January 23rd marks the beginning of the year of the dragon on the Chinese calendar, and Vertu is celebrating with a luxury dragon-themed mobile phone based on its Signature collection. Each quad-band dragon phone comes in stainless steel with emeralds, black steel with Rubies, or gold with diamonds. A four-clawed dragon mounted on the back is hand-made from a 20-step process that takes 36 hours to complete — the scales alone take more than eight hours to engrave. Before being mounted on the phone, each gold dragon is shipped to Switzerland to receive a hallmark of purity. All this labor and certification doesn't come cheap. The handsets cost about $20,733 ($26,800 in Singapore dollars) each, but buyers get a leather case, a charging base, and one year of Vertu Concierge service free. There are really no specs of particular interest, but that's not really the point.
Vertu making 'year of the dragon' Signature phone


There are 33 Comments. Add yours.
I can’t wait to use T9 to sext my boos with this thing.
Posted on Jan 05, 2012 | 5:47 PM EST reply Recommend (9) Flag actions
With that one, I’m sure Vlad will got his trophy wife … or mistress. :D
Posted on Jan 05, 2012 | 5:47 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
What an ugly piece of crap. Strip it for materials.
Posted on Jan 05, 2012 | 5:51 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Indroducing- Blackberry Charm in GOLD!

Posted on Jan 05, 2012 | 5:52 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
You have forgotten to mention that it comes with shitty Symbian from the last decade…
Posted on Jan 05, 2012 | 5:58 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
You guys should do a review :D It would probably go missing from the review cabinet pretty quickly though
Posted on Jan 05, 2012 | 5:58 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
On this phone Siri is actually a person…
Posted on Jan 05, 2012 | 5:59 PM EST reply Recommend (4) Flag actions
but not really—you are missing the irony that such an expensive phone is running really crap software as mentioned by artysx above. If it had Android Ice Cream Sandwich or if (in a nearly impossible hypothetical scenario) they were able to license iOS, it would not be such a hateworthy product
Posted on Jan 05, 2012 | 6:20 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
i beg to differ ….with that price tag..it can come with iOS, android ICS, webOS, Blackberry OS 6 win mo 7 multiple boot option…and it still will be a hateworthy product :-D
Posted on Jan 05, 2012 | 6:24 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
spot on. what I should have said was “would be very slightly less hateworthy”
Posted on Jan 05, 2012 | 6:46 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
hateworthy product? This phone, all it does is call and sms.. really just the basics.
You can keep ios and android. If I had the cash for this, I’d take this over ios and any android, any day.
there is a concierge button on these phones. You want to do something, you press that button and the real person who is paid to cater to your whims, will do it for you. You can even get these guys to get you out of stock items and sold out items or get you into places you can’t get into.
IOS? Android? Don’t make these guys laugh man… they’ll just call their concierge. You think people who buy this like to do things themselves?
Posted on Jan 05, 2012 | 10:54 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
24 hour concierge anywhere in the world even.
Posted on Jan 05, 2012 | 10:59 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Calling their concierge would be much easier from a device that isn’t running Symbian on 5 year old hardware. Also, it does more than call and SMS. It runs S60 3rd or 5th, so it does everything but does it very poorly.
You’re just making shitty excuses, the Vertu brand and service is a complete joke. I bet rich people call their AMEX Black Concierge or their own personal assistant on their custom plated gold iPhones and laugh at the dumbness who wasted $20,000 on a stupid looking out of date phone so that they could get a year of crappy concierge service.
Posted on Jan 05, 2012 | 11:49 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Kind of reminds me of:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eden_of_the_East
Posted on Jan 06, 2012 | 1:17 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
It’s beyond me how you could possibly be serious. I can’t be bothered with this kind of inanity.
Posted on Jan 06, 2012 | 2:39 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
From what I’ve read, the concierge service is little more than what is offered by American Express or MasterCard.
Those who really know what they’re doing hire a dedicated concierge service.
Posted on Jan 06, 2012 | 8:06 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Seriously, though, this seems like the kind of phone Kim Jong Il’s son would own. I could totally see him pulling it out of the pocket of his Armani Exchange jeans to call one of his generals.
Posted on Jan 05, 2012 | 6:01 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
Unless if you’re talking about his eldest son, in which case this phone would be more appropriate.:

Posted on Jan 06, 2012 | 8:09 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
If you’re going to spend that much on a phone, just buy about 30 unlocked Galaxy Nexuses, keep one, and give the rest to all your friends and family.
Posted on Jan 05, 2012 | 6:03 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Congratulations, you managed to write about this thing without mocking it. I would not have thought it possible.
Posted on Jan 05, 2012 | 6:11 PM EST reply Recommend (6) Flag actions
It wasn’t easy
Posted on Jan 06, 2012 | 1:38 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
For Triads only.
Posted on Jan 05, 2012 | 6:15 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Honestly, if I had a billion dollars in my bank I would not buy this. It’s fugly and I’d probably say the iPhone 4S is more fashionable, stylish and has way more features. These phones are actually handmade in a village just down the road from me in England.
Posted on Jan 05, 2012 | 6:15 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I’d be interested to know how the people that work there can live with themselves knowing that this piece of shit is their contribution to the world.
Posted on Jan 05, 2012 | 7:03 PM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
It looks like you should be able to pull out a small blade from it.
For dealing with disloyal henchmen.
Posted on Jan 05, 2012 | 6:20 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Lightly coat it in white powder and throw in a beige microfibre suit.
Posted on Jan 05, 2012 | 6:32 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
You forgot to mention it’s polished with the tears of third world children.
Posted on Jan 05, 2012 | 6:34 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
It’s the Official Yakuza Vertu!
Posted on Jan 05, 2012 | 6:38 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Damn that thing is kitschy; it looks like something you’d get in a christmas-cracker.
Posted on Jan 05, 2012 | 7:33 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Who ever buys this deserves death. . .
Posted on Jan 05, 2012 | 8:47 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
that actually looks good. If I was a triad boss in China town, I’d buy this asap.
Posted on Jan 05, 2012 | 11:00 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
If I could get a Galaxy Nexus that looked like that, hey… I’d post positively about it.
Posted on Jan 06, 2012 | 12:12 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Anyone who buys a Vertu phone needs to be taxed more, there is just NO reason for these phones to exist.
Posted on Jan 06, 2012 | 1:59 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
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