Virtue and its ceremonial phones at € 20,000 go to bankruptcy

Except that the world of smartphone seems to like resurrections like Nokia or more recently from Palm. It is therefore without great surprise that we learn, through GSM Arena, that Virtue redeploys its wings like a phoenix. The brand organized an event in China to present its new smartphone: the ASTER P.

The Virtue brand is back with a new smartphone: ASTER P

By the editorial staff Lesmobiles – October 18, 2018 at 2:55 pm The Chinese press received a very special launch a few days ago: that of a mobile from the Virtue brand that everyone believed buried since its buyout at the start 2017. The phone is called ASTER P.

Everything on: the Virtu brand is back with a new smartphone: ASTER P

The story of virtue is quite incredible. British luxury brand originally developed by Nokia, then sold twice at an investment fund. The last of them, Godin Holding, of Hong Kong origin, had sold the company to a Turkish businessman whose family has a tumultuous past. After launching a resolutely inaccessible feature phone, the Cobra signature, and having signed a manufacturing agreement with TCL (the same TCL which manufactures Blackberry, Alcatel and a Palm), the company fails to go back on the right foot. The British factory is closed. Licensed employees. We thought it was the end.

The renewal will go through China

But not quite. Because Virtue continued to exist in China through its exclusive distributor. A distributor who seems to have become a little more than a distributor, since he organized a “global” press conference in Beijing whose invitations were sent at the end of September. The theme of this invitation: “Live or Die”. A hall was built for the occasion, with a large conference room inside, ultra loaded baroque decorations, light corridors, mirrors and many other things. And a very visible message: “Handmade in England”. Ah ?

During this press conference, a mobile was presented. This is the ASTER P, distant successor of the ASTER, a smartphone which combined a certain aesthetic elegance, luxurious materials and a premium technical sheet (failing high -end). The aster P is all this of course. It is a 100 %“virtue” mobile, with always this slight lack of ambition in terms of components that contrasts with the ostentatious and, above all, the price (a price that makes the iPhone XS Max 512 GB pass for entry -level).

From 3,500 euros to more than 10,000 euros

Let’s start from the outside. Leather or crocodile at the back. Titanium on the slices and on certain technical elements (such as this small hatch which allows access to the SIM card). Synthetic sapphire at the front, the famous material that has been so talked about during the GT Advance Technologies affair. Three series are offered: Baroque, Gothic and Rococo. Only the last series benefits from a crocodile cover. Note that some dressing is set with gold to add to the busy atmosphere. The price of these mobiles starts at 29,800 yuan (3,755 euros) and can come close to 100,000 yuan. More than 12,500 euros.

What do we find inside for this price ? We are not really up to the resolutely “flagship” positioning of the signature. But we are far from the big gap between the interior and the outside of the old virtues. Here, the tactile slab measures 4.9 inches and is Amoled. Its definition is full HD for resolution around 450 pixels per inch. Chipset is a Qualcomm snapdragon 660. This chipset is neither high -end nor recent. But he does the job very well.

Concierge service included

The battery is a 3200 mAh model (compatible Quick Charge 3.0). The memory configuration is 6 GB for RAM and 128 GB for storage. The photo sensor is a 12 megapixel model. Webcam is a 20 megapixel model. And Android Oreo is on board. Three important information about the operating system. First, it is without google services. Then it is protected thanks to the Silent Circle technologies. Finally, he joined the famous concierge service already crossed in the previous terminals.

Virtue and its ceremonial phones at € 20,000 go to bankruptcy

The sky of virtue is darkening in recent days. The staggering debt of the luxury brand leads its activity and its English manufacturer should close soon. The future of the firm, a former Nokia brand, is threatened.

For its mobile phones assembled by hand in English regions, way Rolls Royce, Virtue employs more than 200 employees. But this morning, these jobs have become positions threatened by the toxic debt of the former Nokia subsidiary. For those who do not know by the brand, it is a slightly apart firm that builds for emirs and other debonary billionaires, from 3,310 in ivory and gold for the price of a car. With service.

Today owned by Murat Hakn Uzan, the company owes its creditors more than 128 million pounds. The owner offered to pay only 1.9 million. The Financial Times reports that in fact, the brand’s manufacture will be closed.

After having changed owners many times since the dismantling of the Nokia group, virtue has accumulated debts and deficits. According to the financial daily, M. Uzan, former Turkish businessman exiled in Paris, intends to keep the brand’s property, its technologies and licenses, in the hope of relaunching it without its Virtue factory.

But rid of its exceptional and unique factory in the world, society would lose a lot of its value. Brand employees, from various luxury horizons, protect heritage and skills a bit apart from virtue. While the company was approaching two decades, the luxurious and futile jewel smartphone seems to have lost its symbolic value. The only one he had.

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An improbable smartphone at 12,850 euros: virtue returns from the dead

The Virtue luxury brand returns to life after declaring bankruptcy in 2017. Its new smartphone is part of the same vein as all the previous ones and sells for gold prices.

Virtue ? Until 2017, the brand was known for its extremely luxurious and kitsch smartphones sold at gold prices. Last year was very complicated for the company whose acquisition by a sulfurous businessman was not enough to save it from bankruptcy.

Except that the world of smartphone seems to like resurrections like Nokia or more recently from Palm. It is therefore without great surprise that we learn, through GSM Arena, that Virtue redeploys its wings like a phoenix. The brand organized an event in China to present its new smartphone: the ASTER P.

On the program: a titanium chassis, a sapphire screen and a real leather back. The ASTER P is available in two series – “Gothic” and “Baroque” – which differ mainly by their aesthetics. Note the presence of two hoods on the back to place the SIM cards. On the back of one two, we can even see the signature of the craftsman who made the design of the smartphone in hand.

Technical sheet

The ASTER P smartphones always offer the famous concierge service which, in broad outline, responds to the smallest desires of the user and helps him to book a luxury restaurant, to rent a helicopter ride, to pay a tour of the world in yacht or order a kebab.

On the side of the characteristics, extravagance is not really in order that said:

• 4.97 inch screen, Full HD
• Snapdragon 660
• 6 GB of RAM
• 128 GB storage space
• 12 MP photo sensor at the rear, 20 Mp at the front
• 3200 mAh battery compatible Quick Charge
• Android 8.1 Oreo

Exorbitant prices

Aster P virtue is sold on the JD site.com from 29,800 yuan (baroque version), which represents around 3,750 euros. For the Gothic version, you have to pour at least the equivalent of 4510 euros. And because the madness of grandeur is worth all the money in the world, know that the Gothic Dazzling Gold model is marketed at 98,000 yuan is about 12,850 euros !

A trifle, isn’t it ?

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