Vertu, the luxury smartphone brand based in the UK, has launched its latest device, the Signature Touch. Like the company’s previous hardware, it’s built using only the very best components and materials, to astonishingly exacting standards, meaning it’s not a phone for the faint of heart or light of wallet.
The Signature name will be familiar to Vertu aficionados. It has previously been attached to a line of popular feature phones, but this is the first time the name has been put on a touchscreen smartphone. Although Vertu doesn’t refer to itself as a technology firm (more a luxury brand), it has gone all out with the Signature Touch, compared to older models.
Underneath the sapphire crystal screen is a 4.7-inch, 1080p display, which shows Android 4.4 KitKat with Vertu’s usual simple enhancements. Vertu’s Concierge service is standard, putting you directly in touch with a real personal assistant 24-hours a day. There are a few cool graphical tweaks to discover, such as a gyroscope-controlled reflection running over the trademark analog clock face. Vertu has forged the Signature Touch’s body from grade 5 titanium and wrapped it in leather, which comes in various colors and styles, including lizard and alligator.
A quad-core, 2.3GHz Snapdragon 800 processor is inside the phone, and for the first time, Vertu has included 4G LTE connectivity complete with 10 band support. There is a 13-megapixel camera on the back, with software tweaked by Hasselblad, and a set of stereo speakers on the front, which have been tuned by Bang & Olufsen and come with Dolby Digital Plus enhancements. Other features include NFC, wireless charging, 64GB of internal memory, a 2.1-megapixel front camera, Bluetooth 4.0, and a 2275mAh battery.
The Signature Touch is due to go on sale this week, starting in the UK, and it will be sold all over the world through Vertu’s own boutiques and selected partner stores. The price? Well, it starts at £6,750, or $11,300, so if the cost of an iPhone makes you suck air through gritted teeth, this one probably isn’t for you.
