EMBARGOED: 00:01, 14TH OCTOBER 2014
BENTLEY AND VERTU CONNECT WITH LIMITED EDITION SMARTPHONE
Bentley and Vertu collaborate to co-design the first ‘Vertu for
Bentley’ smartphone
Exclusive Bentley content delivered via an on-device app
‘Vertu for Bentley’ will be available in stores from October
2014, priced from £10,700/€12,500
Vertu, the English manufacturer of luxury mobile phones, today
unveiled its first handset created in collaboration with Bentley.
The ‘Vertu for Bentley’ handset, with its combination of audio
performance and curated services, delivers a unique sensory
experience. It is the first joint product release from the new fiveyear partnership of the two British luxury brands, which was
announced in July.
The partnership
At the headquarters of Bentley in Crewe, Kevin Rose, member of the
Board for Sales and Marketing of Bentley Motors, said:
“The
partnership between Bentley and Vertu allows customers to experience
the Bentley brand while out of the driving seat. The look and feel
of the handset is a consequence of a strong collaboration between
the Bentley and Vertu creative teams. The handset’s design and
materials, when coupled with its exclusive services, integrated
Bentley content and high-performance technology, embody what both
Bentley and Vertu stand for, and deliver what our customers are
looking for.”
Vertu’s Chief Executive Officer, Massimiliano Pogliani commented:
“The new ‘Vertu for Bentley’ handset captures the essence of both
our brands. It combines English handcraftsmanship, contemporary
elegance, outstanding performance and cutting-edge technology.
“Our collaboration with Bentley unites both companies’ proud British
heritage, as well as unrivalled expertise in the luxury and
technology markets, to create a handset which exceeds the
expectations of our mutual customer base. The result is ‘Vertu for
Bentley’, a device which not only reflects sophistication and
discerning taste, but also performs to an undeniably high technical
standard to deliver an effortless, intuitive luxury mobile
experience.”
The Design
The ‘Vertu for Bentley’ smartphone is swathed in quilted calf
leather, in the classic Bentley shade of Newmarket Tan, and stitched
with a diamond pattern.
The supple leather is encased in durable, yet lightweight, titanium,
which features tactile diamond knurling. This detailing on the side
rails is complemented by an engine-turned pattern on the handset’s
titanium back plate, which opens to reveal the engraved signature of
the craftsman who meticulously constructed the phone, from start to
finish, at Vertu’s headquarters in Church Crookham, England.
The traditional ceramic pillow, synonymous with established Vertu
handsets such as the Signature and Signature Touch collections, has
been subtly remodelled to feature a sleeker pillow trim, to reflect
Bentley’s elegant and sophisticated style.
Each and every ‘Vertu for Bentley’ phone celebrates the new
partnership by sporting a discrete, metal Bentley ‘B’ wings motif on
the face of the handset. The complimentary slip case which
accompanies every ‘Vertu for Bentley’ handset, also depicts the
Bentley logo, embossed on the Newmarket Tan calf leather.
The Services
The ‘Vertu for Bentley’ handset comes with the full spectrum of
exclusive services which the luxury mobile phone manufacturer has
become renowned for - comprising a dedicated ‘Vertu Concierge’
service, curated events and experiences via ‘Vertu Life’, and
security services from ‘Vertu Certainty’ – alongside a unique ‘Vertu
for Bentley’ app, which delivers exclusive Bentley content directly
to the device.
This bespoke application provides customers with access to official
Bentley articles, exclusive experiences, recommended routes and
dealer information, as well as a shortcut to the Touch Screen Remote
features for Bentley Flying Spur drivers. Exclusive Bentley
experiences and the latest Bentley content for owners and
enthusiasts, plus Bentley dealer and service centres is also
offered.
In addition, the ‘Vertu for Bentley’ smartphone will
feature custom start-up animation, 3D clock, 3D wallpaper and
Bentley wallpapers.
The Performance
‘Vertu for Bentley’ is a high-performance smartphone using best-inclass technology with superior handcrafted materials, including
grade-5 titanium, solid sapphire crystal which creates a virtually
scratch-proof screen and hand-finished calf leather.
Mirroring the performance of the Vertu Signature Touch, the ‘Vertu
for Bentley’ handset incorporates the full breadth of the company’s
expertise. The acoustics, tuned in collaboration with Bang &
Olufsen, feature Dolby Digital Plus virtual surround-sound
processing and stereo speakers. As for imaging, which is such an
integral part of the smartphone experience, Vertu has continued to
work with Hasselblad, the world’s most renowned professional
photography brand, to perfect the image-tuning of the camera.
Alongside the sterling performance of the audio and imaging, ‘Vertu
for Bentley’ features wireless charging, NFC and Android™ 4.4
(KitKat) software.
The Future
This inaugural ‘Vertu for Bentley’ model is planned to be followed
by a further four distinctive, luxury smartphones, each of which
will encompass authentic and iconic Bentley design elements and
exclusive lifestyle services.
Limited to 2,000 pieces, the new ‘Vertu for Bentley’ smartphone is
available in stores from October 2014, priced from €12,500.
ENDS
‘Vertu for Bentley’ – Handset Specification:
PHYSICAL SPECIFICATION
Length: 145mm, Width: 69mm, Depth: 10.65mm
Weight: 192g
SERVICES†
Vertu LIFE. Vertu CERTAINTY. Vertu Concierge, Exclusive Bentley
Content available on-device
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION
OPERATING SYSTEM
Android™ 4.4 (KitKat)
HARDWARE CHARACTERISTICS
Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 801 2.3GHz Quad-core processor
4.7” 1080p, brilliant, high contrast display at 473dpi, protected by
sapphire crystal
13 MP main camera with autofocus and twin LED flash
2.1MP Skype™ compliant front camera
64GB of internal memory
Stereo High-fidelity 11mm x 15mm loudspeakers with Dolby® Digital
Plus surround sound decoding support
A-GPS + Compass
Gyro and accelerometer for orientation and game play
Qi Compatible Wireless Charging
Battery†:
Internal 2275mAh Li-ion
Talk time: Up to 15 hrs 30 mins (WCDMA)
Stand-by: Up to 380 hrs
CONNECTIVITY
Quadband GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
WCDMA Bands I, II, IV, V, VIII
DC-HSPA+ Release 8, Cat24, 42Mb/s Downlink, Cat6 5.76Mb/s Uplink
LTE Bands# 1-5,7,8,17,20 & 25
LTE FDD# Cat4,150Mb/s Downlink, 50Mb/s Uplink
Dual-band WLAN 802.11 a,b,g,n,ac inc. WAPI for PRC
MicroAB USB system connector with USB On-The-Go support
3.5mm audio socket
Bluetooth® v4.0 + LE
CSR aptX® high quality encoded audio support
NFC including support for embedded and SIM based secure elements
WiFi hotspot (tethering & portable hotspot)
APPLICATIONS
Vertu applications†, including Life, Certainty, Recommended apps &
Remote assist
Google Mobile services#, including Google Play™, Gmail™, Google
Chrome™, Google+™, Google Maps™, Google Drive™ cloud storage,
YouTube™ and other services.
Calculator, Calendar, Camera, Clock, Downloads, Email, Gallery,
Messaging, Movie Studio, Music‡, People, Phone, Settings
Selected Baidu mobile applications‡ and AutoNavi Maps‡
USER INTERFACE DISPLAY LANGUAGES
Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, Czech, English (GB), English (US), French,
German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified
Chinese, Spanish (ES), Spanish (US), Thai, Traditional Chinese
(Twn), Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
WITH THE PHONE†
Vertu for Bentley phone
Vertu for Bentley slip case
Wired stereo headset with remote
Wall charger with regional plug heads
microUSB cable 1200 mm
Polishing cloth
NanoSIM card adapter
Collateral pack, including Quick Start Guide, Warranty Booklet and
Authenticity Card
† Some features are location, network and/or service dependent
# RoW (Rest of the World) software build only
‡ China software build only
Notes to editors:
About Vertu
Vertu aims to deliver the world’s best luxury mobile phone
experience for its customers by combining expert craftsmanship and
peerless materials with innovative technology and unique services.
Today, Vertu leads the market that it pioneered over a decade ago.
The Vertu range of mobile phones is made up of three distinct models
– Signature, Signature Touch and Aster. The Vertu Audio Collection
comprises V Headphones (HP-1V) and V Speaker (SP-1V). Vertu mobile
phones are handmade in England using the world’s finest materials,
with each one assembled by a single craftsman.
Vertu is renowned for its curated services; a suite of carefully
selected exclusive offers, content and assistance especially
selected to enhance the Vertu customer’s lifestyle. At the heart of
these services is Vertu CONCIERGE, offering luxury lifestyle
assistance and enrichment. Vertu CONCIERGE is on-hand 24/7 to
facilitate your every request. Vertu LIFE offers personalised
recommendations and privileged access to experiences and events.
Vertu CERTAINTY delivers security for customers, their data and
their phones.
Vertu is available from around 500 stores, including 70 Vertu
Boutiques, in 66 countries.
For more information please visit vertu.com or the Vertu Media
Library media.vertu.com.
Global and UK Press
Office
Jon Stanley
Head of Global and UK
PR
jon.stanley@vertu.com
China Press Office
Tracy Wang
tracy.wang@vertu.com
+8613916340842.
Germany Press Office
Anne-Katrin Stroemer
annekatrin.Stroemer@vertu.c
om
+49 173 262 3612 l
+49 89 21111497
EEUR Press Office
Venera Bagishvili
venera.bagishvili@vertu
.com
+7 910 495 96 04
About Bentley
Glenys Dawson
Global and UK PR
Manager
glenys.dawson@vertu.
com
SEAP Press Office
Andrea Tan
andrea.tan@vertu.com
+65 9073 2148
France, Spain
Portugal & Benelux
Press Office
Sarah Garcia
Delporte
sarah.garciadelporte@vertu.com
+33 1 42 86 56 61
+33 6 09 34 32 54
USA Press Office
Ashley Jayco
ashley.jayco
@vertu.com
+ 1 914 434 4055
Jessica Mooney
PR and Events
Executive
jessica.mooney@vertu.
com
Hong Kong Press
Office
Priscilla Kong
extpriscilla.kong@vertu.
com
+852 63786260
Italy & Switzerland
Press Office
Sara Allegri
sara.allegri@vertu.co
m
+39 02 777 31723
UAE Press Office
Julia Berridge
julia.berridge@vertu.
com
+971 52 6700049
Bentley Motors is the most sought after luxury car brand in the
world. In 2013 one in every four luxury cars delivered to customers
worldwide was a Bentley. 2013 was Bentley’s record year in the
company’s 95-year history. Global customer deliveries grew by 19%
over 2012 to 10,120 cars. The Americas remained Bentley’s largest
sales region, with 3,140 cars delivered. China continued its
position as the second biggest market with 2,191 cars, while in
Europe, deliveries reached 1,480 cars. Sales in Bentley’s home
market, the UK, were 1,381 and in the Middle East, Bentley delivered
1,185 cars. By the end of 2013 Bentley had nearly 200 dealerships in
54 countries.
Bentley Motors’ headquarters in Crewe is home to all of its
operations including design, R&D, engineering and production of the
company’s three model lines, Continental, Flying Spur and Mulsanne.
The combination of fine craftsmanship, using skills that have been
handed down through generations, alongside engineering expertise and
cutting-edge technology is unique to UK luxury car brands such as
Bentley. It is also an example of high-value British manufacturing
at its best. Bentley employs about 3,700 people at Crewe.
Julia Marozzi
Head of Lifestyle Communications
julia.marozzi@bentley.co.uk
+44(0)7789 988258
Stéphanie-Rose Bastock
Lifestyle Communications
stephanie-rose.bastock@bentley.co.uk
+44(0)7713 315959
www.bentleymedia.com
communications@bentley.co.uk
@BentleyComms