We’ve seen Vertu’s Ferrari phone, BlackBerry has a Porsche-branded handset on the way and now there’s a Lamborghini-branded device on the way but it’s not quite as associated with the car as you’d think.
The company behind the device, Tonino Lamborghini, was started by the son of Automobili Lamborghini founder Ferruccio Lamborghini and doesn’t actually have any ties to the vehicle manufacturer. But the design of the handset definitely calls to mind automotive design. The new phone is call the Antares but, if reports regarding the device’s pricing are on the uh… money, it probably won’t carry same sort of price tag the Vertu Ti Ferrari features, despite being a fairly similar sort of phone. It should still break the R40,000 mark if it ever does make an appearance in South Africa however.
The Antares handset is similar to Vertu’s effort in that the body is designed to recall the stylings of a sports car, something the company is explicit about. They’re just not saying which car. It is constructed from stainless steel and features a leather back, both of which are “processed by hand”, as well as a metal mesh over the phone’s speakers.
The design is probably largely responsible for the price, since the specs themselves are a little sub-par for tech-heads. There will be a 4.3-inch qHD (960 x 540) display, 1.5GHz quad-core processor and 1GB of RAM for buyers to play with, along with 32GB of storage. The package will include a 32GB microSD card and audio is being taken care of by dual speakers connected to a Yamaha amplifier. An Android 4.2 installation will complete the package, though Tonino Lamborghini have added their own custom user interface to the mix.
In spite of having no real connection with the Lambo auto manufacturer, comparisons between the Antares and other auto-themed phones are going to be made. There’s probably a good reason for that, based on the visuals of the phone so far. It’s due to go on sale in Russia and China this year before heading to Europe and other locations in 2014.
Source: Lamborghini Mobile via Digital Trends