Is there any way to sensibly justify Mobiado’s colossally overpriced, underspec’d handsets? Not as far as we can tell — but Mobiado seems to be eminently aware of (and okay with) that, diving yet deeper into the bottomless pit of conspicuous consumption this week with the announcement of the 712 Mokume Gane candybar. What’s “Mokume Gane” mean, you ask? Well, turns out it refers to an ancient Japanese metalworking technique used to craft decorative weapons in which several types of metals are folded into one another to create a wood grain look. Oh, and if you’re wondering why they don’t just simply things a bit and use real wood, the short answer is that Mobiado already does that — see the 712EM model — so this would be for people looking for a little more heft (and presumably, cost). As with most of Mobiado’s models, this is a situation where you’re going to have to hit up a retailer to find out how close to bankruptcy the phone is going to push you.
Is there any way to sensibly justify Mobiado’s colossally overpriced, underspec’d handsets? Not as far as we can tell — but Mobiado seems to be eminently aware of (and okay with) that, diving yet deeper into the bottomless pit of conspicuous consumption this week with the announcement of the 712 Mokume Gane candybar. What’s “Mokume Gane” mean, you ask? Well, turns out it refers to an ancient Japanese metalworking technique used to craft decorative weapons in which several types of metals are folded into one another to create a wood grain look. Oh, and if you’re wondering why they don’t just simply things a bit and use real wood, the short answer is that Mobiado already does that — see the 712EM model — so this would be for people looking for a little more heft (and presumably, cost). As with most of Mobiado’s models, this is a situation where you’re going to have to hit up a retailer to find out how close to bankruptcy the phone is going to push you.
Mobiado’s 105 series of Series 40-based luxury candybars is nothing new — in fact, it’s quite old — but as Vertu has discovered over the years, customers that are looking to spend four or five figures on a phone are apparently often uninterested in smartphone capability for some reason. On that note, the 105 rolls on with the recent introduction of the 105 Damascus, coated in hand-forged Damascus steel from Sweden with sandblasted (or rather, glass bead-blasted) steel buttons and screws to match. That’s neat, but you know what isn’t neat? The 2 megapixel camera, the 2-inch display, or the “more than” 1GB of memory available. Anyhow, enough venting — point is, the recently-announced device has gotten a little hands-on time courtesy of Vietnamese site MaiNguyen, and though the steel edges are admittedly pretty beautiful, they wouldn’t seem to come anywhere near justifying the phone’s heart-stopping $4,500 asking price. Judge for yourself in the video (paired with a hands-on of some neat Damascus steel pen) after the break.
Mobiado’s 105 series of Series 40-based luxury candybars is nothing new — in fact, it’s quite old — but as Vertu has discovered over the years, customers that are looking to spend four or five figures on a phone are apparently often uninterested in smartphone capability for some reason. On that note, the 105 rolls on with the recent introduction of the 105 Damascus, coated in hand-forged Damascus steel from Sweden with sandblasted (or rather, glass bead-blasted) steel buttons and screws to match. That’s neat, but you know what isn’t neat? The 2 megapixel camera, the 2-inch display, or the “more than” 1GB of memory available. Anyhow, enough venting — point is, the recently-announced device has gotten a little hands-on time courtesy of Vietnamese site MaiNguyen, and though the steel edges are admittedly pretty beautiful, they wouldn’t seem to come anywhere near justifying the phone’s heart-stopping $4,500 asking price. Judge for yourself in the video (paired with a hands-on of some neat Damascus steel pen) after the break.
Were you up late at night trying to imagine what a Mobiado 712ZAF might look like were it covered in 8 microns of 18-karat gold? Well, an honest night of peaceful slumber might finally be within reach now that the Canadian company has answered the call with the 712GCB. The pricey candybar carries over everything you love (or hate) about the 712ZAF, including the 2.2-inch QVGA display, 5 megapixel camera, AGPS, and tri-band 3G, but swaps out the plebeian bits of colored steel for your choice of yellow or rose gold. Price is, of course, unlisted — but you were just planning on putting it on the black card without asking any questions anyway, weren’t you?
Cash weighing you down? Credit limit too high? Luxury phone specialist Mobiado might just have the answer with its latest creation, the 712ZAF candybar. Billed as the successor to the Luminoso, the Vancouver-based company’s latest execution of conspicuous consumption features a 2.2-inch QVGA display, AGPS, two-mic dynamic noise reduction, a 5 megapixel camera with flash, and quadband EDGE plus UMTS 900 / 1900 / 2100 (Mobiado has always had a bad habit of simply calling out “WCDMA” without specifying UMTS or HSPA, but on that tiny display, it really doesn’t matter too much). The aluminum frame is surrounded with a ceramic coat in your choice of six colors; no word on price or availability, but we’ll venture a guess that breaking open your piggy bank isn’t going to cover it.
We have seen lots of handsets over the years that are aimed at the rich. This type of handset usually lacks the features that we common folk expect on phones like comfort and functionality. Handsets for the uber-rich are typically more concerned with bling and fancy metals than usability.
Exclusive mobile phone maker Mobiado has unveiled its latest high-end handset and didn’t even bother to give the thing a high-end name — it’s called the 712ZAF. The device is made from aluminum, stainless steel, sapphire crystal and has a ceramic coating.
The handset can be had in black, black satin, blue, grey, red, and silver colors. The handset is unlocked and will work on any GSM network and sports triple WCDMA coverage. It has a 2.2-inch QVGA display, 5MP camera with video recording and flash, GPS, web browser, email, and a music player. Pricing is unknown, but if you have to ask, the thing isn’t meant for you.
