- English luxury mobile phone manufacturer, Vertu, launches its new high-performance smartphone model – Signature Touch
- Vertu combines finest luxury materials, leading technology and unique services in its pinnacle smartphone
- Sound tuned in collaboration with Bang & Olufsen and featuring Dolby® Digital Plus virtual surround sound for peerless mobile acoustics
- Hasselblad certified camera provides crystal clear imaging
- Extraordinary 5th Generation solid sapphire crystal screen with full HD display technology and titanium casing delivers strength and beauty
- Signature Touch incorporates Vertu’s highly renowned full services offering; Dedicated Concierge, Vertu LIFE and Vertu CERTAINTY
Vertu Signature Touch
Signature Touch is the new high-performance smartphone from Vertu, the English manufacturer of luxury mobile phones. Signature Touch blends best-in-class technology with superior handcrafted materials, including grade 5 titanium and hand-finished calf leather.
It is the pinnacle smartphone model from Vertu and incorporates the full breadth of the company’s expertise, including sound tuned in collaboration with B&O and featuring Dolby® Digital Plus virtual surround sound and Hasselblad certified imaging, as well as Vertu’s full portfolio of services, which comprises Dedicated Concierge as well as Vertu LIFE and Vertu CERTAINTY packages.
Massimiliano Pogliani, Vertu’s Chief Executive Officer, said, “Signature Touch is our pinnacle smartphone, designed for a global consumer who appreciates and expects unique products and first class performance. We are in the fortunate, perhaps unique position of being able to draw upon an excess of 15 years’ in-house expertise and we have invested in, and relentlessly interrogated, the latest insights from the luxury sector. In Signature Touch we have created a phone that exceeds our customers’ expectations and that we believe will cement our position as leader of the luxury mobile category. Its bold design exhibits classic Vertu styling elements, such as the raised ceramic pillow and strong V forms; these flourishes immediately set the phone apart from mainstream manufacturers.
Our commitment to hand craftsmanship and perfectly selected materials is equally well demonstrated through the beautifully stitched calf leather and skillfully polished and brushed titanium casing. Signature Touch is a powerful smartphone, employing the latest software and components to deliver outstanding performance.
We have deliberately elected to excel in the areas that are most relevant to our customer base, however, namely the audio and imaging. The fact that we have met the very exacting standards of B&O, Dolby and Hasselblad illustrates the lengths that our engineers have gone to, to deliver an exceptional user experience for our customers.”
Design
Signature Touch builds on familiar elements of the Vertu design language while creating a much slimmer, cleaner and contemporary device. Incorporating dynamic elements alongside the company’s trademark ceramic pillow, Signature Touch supports the iconic status of the brand. The strong, masculine style of the handset is highlighted through the use of a grade 5 titanium casing that uses both brushed and polished finishes to accentuate its slimline profile.
The 4.7” high definition screen on Signature Touch is protected by a 5th generation,118 carat,5.1 inch piece of solid sapphire crystal. Vertu has been using sapphire for luxury mobile phones since the late 90s and has continuously developed the technology for this precision application. Now, with more than a decade’s experience of growing, cutting, polishing and bonding, Vertu has become the foremost expert in sapphire crystal screen technology for mobile devices. Impervious to anything less than diamond, solid sapphire crystal is strong, highly scratch resistant and optically perfect. Layered over the phone’s 4.7 inch HD display, the sapphire crystal screen has been manufactured to reduce reflection with a multi-layer coating.
Vertu’s Creative Director, Ignacio Germade, said, “The extraordinary nature of Signature Touch is reflected in its design, which has a classic elegance to it that is recognisably Vertu but with a modern and confident approach. It is consciously masculine, a style enhanced by the beautifully finished titanium and hand crafted leather. We have introduced an exquisite colour palette which includes Claret, Seaspray, Damson, Navy and Jet Black making the range even more attractive.”
He continued, “The design of Signature Touch references the heritage of our brand; Vertu has been designing luxury mobile phones for well over a decade and our unique visual language is now instantly recognizable as a global statement of individual style, quality and craftsmanship.”
Signature Touch will launch in a range of five colours across eight product executions: Jet Calf, Claret Calf,Pure Jet, Pure Jet Red Gold Mixed Metals, Seaspray Lizard, Damson Lizard, Pure Navy Lizard and Jet Alligator. A beautiful range of cases will be available in three different designs, in a range of complementary materials and colours.
Performance
Signature Touch is a powerful modern smartphone that packs an array of features into its slim profile. The acoustics, tuned in collaboration with B&O,feature Dolby Digital Plus virtual surround sound processing and stereo speakers.
This symphony of sound is matched with a full HD 473dpi display, the highest definition available for a 4.7 Inch screen. Call quality is assured via noise cancelling uplink and downlink and the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 2.3GHz Quad-core processor delivers stunning speed.
With imaging such an integral part of the smartphone experience, Vertu has worked with Hasselblad, the world’s most renowned professional photography brand, to perfect the image tuning of the camera onboard Signature Touch.
Signature Touch was designed under the Vertu ethos of a ‘one world phone’, with the development team working to ensure that, no matter where you are in the world, your Signature Touch has the optimum set up for the region that you are in. Vertu’s Research and Development Director, Neil Hooper, said, “Most phones come out of the box prepared only for their area of sale, so when you travel with them, they may not work as efficiently in other markets. Vertu customers are truly global; consequently we want to ensure that they enjoy great quality calls wherever they are. We achieve this by ensuring that we cover a greater array of bands, including the latest 4G, than virtually any other phone available. Regardless of where our customers are travelling, they receive peerless coverage from their Signature Touch.”
This perfect world service is complemented by global Wi-Fi access supplied by iPass in what is their company’s only global consumer partnership.
Alongside the sterling performance of the audio and imaging, Signature Touch features wireless charging, NFC and the latestGoogle Android™ 4.4 (KitKat) software.A full technical specification is included at the end of this release.
Services
Vertu has rebooted its world renowned service offering for the launch of Signature Touch, and the company’s pinnacle smartphone gets access to the full range of curated privileges and services.
Vertu Concierge is available for all Signature Touch customers and features the highest level of Dedicated Service. Customers are provided with a single point of contact. Providing an effortless, everyday service and able to assist in all matters, Dedicated Concierge from Vertu has been set up as a sophisticated system that can learn and adapt to individuals; as the customer uses the system more and more, it becomes more attuned and tailored to their needs. It is the ultimate expression of bespoke technology.
Vertu LIFE offers customers a personalised selection of exclusive privileges and unrestricted access to elite events, available directly on device. Features include complimentary entry to the most exclusive Private Members’ Clubs around the world, access to invitation-only events and closed-door shopping experiences.
Vertu CERTAINTY protects the customer, their Vertu phone and their data through best-in-class technology and expert partners. This includes encrypted communications, comprising voice calls, text and video, delivered in partnership with Silent Circle. There is also global Wi-Fi access via iPass as well as anti-theft and anti-virus by Kaspersky.
Vertu began working on a luxury mobile phone concept as early as 1998 and four years later the company shipped its first product, the Signature, from its headquarters in Hampshire, England. Today, Vertu still leads the market that it pioneered, with a range of phones available: Vertu Signature, Vertu Signature Touch and Vertu Constellation. Each product in the range delivers an unrivalled synergy of hand craftsmanship and materials, unique design, latest technology and curated services.