Vertu Ascent Ti

Features
The Ascent Ti runs on a Series 40 platform. What?! That's the reaction a few readers had, I know. That was the same reaction I had when I saw it too. But believe me, with 16 million colors at your disposal it’s fantastic. It’s crisp, clear and seems to be simplistic yet loaded with any and all the regular features you’d want.

Do understand that although a rich businessman may very well be able to afford this, it’s not a device for business. The business functionality is quite limited. The phone is 3G-enabled and supports EDGE and Bluetooth, and also comes equipped with the new standardized microSD slot for PC connectivity. It has a great music player as well and since it supports A2DP you can get yourself a Stereo Bluetooth headset and truly enjoy the experience.

eAn impressive feature Vertu has incorporated into its mobiles (including the Ti, naturally) is the Vertu Fortress application. This synchronizes and backs up all your data (viz., contacts and calendar entries) to a very, very secure server somewhere in England, located in what they claim is an ex-military bunker. Underground too. Hmm, so that’s what rich people do when they lose their phones and need to get their info back: stash it underground.

Another impressive feature is the Concierge service, which is accessible by a single press of a button. This special service is specific to Vertu customers and offers them a host of features, including shopping, travel etc. but only in the highest of circles. Nice!

Everything about the Vertu Ascent Ti seems to be car-related – from the animated wallpaper to the themes and the brilliant stopwatch that looks like a dashboard of some fabulous car. It has a pretty good audio player as well, like most S40 phones, and the 3 megapixel auto-focus camera is really good too, even in low-light areas with the LED flash. (At least it looks good on the phone display; it could be a different story on the PC when blown up to actual sizes though.)

The settings help you adjust the camera as best as you can to make sure you get good pictures. Other multimedia options include a voice recorder and a video player. It even comes with an FM radio. And you never have to worry about space with 4GB of internal memory.

Specs

Vertu Ascent Ti
Network	GSM 850/900/1800/1900, 3G
Physical	160 g
Display	240 x 320, 16m colors
Memory	4GB internal memory
Media	MP3, 3GP, MPEG, Voice Recording
Camera	3 megapixel auto-focus, LED Flash video
Connectivity	microUSB, Bluetooth with A2DP
Price	Rs 3,26,000