Earlier this year, luxury mobile phone maker Vertu unveiled its first Android-powered luxury phone. The company, still known for its ultra-expensive phones with premium materials yet backward specs, has launched its second Android device. The Vertu Constellation is a bit different from its predecessors. For one, the iconic ceramic pillow located on the earpiece of every Vertu handset is not present on the Constellation. In exchange, the device has a very large piece of scratch-proof sapphire glass on the screen, the largest among any current smartphones.
The Vertu Constellation is crafted with a layer of soft yet durable calf leather surrounding its Grade 5 titanium housing. It comes in five colors: black, light brown, orange, dark brown, and cherry.
At €4,900 (about $6,630), the Constellation is more affordable compared to its predecessor, the Vertu Ti. And as we say on almost every Vertu device we have covered, it caters to a certain type of consumers: those who have a lot of money to spare.
“It tested extremely well (in study groups) in China and Russia,” Vertu’s CEO Massimiliano Pogliani said in an interview with Engadget. “In terms of design and appearance, it is being luxury but not too bling, too wild, too pushy, so I’m very happy and very confident.”
Specs wise, the Vertu Constellation is slightly more powerful than the Ti. The new handset features a customized Android 4.2, a 4.3-inch 720p screen, and a 1.7GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 system-on-chip. It also has a 13-megapixel camera with dual LED flash at the back, a 1.3-megapixel front-facing shooter, a larger 1800mAh battery, and a wide array of connectivity standards like NFC, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, and WCDMA 3G cellular frequency (so it works fine with AT&T or T-Mobile).
On the down side, it can only hold up to 32GB of internal memory instead of 64GB, while the lack of 4G LTE radio would disappoint the speed-oriented consumers. The pin-eject SIM tray is a slight donwer compared to the more convenient pop-out back panel found on previous Vertu handsets.
Constellation users would be offered to subscribe to Vertu Certainty, an option that provides users “global, unlimited WiFi access” courtesy of iPass, as well as an advanced version of Kaspersky anti-virus software. They can also sign up with Kaspersky’s Protector Services Group, which would enable personal tracking and an alert button right on the phone. Like the Ti, the new Vertu smartphone supports encrypted VoIP call service from Silent Circle and would even offer encrypted instant messaging in the future.
The Vertu Constellation will be available in select Vertu retail stores this October.
Source: Vertu
