens isn't just scratch resistant, it's Grade 1 62-carat sapphire crystal. The casing is stainless steel, coated with PVD coating (like on a luxury watch), and it rotates open with the help of 130 precision ball bearings.
All the usual technologies (2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, Open Source browser) are included in this sleek, attractive 47.60 x 96.87 x 18.55mm phone.
Blackberries are for assistants.
Just in time for the holidays, you can order one now to be shipped out December 4th.
It used to be that having a mobile phone was a fairly expensive treat but oh how things have changed. In a strange twist it now seems that owning a landline has become the true luxury.
A recent Nielsen survey found that not only have 17% of homes already gone landline-less but that number is predicted to jump to a full 1/5 of the population (20%) by the end of the year.
So what's causing this trend? Finances, for most. It's a cold hard fact that for most people cell phones are cheaper to own and operate than landlines, all factors considered, and in today's ever-tightening economy luxuries like home phone service are getting cut out. Who would have thought, expensive and fancy as cell phones are getting these days, that the real status symbol would become the clunky home phone?
Armani and Samsung have released their latest joint effort cell phone. The Samsung Armani 2 Night Effect gets its name from the wraparound LED light on the phone. The candybar-style phone has a 3.2 megapixel camera, FM radio, 120MB of memory that is expandable with microSD, and Bluetooth. It will be sold in Europe in November with sales in Southeast Asia and the Middle East to follow. It will sell for around 300 euros. Tech pundits don't seem to be loving this one, finding the Armani logo on the back a bit garish and the overall look to be a bit clunky.
I'm not generally a big fan of diamond-encrusted cell phones but I think the iPhone lends itself to the idea better than others because it's so sleek and has such a limited area where diamonds can be placed. Claiming to be the world's first real diamond-studded iPhone, the Apple iPhone 3G by Swiss jeweler Knalihs Athem is made with 475 brilliant cut diamonds totaling 3.75 carats. Only 50 iPhone 3G handsets will be created on a made-to-order basis, with the first 10 units being sold at the special price of $10,000. iPhones 11-50 will be priced "sharply upwards."
I'm not sure what that translates to exactly but it sounds like if you want one you better move fast.
We are late to the party on this one, the Engadget gang covered it way back in May and seemed quite unimpressed but the latest designer in the cellphone game is Christian Dior. The Dior phone is aimed at the Chinese and Russian luxury markets and will sell for around $5,000. The slim phone has a touch-screen, camera and Swarovski crystals on the faceplate. The most unique feature is that Dior phone is so posh it comes with its own phone. The phone has a mini mobile phone that resembles a USB key so that you can put the main phone in your Dior purse and use the mini phone to make calls. Why? I have no idea.
Polo Ralph Lauren will soon be offering American shoppers the ability to shop for goods via mobile phone. The technology itself is only about a year away (something about integrating codes for download) but the company expects Americans to warm up to the idea only very slowly after that. Although foreign consumers like the Japanese have been using similar technology for years, Americans are thought to be a little less comfortable with cutting edge shopping methods.
Do you think that's really the problem? Couldn't it be that we just have too much fun shopping to reduce the whole experience down to a tiny cellphone screen?
Hm, maybe that's just me. If you're interested look for the service to appear soon on a cell phone screen near you.
While you are waiting for your new diamond-covered iPhone you might want to consider this sparkly gadget. Swiss luxury designer and jeweler Knalihs Athem has recently created a diamond encrusted Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte. This phone is decorated with 1000 finest quality brilliant cut diamonds that weigh 6.75 carats in total. There will only be 20 handsets made and each will be accompanied by a official diamond grading report from a gemological lab. It can also be personalized with your name or whatever you would like. The Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte by Knalihs Athem has a starting price of $20,000.
Christian Dior has branched out into the mobile/cellular phone universe with the "My Dior" phone, by ModeLabs. It took three years to develop the clamshell, which will be available in two versions: a $5,000 basic version and a $26,000 luxury version, which features a 2.6 touch screen with an integrated media player and is decorated with 640 stones of 3,251 carats of Swarovski crystals imprinted on a crocodile skin case. Ringtones are proposed to be Dior's voice as well as music. Look for marketing to begin this month. This phone is just beautiful, but I'd be terrified of dropping or losing it!
Luxury phone maker, Gresso, already has a Black Diamonds collection, now here's the White Diamonds version. The phone is made of African blackwood with white diamonds set in 18K gold. There are two styles, White Diamonds and Royal White Diamonds. In the Royal White Diamonds version the 23 function keys are done in gold topped with a total of 2.53 carats of diamonds. The White Diamonds version has diamonds only on the navigation keys. Both phones have a screen protected by sapphire crystal glass. The front panel is embellished by a triangle inset of gold and the battery cover is made of stainless steel decorated with leather. The Royal White Diamonds version is limited to 200 pieces selling for 30,000 euros each. The White Diamonds version is 9000 euros. The phones will be at the JCK Las Vegas show this week so hopefully I'll be reporting back to you with a hands-on look at these later this week.
Here's a Bluetooth earpiece that manages to be quite fancy looking without having any Swarovski crystal or gold plated "bling." The Plantronics Discovery 925 has a unisex VFrame™ design and is available in 3 jewel tone colors (black, gold, and pink) with a cute color-coordinated leather carrying case and charger included. According to this review the features are pretty average, with the exception of excellent audio quality thanks to AudioIQ noise control technology. The Black Onyx version is available now, with the Alchemy Gold and Cerise Pink shipping next month. $149.00
The regular Jawbone blue-tooth headsets were pretty cool, but apparently creator Yves Behar didn't think they were the best he could do -- and it seems they weren't. Now available (in theory anyway, they're really hard to find) is an extremely limited edition collection of 3 Love to Talk Jawbone headsets called "Sweet Talk," "Dirty Talk," and "Trash Talk." Each headset is a different color (gold, black, and white respectively) with a theme appropriate design etched into the surface. Which one would you get? And what on earth is etched onto the "Sweet Talk" headpiece? Is that a flower?
Gallery: "Love to Talk" Limited Edition Jawbone Headsets
Softbank Mobile is in the process of launching their new line of 15 cell phones, one of which was created in collaboration with Tiffany & Co. Japan Inc. The new handset is encrusted with more than 400 diamonds totaling 20+ carats and will cost about $94,000. For that kind of money I hope it looks better in person than in any of the pictures I've been able to find!
The phone is available starting this month in Japan, with the complete line of new phones to be launched by the end of March.
The latest version of the Prada phone is done in sleek silver. The new version of the popular competitor to the iPhone dreamed up by LG and the Italian design house also has a QWERTY keyboard interface for easier texting. The phone also has a silver leather case. The phone also has a two megapixel camera media player and document viewer. It will be available in 18 European countries starting at the end of this month.
There's something very alluring about the word stealth when applied to gadgets, it implies something sleek and dark and subtle.The Mobiado Stealth is inspired by military stealth aircrafts. The front of the Stealth is machined from one piece of solid aluminum and inlaid with one piece of sapphire crystal. All lettering is machine engraved. The aluminum frame is created from aircraft aluminum which is filtered glass bead blasted, and then hard anodized coated to produce a very durable surface. No price is released yet and it is an edition of 1,200.
The latest pricey phones from Gresso are the Black Diamonds series. The phones are made with African Blackwood and black diamonds encased in 18K gold. On the Royal Black Diamonds phone the keys are made of diamonds surrounded by 18k gold. They are made in a limited edition of just 50 and sell for 30,000 euros each. On the Black Diamonds phone just the four navigation keys are done in black diamonds and the rest are done in 18K gold. This phone sells for 9,000 euros. The keyboard uses Roman numerals so if you don't know your V from your IX this is not the phone for you. It has an internal memory of 64MB and an external memory of 2GB. The display is sapphire crystal glass. It has a camera, video and audio player.
