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Celsius X VI II Papillon Mechanical Mobile Phone

Filed under: Gadgets, Timepieces / Watches

What do you get when you mix complex mechanical watch making with a mobile phone? I have no idea. Luxury watch makers have been in the mobile phone world for a little while with such models at Tag Heuer Meridiist and the Ulysse Nardin Chairman, but these are mostly fancy items on the outside with traditional mobile phone hardware on the inside. The Papillion phone by Celsius X VI II (10 6 2) is going to take the convergence of these devices a few steps further. The result? Well it is still just a teaser now. You can see the "x ray" image above of what the item will look like on the inside.

There is also a teaser movie located here at Celsius X VI II's website. It doesn't really show much, bit if you are hungry for details about this you can check it out. What is clear is that it will be a clam-shell style phone, have lots of mechanical 'gizmometry' in it, and apparently will function as a real phone. A melding of electronics and mechanics according to the brand.

Is the Papillon going to be particularly useful? Probably not. Hopefully it will be very cool though. The concept reminds me a bit of Roland Iten items. But then again I think his over-engineered daily use items are more practical as well as luxurious. The Papillon is probably going to be as close to what we will ever get as a mobile phone Transformer. It might not morph into an evil robot from another planet, but it sure will be filled with bona fide mechanical guts. The Celsius X VI II Papillion mechanical mobile phone will be officially debuted at Baselworld soon. I will be there and be able to check out this roughly $300,000 luxury item hands-on.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Porsche Design P'9522 Black Edition

Filed under: Gadgets, Luxury Cars & Autos


Some say white is the new black. Some say grey is the new black, or navy, or whatever new color is hot this season. You can call us old fashioned, but to us black is still black, and always will be. And Porsche evidently agrees. The company's industrial design subsidiary has just re-released their cutting edge P'9522 mobile phone in – you guessed it – all black.

Called, predictably enough, the Black Edition, the phone packs all the features of the P'9522 released last year – including the solid-aluminum construction and the fingerprint-reader security system. But, taking its cues from the anti-reflectant black instruments on a Porsche racing car – to say nothing of the original Porsche Design Chronograph I, the company's first product – the phone is decked out all in low-key black.

Ulysse Nardin Chairman Smart Phone Hands On

Filed under: Gadgets, Timepieces / Watches


Ulysse Nardin surprised the haute horology world a few months ago with the announcement of a luxury smart phone. I originally discussed the Ulysse Nardin Chairman here, but recently got to sit down and personally experience three of the Chairman models my self. I also got to learn a lot more about what makes the Ulysse Nardin Chairman a real luxury of a mobile phone. I got to see the blue and satin steel, the black-toned model (very sexy!), and the blue steel and rose gold (very Ulysse Nardin!). The phone is large and pleasantly hefty - I would describe it more as comfortable and solid feeling rather than intimidating.

The back piece of the watch is made of a carbon fiber plate and a black ceramic plate (mobile phone antenna radio signals do not travel through metal well). The keypad features large comfortable keys and excellent backlighting - and the screen is one large sapphire crystal. Ulysse Nardin finally confirmed that the phone's operating system will be unique to the phone rather than just a skinned version of an existing mobile phone operating system.
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Prada & LG Team Up

Filed under: Gadgets, Timepieces / Watches

Sleek Prada phone and matching, synchronized watch
Cell phones have nearly become the new watches.

Personally, I'm not a fan of this trend. I love watches. Watches have history, a long tradition of craftsmanship and beauty. Cell phones tend to last two years at most and break a lot. Using your cell phone as your watch may save you the money and trouble of finding and elegant watch, but it's sort of like using a backpack for a purse.

Prada has come out with an interesting pairing of watch and cell phone, above. Prada and LG have teamed up to bring you a watch that receives all your Prada/LG phone's text messages, call data, and it also has a Reject Call function. You wouldn't have to dig out your phone every time if beeps, you could just look at your watch and decide whether it was worth it. Very James Bond, or at least Penny from Inspector Gadget.

[via gizmodo.com]

The $2,000 Motorola Aura

Filed under: Gadgets, Timepieces / Watches


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.

[via engadgetmobile.com]

Diamond Nokia N95

Filed under: Gadgets


The latest in blinged out cellphones is the Diamond Nokia N95, and there's no argument that it's 'doing the bling thing' in a big way. Coming from Alexander Amosu, the phone is a combination of 18k solid gold and 3.30 carats of high-quality diamonds. Available in a limited edition of only 10, each phone is custom set with 325 diamonds and the owner's choice of white gold or classic gold (white gold for me all the way), and of course each will be numbered from 1-10. Name or initials also available, $24,482.

Cell Phone Straps by Bulgari

Filed under: Gadgets


This is something I need! A cell phone strap. I know they sell them all over, but I never seem to see one when I'm thinking of it and inevitably my poor phone keeps hitting the pavement, the sidewalk, the tile, whatever! How many lives does a cell phone have, anyway? My little guy is well into the double digits, easy.

So anyway, Bulgari has come out with their own luxurious version of the cell phone strap, made of soft calf leather and palladium -- and a handy feature where the strap part disconnects leaving a cute cube pendant behind for easy reattachment (very handy). They also have other designs available on the website (I found them under "gifts") that come in other colors, along with some darling phone pendants as well.

Thinnest Slider Ever: Samsung Ultra Edition 10.9

Filed under: Gadgets

Samsung just announced that their crack team of millimeter-shavers has done it again with their new fangled "Ultra Edition 10.9" slider. Being two millimeters thinner than the company's previously crowned D900 and boasting quite similar specs - the 3.2 megapixel camera, along with 80MB worth of music/video internal memory (plus a microSD slot) - it looks like we're getting ever-closer to the much sought-after two-dimensional mobile phone. No price or availability yet, but our Engadget cronies predict we'll know next month after the 3GSM Congress in Barcelona.

Click through for more pictures of the Ultra Edition 10.9

[via Engadget]

The PRADA Phone Goes Official

Filed under: Gadgets

The LG KE850 PRADA became real today, the phone that LG is touting as the "first completely touch screen mobile phone," and is initially priced at €600 (about $778 US). The phone is due to hit "PRADA stores in the UK, France, Germany and Italy at the end of February and parts of Asia before March."

So sure, they'll beat the iPhone to market by a few months, but the two phones have little else in common besides their touch screen interface; the KE850 will have no usable internal memory for media (LG opts for a microSD slot instead), it won't have a native mail client or web browser, and it doesn't seem to support multi-touch capabilities.

Regardless, this thin, shiny, posh'd up beauty is launching in Europe as a tri-band GSM (no word yet on US release, but we'll sure let you know as soon as we do) and has a revised UI from their previously-reported OS X –like color scheme to a handsome, minimalist black and white scheme. Check out some nice real-world shots from our coz's over at Engadget and screenshots of the new UI from our friends over at Gizmodo.

[Via Engadget]

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