Rich folks like Vertu. (They must, otherwise Nokia wouldn't keep on making ten-thousand-dollar mobile phones, now would they?) But some like flip-phones better than the candy-bar form factor that has characterized its offerings until now. So ostensibly to satisfy such discerning customers, Vertu has released the new Constellation Ayxta.

Like the Ascent, Signature and the existing Constellation model, the Ayxta features luxurious hand-craftsmanship, leather trim and access to the company's bespoke concierge service, on call around the clock from anywhere in the world. The Ayxta's clamshell form also packs a 3-megapixel camera with flash, an 8-gig micro-SD slot and 3G wireless connection. Which by themselves may not warrant the phone's $6,500 - $8,500 asking price, but then companies like Vertu would argue that the whole of its product is more than the sum of its parts.

Another day, another special-edition Vertu. The premium mobile phone company seems to crank them out with regularity, and we recently reported on the Carbon Fibre Collection. Now reports from the mobile phone world indicate that Vertu is already working on the next special version.

Dubbed the Ascent Ti Neon, it's reportedly been redesigned to fit more snugly into the hand, plus they've replaced the leather on the standard model (which is anything but "standard") with neon-colored rubber. The price tag is expected to approach the $10,000 mark when it hits the market in October.

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.
.

It was only a matter of time before the famed Tag Heuer Meridiist phone got a diamond make over. It is an official diamond make over too, not one of those aftermarket jobs. I am as much a fan of luxury as the next luxe lover, but what is the deal with diamonds on phones? As though a $5,000 - $8,000 phone was not enough given that it will go technologically extinct in a few years? Your future paper weight needs diamond decoration as well? Plus, nothing say's "ergonomics" quite like the jagged edges of fine cut stones against your palms and the side of your face. The Meridiist Diamant phones will likely go for between about $10,000 and $30,000.

The new phones will be known as the Meridiist Diamant collection and will come in two styles with 208 diamonds or the "imperial regalia of mobile phones" with 1232 diamonds. Tag Heuer says that the Meridiist Diamant phones will be marketed toward women, which makes sense. While very expensive, the base line of Meridiist phones is really quire cool - at leat on the outside from a construction and materials standpoint. It should be cool however to have a phone with a massive sapphire crystal as the screen. I do feel that if you are willing to make the investment, you'll be happy with the phone, at least until you want to get another phone.

Remember what I said about the phone being obsolete in a few years due to the rapid progression of mobile phone hardware and software? Well get this: Tag Heuer places the Meridiist Diamant phone in a wooden jewelry presentation box "in which to preserve and store your investment for future generations." Really? As an antique for a time capsule maybe? A mechanical watch will still be useful for "future generations, but a digital mobile phone? Imagine giving your mini cellular tower suitcase phone from the mid 1980s to a 16 year old today and gauge how "awesome" they think it will be. That is the idea.

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

Announced a while back, the Tag Heuer Meridiist mobile phone is one step closer to reality for those few people willing to lay down the dough for one - with the launch of it's new interactive website: www.tagheuer.com/meridiist. The new site shows the luxury Meridiist mobile phones in their full glory. In a world where watch makers try to convince certain stubborn members of the public that wrist watches make better time tellers than mobile phones, some compies like Tag Heuer are adopting an "if you can't beat em, join 'em" mentality.

The concept of a luxury mobile phone is spurious to some - but for others, even the limited technological shelf life of these masterful creations is too much to resist. The Meridiist will be constructed with the same quality as watches and with many of the same materials including sapphire crystal screens, high quality steel cases, and crocodile or rubber covers on parts of the watch. The watch is available also in PVD covered titanium, and in a variety of color choices. The phone itself is an unlocked 3G GSM worldphone with a basic (non-smart phone) operating system. Still, it is said to have Internet connectivity, basic office productivity functions, and Bluetooth.

The phone features two screens. The upper one (on the top of the phone) being an OLED screen that is meant to show the time, or for the stopwatch feature. Available with the Meridiist is a matching Tag Heuer Bluetooth headset. Tag Heuer is proud of the "mechanical" shutter on the camera that is pretty basic at 2MP. Overall it is a sweetly made case for just a decent phone. It will remain looking like a sweetly made phone, even after it is technologically obsolete. Prices vary and I imagine will be about $4,000 - $6,000. Look for them in select high end watch stores.

Ariel Adams publishes the watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

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]

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]

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.

I am a huge fan of mobiles -- something about them is so peaceful and tranquil, plus they bring unique interest and movement into a room. Mobiles are available in every style, color, and size you can imagine, but one of my new favorites is this Translucent Lucite Mobile by Michele Varian. It consists of aluminum rods holding different sized clear discs and circles hanging on clear cords, and is available in both small (2 1/2' X 4') and large (4' X 5 1/2') sizes. Selling for $625 and $1250, respectively, it's definitely not an impulse purchase -- but then unique accents like this rarely are anyway.

Having a concierge on call at all times is a pricey proposition, although it can certainly be done. Perhaps the next best thing would be to have a virtual concierge on call to help you out when you're traveling. Concierge.com, the online portal for Condé Nast Traveler, wants to help all of us out in this respect and has just launched Concierge Mobile to do so. Concierge Mobile lets you access over 200 destination guides, as well as weather updates and info on Condé Nast Traveler's Gold List of the world's top hotels. From the website, you can send yourself hotel, restaurant and activity details to plan your trip.

You'll still have to do the shopping yourself, but at least you'll know where to go to do it!

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 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]

The Dolce & Gabbana RAZR phone, although undeniably good-looking, was just a dressed up version of the standard RAZR. The newer Prada-themed LG KE850 isn't based on previous interfaces of the chocolate LG phones, but uses a completely new touch-screen interface - which will be Prada-branded, of course. The phone will come in a Prada-made made leather case and is rumored to have only three "real" buttons on the whole, extra-thin unit: send, end and confirm. A limited European release isn't expected until late spring.

What better way is there to promote your new mobile gadget than by throwing a party and giving them away to celebrities? Helio doesn't think that there is one because that is exactly what they did. Over the weekend, Danny Masterson from That 70's Show, hosted the Helio event in the Hollywood Hills that included 20 and 30-something celebrities like Milla Jovovich, Chloe Sevigny, Sophia Bush, Michelle Trachtenberg, Paris Lastis and Rachael Leigh Cook. In addition to free food and drinks, each of the attendees walked away with a brand new Kickflip.

For a full look at the Helio Kickflip, rather than going by a celebrity's recommendation, check out Engadget Mobile's hands-on look at it. The Kickflip itself costs $250, but service charges from Helio will run you quite a bit more.

Spin Mobiles manage to be both modern and retro at the same time. The mobiles are made of wood grain and boomerang Formica (it has boomerang-shaped squiggles on it) and other colored laminates. Each mobile is hand strung and balanced and ready to hang. The mobiles are all around four feet tall. My favorite is the Klee shown here which sells for $235.