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www.businessrevieweurope.eu | January 2011
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High-end executive gifts with high-end prices
In the market for the cool executive inventions, Vertu and The Dragan Flyer trounce the competition in the awesomeness stakes
Written by Tom Lloyd 1) Vertu Vertu, the lavish British-based mobile communications offshoot of Nokia, has released it’s first smart phone: the Constellation Quest. So pretentious is the name that one would expect an exuberant price tag to match the latest creation of the ‘market leader in luxury mobile phones’; Vertu does not disappoint. Prices for the product range from a mere £5,000 for the ‘basic model’ to a frankly insane, nausea-inducing £17,300. To give the Constellation Quest its dues, there can be very little comparison with any other mobile phone on the market, certainly in the looks and build-quality department. Even the most up-market rivals look a little bit Start Right to Vertu’s Rolex. This is especially true, as you might expect and would certainly hope, of the top-end model, complete with yellow gold case, leather trim and sapphire key pad. However, the Paris Hilton factor is a mere sideshow to the Constellation Quest’s raison d’etre - the integrated concierge service. Those who are wealthy enough to purchase this phone at Vertu’s London boutique will be offered this most 32
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exclusive of optional extras, capable of solving your every whim at the touch of a button. As you browse the uncluttered, analogue clock clad display of the Quest, it will be possible to contact your ‘lifestyle manager’ for all of your ‘assistance and enrichment’ needs. On a more practical note, the Constellation Quest does offer all of the usual features we have come to expect of modern smartphones, with the added bonus of an integrated ‘information cloud’ type feature known as Vertu.me. Synchronising the owner’s emails, contacts, calendar and tasks into one secure space, giving confidence that if ever, God forbid, you should lose the most expensive mobile handset yet to be created, your lunch dates, dental appointments and mother’s birthday shall not be missed. All of this is of course delivered in such a sleek and sophisticated manner that you will want to throw your iPhone in the bin. A sentiment reiterated by Perry Oosting, president of Vertu, who says: “Vertu has applied its values of an authentic, tailored, luxury experience to our first smartphone, creating a handset that is as functional as it is beautiful.”
Technology
Vertu Constellation Quest
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Technology
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The world’s most compact full-format digital camera system, the Leica M9 sets a new benchmark and boasts outstanding performance and consummate technical prowess
2) LEIca M9 Leica has announced a special edition of its M9 rangefinder. Designed by automobile designer Walter De’Silva, the M9 Titanium is pretty player. The Leica M9 Titanium is the don when it comes to additional features, for instance, the trim is made from the same leather that is used in Audi’s premium cars. Other additions to the camera include fingerprint resistant overlays, an attached metal finger loop covered with leather for carrying and shooting and a special lens hood with four slits to prevent obstruction of the viewfinder. The frame lines are illuminated by LED lights and even the logo is a work of fine art and precision. “The Leica logo has been restyled and is elaborately hand-engraved in pure resin, inlaid with white enamel, sealed with clear varnish and then polished and positioned centrally – directly above the lens.” Now that is passionate design. The camera also comes with a limited edition carrying case, exclusive to the Leica Titanium,
which is an ‘additional bonus’ when you purchase the camera. Additional bonuses, no doubt make the pill of £19,800 slightly easier to swallow, which is the suggested retail value of this impressive piece of kit. One small note, considering the designer’s day job; you could actually buy a brand-new Audi A3 for less than this camera. Having said that, for those passionate about photography it is out of this world; Leica is world renowned for its exquisite photograph quality and the M9 Titanium trounces the market in the design stakes. The M9 Titanium has an ergonomic, precise and logical look and feel without changing the intrinsic character of the rangefinder. It is elegant and beautifully handcrafted in a way only Leica can achieve. The only reservation I have is that with a price tag of nearly £20,000, the 500 models may well spend most of their lives in bank vaults rather than out capturing superb images. www.businessrevieweurope.eu January 2011
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3) DraganFlyer Series Transcending the traditional fields of corporate, professional and amateur use, British-based company Air 2 Air has created a photography tool that ventures firmly into the realm of ‘ultimate boys’ toy’. The DraganFlyer, yes its name really is that awesome, in all of its various models, is essentially a ‘state-of-the-art remote control helicopter a sentence that on its own is capable of exciting even the most mature among us. However, the excitement can only build as we move on to the DraganFlyer’s main function aerial photography. The operator is given the ability to take photo-stills, or continuous, footage in almost
The DraganFlyer X4 is a professional, GPS guided, UAV helicopter capable of autonomous flight, 1080p HD video and 14MP digital SLR quality photography
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any location and from every angle. The unique design allows for the user to attach a number of different cameras for use during flight including high definition, thermal infrared, and low-light cameras. The barometric pressure technology employed by the DraganFlyer means that it will automatically stabilise itself if pushed by a person or blown aside by the wind, allowing even the most amateur technophobe to record quality images. If this does not excite you enough, then what if you knew that the DraganFlyer can help you experience the sensation of flying? Yes flying. Or the experience of flying rather, which is very much possible with DraganEye, perhaps
Technology the coolest perk available. DraganEye allows the operator to see exactly what they are filming via the rather fetching ‘video output goggles’. This is surely as close as we can get to flying without taking our feet off the ground? Of course, the uses of the DraganFlyer far surpass the whims of gadget fanatics or keen amateur photographers. Indeed, with one of the more basic models retailing at around £13,000, it will almost certainly be a stretch too far for many who fall into this category. Even in the relatively expensive world of photography, £13,000 is a lot to pay for a photo of the roof of your house and inevitably the bottom of the pond at the common.
This said, the DraganFlyer does have very serious potential in the corporate market, giving a competitive advantage in a number of fields such as building surveying, television production, and the obvious fields of sport, wedding and wildlife photography. The DragonFlyer can substantially cut costs and improve time efficiency, requiring far less effort and more often too greater effect than articles conventional camera cranes or Visit full blown helicopters. Website
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p l ay The nest generation, DraganFlyer X8
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