Martin Cooper, Cellphone Inventor, Seen In Front of Vertu Store

Late last night we passed by Martin Cooper, inventor of the mobile phone, in front of the Vertu store at the Wynn. Yes, that Vertu, the makers of the $310,000 cellphone. More »

Stephen Colbert Replaces His $310,000 Vertu with Something Better

Times are tough, friends. And even wealthy conservative mouthpiece Stephen Colbert has to cut back on his gadget spending habits. Needless to say, the guy is still doing alright; he continues to dial numbers that most of us haven't even dreamed about. We also hear that he smells of peppermint and lilacs at distances closer than four feet. [via geeksugar]

$15 Vertu Lookalike MP3 Player Plays Tunes Which The Vertu Can't

I'll admit this is a teeny bit tenuous, since the Hacha PF02 is only an MP3 player whilr the Vertu Signature is a fully-fledged and bejeweled cellphone...but you have to admit the lookalike-ness is pretty amusing. And the fact that a $15 naff screenless MP3 player with 2GB of storage, USB 2 connectivity and MP3, WMA and OGG files compatibility can pump out your tunes while a $10,000 cellphone can't is priceless. [Product page via GadgetLab]

$6100 Croc-Skinned Tag Heuer Meridiist Phone: Nothing But a Pretty Face

Watchmaker Tag Heuer today announced its Vertu wannabe, the Meridiist. Like others in its class, its high price doesn't seem to justify the goods, unless you count a choice of crocodile, leather or rubber, a sapphire crystal main screen and a famous name. The specs are almost entirely unimpressive: 1.9" QVGA main screen, monochrome OLED on its outer rim, 2-megapixel camera, MP3/AAC/MPEG-4 playback. There's no mention of 3G functionality, so I'm going to guess it can only do GSM/GPRS, and though the 7-hour talk time is pleasantly above average, it had better have something to brag about besides style for the price, which will range from about $5300 to $6100. [Le Journal Du Geek via Reg Hardware]

Vertu's 10th Anniversary Monogram Constellation Cellphones

Nokia's luxury subsidiary Vertu is celebrating 10 years of selling over-designed, under-featured, overpriced cellphones with a new collection of over-designed, under-featured, overpriced cellphones called the Monogram Constellation. Soon to reach your nearest Louis Vuitton shop in Chinatown, these models have the V monogram printed on the leather back in a four-hour process that is for sure going to increase battery life and reception signal. The Pewter, Green, Red, Skye Blue or Cerise colored Monogram Constellation will be launched on April 1st, and their price won't make you laugh. More »

P-Per Cellphone Concept is too Perfect to be True

Those fellows at the Chocolate Design Agency have come up with another smashing concept. This time they have gone to work on creating the best phone, ever. The design is modeled around the same E-Paper Slap Bracelet we saw earlier, but this time the e-paper system—four layers of sustainable material, and an Organic Radical battery—is put to use in the P-Per cellphone concept, which shows a transparent display for camera mode and a browser that spans the entire surface of the display. Checkout the video after the jump to see what all the fuss is about. More »

Vertu Sort of Announces 3G Ascent Ti Phone

The Ascent Ti, the next phone in Vertu's overly flashy line, received the dullest unveiling: an FCC filing. Good thing it had enough newness to make up for it. Looks like the Ti is going 3G with UMTS 2100, which means it won't work on our 3G in the States. It'll also have a 3 megapixel camera, a first for Vertu's Ascent phones. But the Ascent Ti isn't all new. It shares quite a few things with its predecessors as well. More »

Vertu Ferrari 1947 Cellphone: If You Have to Ask the Price, You Can't Afford it

Vertu, that overpriced cellphone company so beloved of celebrities and the uber-rich, has announced details of its latest mobile. The Vertu Ferrari 1947 (of which just 1,947 have been crafted—NOT made, you understand) has a scaled-down replica of the Ferrari gas brake pedal in aluminium (high-grade, natch) on the back, a prancing donkey horse on the front and a black and red leather trim. More »

Vertu Cobra $310,000 Cellphone: Features Justify The Price?

Work at Goldman Sachs and/or Morgan Stanley and have a couple extra hundred thousand/million dollars to spend? Then feast your eyes on the Vertu Signature Cobra. For a cool $310,000 you can purchase... a cellphone? Sure, the phone is decked out with precious gemstones (one pear-cut diamond, one round white diamond two emerald eyes and 439 rubies... I don't know what any of those things are, save for the rubies), but does it allow me to watch TV on-the-go? Can I message all those goth'd out hotties on MySpace with it? Can I pull up a Google Map of the local pub? I thought not. If this doesn't prove that we're in another gilded age then I don't know what will. – Nicholas Deleon More »

Vertu Racetrack Legends, Final Lap

The Vertu Race Legends phones are an exclusive release within an already exclusive brand. Manufacturing only 1,000 of each phone, you can pass the phone down through the generations of your family. Think of it as a pocketwatch that won't be attractive or tell time...or do anything else. More »

Jacob Jensen-fied Vertu Aerius Bluetooth Headset

We first heard word about a Bluetooth headset from Vertu last week. Some more details, along with a snazzy picture, showed up today and strangely it looks a lot like the Jabra JX10. Coincidentally, the Jabra JX10 and Vertu Aerius were both designed by famed artist, Jacob Jensen. More »

Vertu Constellation Luxury Cellphone, Supposedly More Affordable

Vertu is going to launch a line of slightly more affordable "luxury" cellphones sometime this fall, giving them the name Constellation. Three different cellphones will be released under the Constellation moniker, one covered in 18 karat gold (pictured here), and the other two in polished and satin steel. Luxury, baby! More »

FCC Gives Go Ahead for Vertu Phone

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The Vertu Porsche Boxster Test

Vertu, maker of expensive phones, recently got some credibility handed to them it seems. The company is marketing their Ascent Motorsport Edition, which is an ultra-luxurious phone made with petroleum-resistant automotive leather inlaid with carbon fiber and Liquidmetal—you know, the stuff the future Terminator was made of. In short, it's strong. So Vertu claimed the phone could be run over by the very car it was based on: an F1 Porsche. So the New York Times called bull and got one of these phones and ran over that thing five times with a Porsche Boxster. Oh, no! What horrible things happened to the expensive Vertu phone, you ask?! Nothing. Nada. Not a scratch. Score one for Vertu. More »

Vertu Channels Racecar For Phone

Now that so many cellphones are being targeted to women, luxury phone company Vertu decided to go back to its roots and make a manly phone. The Motorsport limited edition (only 997 phones available) takes its cues from the company's participation in the Porsche eMichelin Supercup and Porsche Infineon Carrera Cup Asai. Say that 5 times fast why dontcha? The phone is black and made from liquid metal alloy and oil resistant leather, so it's pretty tough to mess up. And the sapphire crystal screen could show Apple a thing or two about what it means to be scratch-resistant. It includes the brand's dedicated concierge service as well as tri-band (GSM 900,1800 and 1900) with Bluetooth and modem support. Oh, and to make sure it's worth the $5700 price tag, the company claims it actually ran the damn thing over with a racing car. Eat the rich! More »

New Vertu- How the Other .0001% Call

The legitimate and undeniable coolness of some of British luxury cell phone maker Vertu's design innovations as well as their use of insanely fancy materials is made a non-issue for most of us by their equally insane price tag. But flourishing one of these big-ticket items (some models go for upwards of 10K) at a polo match is the kind of thing that future trophy wives and fellow plutocrats alike take note of. More »