The list of the five most expensive phones of 2006! Erm, that is, the phones we've written about. So get out those check cards and make someone really happy this holiday season!5. The world's first luxury phone company launched in 2002, the London-based subsidiary of Nokia called Vertu, and we loved what they've been doing. Not only do its phones boast superior electronics, but the shells aren't too shabby either. They say the reception is "as clear as a Mozart symphony," and they phones' near-indestructibility comes from metals like titanium and aluminum and precious stones like sapphire and ruby. These celeb-magnets run from about $10-$20K.
4. Perhaps the most futuristic design this year came from Jaren Goh called the Black Diamond. Originally designed for Sony Erickson, only five of these will be made by the Swiss company VIPN and feature a diamond pressed into the back of the handset. It runs on Windows Mobile 5.0, boasts a 400Mhz Intel Xscale CPU, 4-MP digital camera, touch screen, SIP technology for VOIP, 2.0″ 256K TFT screen and IEEE 802.11g WiFi support. Price: $300,000 (but you can grab its "White Pearl" counterpart for $1500).
3. OK, so we're gonna revisit those sweet, sweet Vertu phones again (we sort of think they're cool). This time they've added a small bit of gaudiness to the otherwise dripping-with-condensed-class phones; diamond and precious-stone snakes adorn the case of the handset and every line -- down to the letters in the keypad -- is diamond cut. The designs are said to be inspired by the 19th century Parisian jeweler Frederic Boucheron, in cobra (left) and python (right), and go for $350,000.
2. On to the million-dollar babies! This first six figure-er comes from the Swiss company GoldVish and designer Emmanuel Gueit. Its price tag comes courtesy of 120 carats worth of VVS-1 grade diamonds and all the new fangled tech junk you can think of – except, it seems, WiFi. Apparently a million bucks doesn't buy what it used to. Visit the company's site here to see the rest of its beauties.
1. And the winner is ... (crowd cheering goes here, or, erm, you sort of coarsely breathing into your hands) ... The Great Peter Aloisson! We've loved his crazy blingification skills for a while now, and his $1.3 million Diamond Crypto Smartphone tops our list of 2006's most expensive phones. The case is entirely made of solid platinum (except the logo and the navigation key, which are 18 carat rose gold). The wood you see on the side there is Madagascar Ebony and each of the 25 carats worth of blue and white diamonds' quality is "G – vvs1" or better. Pretty sweet there Peter. The tech notes' highlights include Windows CE running on a 266 MHz Motorola processor, MS Office, MP3 player and quad-band, all behind a 2.2" TFT touchscreen, Pretty sweet there crazy Russian company.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
12-12-2006 @ 1:32AM
Luxist lover said...
I am an IT guy, some how I always buy the cheapest phones.
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12-13-2006 @ 6:20PM
Dmitry Paradis said...
The winner... what a sad-looking excuse for 1.3mil price tag. Blinging out a phone that looks like a cheap Sony-Ericsson, no thank you. Even the #2 has more style and flow than the "winner". If you want a purist phone built with the same understated good taste as a fine swiss timepiece, opt for #5, the Signature by Vertu - the most elegant out of the bunch.
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12-13-2006 @ 8:48PM
NICK said...
JUST GOD'S WAY OF TELLING YOU THAT YOU HAVE WAY TOO MUCH MONEY.
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12-13-2006 @ 9:05PM
josh said...
no thanx, i'd rather buy myself two rolls royce phantoms for 500k each... one for monday-thursday and the other for friday-sunday...just cause i'm cool like that
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12-13-2006 @ 9:13PM
andrea said...
ok for 1.3 million dollars this thing better be able to wake me up in the morning ,grow legs and be able to get off my night stand ,go cook me breakfast and bring it to me and then drive me to work ..hahaha.come on give me a break if you actually have 1.3 million dollars and you waste it on this then you seriously have problems.i think i'll stick to my 30 dollar phone.
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12-13-2006 @ 9:17PM
Katie said...
It's products like these that keep people who should be doing something worthwhile with their extra cash from doing just that. That million could have gone to cancer research: shame on Peter Aloisson and Emmanuel Gueit, but especially on whoever is superficial enough to buy such an expensively worthless piece of junk.
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12-13-2006 @ 9:25PM
digger said...
I would much rather spend the money on a chip foose design than any of these pieces of junk. For those of you who don't know chip foose is the man who has won three don riddler awards at detroit autorama.
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12-13-2006 @ 9:56PM
Jess said...
I couldn't agree more with Andrea from #5 and Katie from #6! Couldn't have said it better myself!
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12-13-2006 @ 10:16PM
Justin said...
HAHA i wonder how much the bill is.
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12-13-2006 @ 10:18PM
Cassandra said...
For a $1 million, I could buy an island in the Caribbean & build a mansion on it. Give me a break!
A phone is a phone & all its good for is talking. That will never, ever change.
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12-13-2006 @ 10:36PM
Eric V said...
How much ??? For a cell phone ??? Please! Just goes to show you- Barnum was right.- There's a sucker born every minute. I personally get what ever free Nokia, no-frills phones my provider offers. No cameras or stupid shit. All it has to do is place and recieve calls. Some people have so much money it makes them stupid. They would probably wipe thier ass with $100 bills if they couldn't find toilet paper.
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12-13-2006 @ 10:41PM
Ann Schultz said...
Hell, I spent that much on my railroad car and it still ain't finished! And MY phone is 6 years old. HA! And anyway, if I were going to spend the big bucks on a flippin' phone, I would get the only one that works ANYWHERE - satellite! Spend 1.3 if you want, it's still not gonna work out in the middle of, say Lake Superior or in the wilderness of Northern Michigan or deep in a canyon in the mountains of Southern California. Bleah.
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12-13-2006 @ 10:51PM
paullydog said...
i bought one of the #4 and it is really great reception. all the areas i could never get reception i now get. keep you phantom or your island, i don't want the upkeep.
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12-13-2006 @ 11:09PM
Paul D. said...
for the pricetag they want for these gaudy phones, I hope it comes with 44640 minutes included (app. how many minutes in a month) & to think I thought my sony ericsson at $250 dollars was expensive!...hey here's a thought buy a bling kit with all those dimonds & rubys in it, get some gold plating & you can have a phone that costs maybe $200 but looks like a million bucks!!
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12-13-2006 @ 11:18PM
dazzzydav said...
come on people get a grip.1.3 million for a cell phone,that is totally ridiculous.only in this society would someone be impressed by some retard who thought it would be a good idea to put diamonds on a cell phone.
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12-13-2006 @ 11:59PM
Rodman Hart said...
"We're sorry you must first dial a 0ne or Zero....lots n lots of zeros...before buying this number!
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12-14-2006 @ 12:04AM
LL said...
Oh how stupid is that? These people should be ashamed of themselves (the idiots that make it and the dumb asses that buy it). There are people in this world that are starving to death as we speak. 1 million dollars could buy a lot of food and save a lot of lives!
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12-14-2006 @ 12:06AM
Ed Dunlap said...
Okay, we now know Chip Foose as the man that won 3 Don Riddler awards. Next question, Who's Don Riddler?
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12-14-2006 @ 12:17AM
deadlyfalcon89 said...
you know, that 1.3M phone... i have one that looks EXACTLY like it, minus the diamonds. cost me about $30 after the signup and all. Diamonds won't make up the difference between that and 1.3M so I'm thinking... MASSIVE HOME BUSINESS IN THE MAKING HERE!!!!!!! lol
seriously, this lends the utmost in credence to "a fool and his money are soon parted". WHO would spend 1.3M on something that's just gonna go obsolete in a year or two? seriously. If the whole point is to have the most cutting-edge stuff, you're going to need to replace it at much higher cost than normal. And they'd better come with a free car or something...
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12-14-2006 @ 12:40AM
devildolphin8064 said...
ok so i dont know if anyone else has this problem but i have a habit of loosing my phone or it getting stolen....that would SUCK if you lost it or it got stolen... i mean what would you say to the insurance company... uhh yeah i lost a million dollar phone? WTF
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