The Most Expensive Phones of 2006

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.


by Luxist