Is Vertu Ti the costliest smartphone in India?

New Delhi, May 12: British-based manufacturer and luxury mobile phone retailer Vertu has launched its next smartphone in India with a price tag of Rs 649,990. According to Vertu, the Ti is the company's acknowledgement of the growing global demand for Android phones.The Ti runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich inside a polished titanium case with leather accents and a "virtually scratch proof " sapphire crystal screen. The device has a 3.7-inches WVGA screen and is powered by 1.7GHz dual-core processor. It packs 1GB RAM and 64GB internal storage. The TI sports 8MP rear camera with auto focus and twin LED flash, a 1.3MP front facing Skype-compliant camera. Undoubtedly, these are interesting specs, but not too different from what you'd find today in phones that cost one-twentieth the price of one Vertu Ti.However, Vertu makes a point by saying the Ti is different from others, as it offers the titanium and sapphire crystal, and a live personal assistant on-call at the press of just a single button. The button is at the left side of the device ad when pressed, this button opens a dedicated menu where a call can be placed to Vertu's trademark personal assistant. Vertu's Concierge Services outsource a lot of the functions – such as booking exclusive hotels and dinner reservations – that many of us do through apps.Vertu claims that the sapphire screen of Ti is the largest ever engineered at 3.7 inches, and resists impact four times better than other smartphones. It also says the titanium case protects the smartphone five times more than its competition, making it a better candidate for a fill-in hockey puck than the iPhone 5 or Samsung Galaxy S3.Vertu's head of creative design emphasizes that the company did not want to spoil Android with a complicated UI. For instance, the analog clock face uses blue highlights to indicate the day's appointments (synced across from Outlook) and a red arrow shows the time of the alarm.Founded in 1998, Vertu was solely owned by Nokia till 2012 June. In June, Nokia sold 90 percent of the company's equity share to private group EQT VI. In Asia, Vertu has its stores in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Sydney, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Vietnam.In many ways, the Vertu TI opens a new chapter for the British company firm. It's the first device to be launched since Vertu was sold to the investment firm EQT by Nokia last year, and it's the first to use a modern smartphone operating system – in this case Google Android. A Rs 6.5 lakh phones surely emanates lots of style, but sadly, if your bank account is not full, you're aren't going to be able to afford it. Needless to mention, the Vertu TI is something to be admired in the same way as an Italian supercar or a beautiful timepiece.