Diabo

It's a clunky piece of metal. Good for coffee table decoration, not good for using as a phone.

I wonder why they didn't put a decent phone inside that expensive shiny cover.

vincom

HA HA HA ! The Vertu Accent is 5K, the Signature line starts at 10k with the price going up depending on the options you get.

None of my bags would cover that muc...

-Vincent

ScottC

Are you speaking from experience or not?

Diabo

Are you? Or did you just look at the pictures on their website?

You don't have to use a phone to judge its limitations. 22 mm is 22 mm, 173 g is 173 g, and an advertized standby time of 270 h is no more than 4 days outside the perfect-world conditions of the test lab.

ScottC

That isn't what I am asking, I'm asking whether you have experience with Vertu phones that lets you claim it is "lousy".

As for me, don't worry about me. I know what I am talking about, I'm just curious if you do too.

Diabo

I haven't used it. I'm sure you didn't either.

Here's a review by someone who did. It confirms the limitations I extracted from the specifications: http://www.mobile-review.com/review/vertu-en.shtml . The cover is brilliant, what's inside is lousy.

Maybe you can share some of your personal experience with the Vertu to make me change my mind?

ScottC

1) I have, so don't go drawing conclusions you can't backup.

2) The review you linked to is for the first generation Vertu, we are at least 4 generations further than that one

I find 270 hours standby to be pretty decent, it is very average for a cellphone nowadays. If your conclusion of "lousy" is purely based on what you read in an old Russian review and what is posted on the website then I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

Diabo

270 hours of advertized standby is not good at all. Since you seem to have used the phone, why don't you tell us the standby time and talktime in real-world conditions?

Why is 'russian' relevant?

kanebear

I had the Signature MMII in stainless with the "yellow metal" keytips, exactly as pictured. The phone was the best I've ever used with regards to audio. Even in the loudest environments I could hear and be heard. Guess they figured all those supra-wealthy clubkids would need to be able to use their phones in loud clubs. That review is BS as to quality and ease of use.

I've used the Ascent as well. It's not feature packed. IT IS an excellent phone and the battery life is extremely long. So; until you've used one, all you can do is parrot what others have stated and have no base for your assertions.

Oh, and it's advertised. Can't use the BS "English isn't my first language" excuse. ScottC is from The Netherlands as well, yet manages to spell correctly.

FlyinHawaiian

Just had a flashback to one of these bad boys...

kanebear

*ROFLMAO*!!!! ^^^ I don't think I know ANYONE who would get excited about that Monza. What an embarrassment and an abuse of the name.

ScottC

Yeah, but I only lived there for 20 years, not long enough to make me Dutch

Diabo

"Extremely long" can mean anything. How many days of battery life in real-world conditions?

ScottC

Last time I tested one I got about 6 days out of it (and I make a LOT of calls).

To me that is much more than many other devices I use (like Blackberries, MDA, SDA etc...). Just how much standby/talk time is considered enough? My first GSM phone lasted for 4 hours on a full charge and I was perfectly happy with it. I'm happy if I don't have to charge my phone more than every 2 days at the moment (it drains fast because I get so much email).

But back to the conclusion that the phone is "lousy". Calling this phone lousy is like calling all B&O equipment lousy because it lacks many standard features found on other devices. Fact of the matter is that you can really only draw a conclusion based on the entire package. Vertu puts an awful lot of effort into the quality of their handsets, your average Nokia or Samsung is put together by a machine in under 38 seconds, while these devices are hand made, of very high quality parts. No cheap plastic snap-frames, no cheap speakers or plastic injection molded keypad. Every segment of the market needs a high-end player. Why do you think I gladly drop $10k on a watch when I could buy a Swatch for $40 that'll do just the same? Or why I have no problem buying a quality car when a 1989 Toyota will also get me from A to B in the same time? It is all about style, quality and whether or not you feel the product is worth it. To me a Vertu is worth it, but lacks features that would make it practical for me to use. That doesn't mean it is lousy.

Diabo

Six days is reasonable, but no more than that. And definitely not 'extremely long' as someone posted before.

But the battery life to weight ratio of the Vertu is not good at all. My 3-year old cheapo phone weighs half of a Vertu and keeps running for 8 days. Longer if I'm abroad and don't use it that much.

Which is the reason I didn't bother to replace it with a newer model; to get the same battery life as my old phone I'd have to settle for a bigger, heavier phone or downgrade to a b/w display. Nokia et al. simply ignore the market for tri- and quadband lightweight compact phones that you can take on a trip without taking the battery charger with you. A bad phone with a bad camera sells better than a good phone without a camera.

The B&O analogy fails. A B&O has cutting edge technology inside. It outperforms Sony and Philips on more than looks alone.

With the current specs, a Vertu is like a flight on a Concorde at the speed of a 767. The looks, leather seats, lobster, and champagne are nice, but if it doesn't go faster than 900 km/h it won't make up for the substandard seat pitch.

At 6000 pounds and up, the Vertu is aimed at those who want it all. That takes state of the art technology and the best battery available in addition to the shiny metal cover.