We’re used to technology looking after us. But Vertu’s luxury smartphone takes that premise up a few (heavily gilded) notches. The Constellation is the company’s first touchscreen and is made to an extraordinary specification. It feels more like an expensive watch than a phone, and comes with one-touch access to a 24/7 concierge. The ‘concierge’ is essentially Jim’ll Fix It for grown-ups (providing it’s legal, of course); a room full of connected fixers who can sort anything from a reservation at Heston’s new restaurant to an audience with the world’s most exclusive tailor.
The three essential features:
1. The 3.5in HD AMOLED touchscreen is protected by an unscratchable, ultra-thin sheet of sapphire crystal, which is ‘grown’ in a lab, then cut and ground down.
2. Whenever you land in a new city, the phone presents a City Brief, highlighting the best places to have meetings or business lunches. If you end up ‘out out’ and lose your phone, Vertu Fortress keeps your data automatically backed up to a cloud.
3. The ringtone was composed by Oscar-winner Dario Marianelli and recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra. The 8-megapixel camera has a dual LED flash. Photos and files can be saved to the 32GB of storage. The phone runs a bespoke version of Vertu-skinned Nokia Symbian 7 OS.
£3,830; vertu.com
