CELL PHONE: Vertu Ascent

Friday, 6 July 2012

Vertu Ascent

As you might expect, the $3,850 Ascent has class. Lightweight at six ounces, it's got a balanced heft you might associate with a well-made handgun. It's made of ceramic, stainless steel and a durable alloy called Liquidmetal, finished with hand-sewn leather and a screen of sapphire crystal, a material second only to diamond in hardness. More masculine than the slender, elongated Signature, Ascent is a fit for men who collect cars and wear watches by Breitling or Jaeger-LeCoultre.

Surprisingly, the Ascent is not for technophiles of any kind, not even those of elevated financial status. Like Signature, the Ascent was designed with simplicity in mind. To the designers, that meant leaving out anything that might possibly confuse the owner, including perks commonly found in much cheaper phones like Bluetooth wireless for hands-free headsets and voice-operated systems like the one in the 2004 Acura TL, or a browser for checking e-mail, weather or movie times. You can send SMS messages, but there's no way to take and send photos and other multimedia files