Vertu Aster mates premium materials to high-end Android

The new Moto X may have a metal frame and leather back options but it has nothing on the new Vertu Aster. The Aster is a more affordable (by Vertu standards) version of the Signature Touch.

Besides the titanium and sapphire, the Aster features a hand-polished ruby key – a gem chosen both for its looks and its durability. For the back you have a choice of Calf leather (Onyx, Lagoon, Blush), Karung snake skin (Caviar, Tangerine, Raspberry) and Cognac Ostrich.

The Android smartphone is hand-crafted in England from hardened titanium. It has a 4.7" 1080p screen guarded by sapphire crystal, surrounded by front-facing stereo speakers with Dolby Digital Plus tuning.

The main camera is a 13MP Hasselblad-tuned shooter with dual-LED flash similar to the Signature Touch camera. There's also a 2.1MP front-facing camera, both back and front camera lenses are guarded by sapphire.

The Vertu Aster is no slouch in smartphone terms either, it runs a modern Android 4.4 KitKat and on fast Snapdragon 801 chipset. There's 64GB of built-in storage.

The new Vertu Aster has impressive connectivity too, with 19-band LTE (Cat. 4), including the Chinese flavor for global coverage. There's noise-cancellation and aptX for Bluetooth audio streaming, NFC too. There's a 2,250mAh battery and Qi wireless charging. The phone measures 143.4 x 69 x 11.2mm and weighs 193g.

Prices start at $6,900/£4,200, climbing up to $9,700/£5,900 depending on your choice of back material.

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