Vertu Limited Edition Collection Unveiled.....AHA

India celebrated 60 years of independence on 15 August. A week later, Ferrari also celebrated its 60th year. To commemorate this event, Vertu launched its Ascent Ferrari 1947 Limited Edition at an event in Mumbai. Vertu worked closely with Ferrari's design team to develop this exclusive limited edition phone. Only 1947 handsets in this series will be manufactured.


The collection was launched by director Karan Johar and Ranjit Wijedasa, the regional sales and operations director of Vertu South East Asia Pacific. This was followed by an auction of the 60th handset out of the 1947 pieces created. "The handset was brought in to India this year especially to celebrate the diamond anniversary of India and the Ferrari," said Johar.

The proceeds from the auction were to be donated to the Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children in Parel, Mumbai.

The cost of the Vertu Ascent Ferrari 1947 Limited Edition is Rs. 3.89 lakhs and the highest bidder for the auction was socialite Sunny Diwan of the Dheeraj Group. Diwan is now the first person in India to own the Vertu Ascent Ferrari 1947 Limited Edition for which he paid a whopping Rs. 13.5 lakhs. The other bidders included Bollywood actor Jackie Shroff and Sanjay Ghadvi, director of the Dhoom series.

When asked about the lack of a camera in this phone Ranjit Wijedasa said, "The Vertu Ascent Ferrari 1947 Limited Edition handset is a luxury product and is meant for those people who are clicked. Thus, it does not have a camera."

The handset features 4 hours of talk time, with up to 270 hours standby, Bluetooth support, large memory capacity that can store up to 1,000 contacts, 900 calendar notes and 100 SMS. It also features a high-resolution sapphire crystal screen, stainless steel keys and jeweled bearings.

SAMSUNG'S FIRST COMPACT CAMCODER...NOT BAD....!

What will they think of next? Samsung has developed the first compact HD Camera - VP-HMX10A. I’m not sure who’s going to be able to remember that name, but ok.


The VP-HMX10A (thank goodness for ctrl C, ctrl V) has 10x optical zoom and 720p resolution. The images are compressed to MPEG 4 standard (H.264). This camera also has a 4GB flash card for storing data and also allows for external memory using other SD cards. It’s also equipped with a handle that rotates to make it easier to hold the camera.

Sony Launches TV Tuner, Recorder for PS3

Sony Corp. took another step to lure new customers for its high-end PlayStation3, saying it would sell a device to let users record live television that can be stored on the game console or transferred to the PlayStation Portable for later viewing.


The combined television tuner and personal video recorder, dubbed PlayTV, is aimed at helping Sony boost sales of its high-end gaming console as well as its portable gaming unit. Sales are due to start in Spain, Germany, France, Italy and Britain in early 2008.

Sony announced the new product Wednesday at the Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany.

Using a format known in Europe as Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestrial, the PlayTV integrates into the PlayStation 3 console and lets users record individual episodes or entire series to its hard drive.

Sony said the device's twin TV tuners are high-definition ready and able to view, record and play back in that format. Recorded video can be sent wirelessly from the console to a PSP.

For all its advances, Sony's PS3 has faced formidable competition from rivals like Nintendo Co.'s Wii and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360.

Sony had sold 4.3 million PS3 consoles as of June, compared with 11.6 million Xbox 360s and about 8 million Wiis.

The PS3 retails for 599 euros ($808) in Europe and $499 in the U.S. The company did not say how much PlayTV would cost or when it would be available elsewhere in Europe, Asia or the Americas.

Jonathan Arber and Jonathan Coham, analysts at Ovum, a London-based research firm, said PlayTV was the ''next logical step'' for Sony in competing with the Xbox 360, but said Sony still has to overcome the console's price and bring out more games.