Lamborghini launches smart-phone.

BlackBerry users are able to buy a Z10 smart-phone that has been re-crafted by Porsche Design, Vertu sells a TI Ferrari phone that takes cues from the F12 Berlinetta and now it has been announced that Lamborghini will become the next automotive legend to branch out into phone design.

 

The Lamborghini smart-phone.

The limited edition luxury Antares smart-phone uses Google's Android 4.2 Jelly Bean OS operating system. It is protected by as the company calls it 'Impregnable Gorilla Glass' four inches thick. It contains a quad-core 1.5 GHz processor under the hood, comes with 2GB of RAM and d32GB of on-board memory. The user can also expand this by a further 32GB through a MicroSD card slot. The Antares has a 13 mega-pixel camera on the rear and a 5 mega-pixel front facing camera. It's roughly 0.53 inches thick and encased in stainless steel and leather in the colour the customer chooses.

 

The Lamborghini company

The new phone is the first move into the mobile phone market by Tonino Lamborghini, not the car-makers Automobili Lamborghini but an Italian lifestyle group that creates designer accessories from sunglasses to cigarette lighters.

The man who gave his name to the 30-year-old brand describes it as a "performance smartphone" that "marries uncompromising Italian design and premium build quality".

Mr Lamborghini's CEO, Gianluca Filippi, commented, “‘Antares is designed to match instantly recognisable Italian flair with great performance and stunning materials.” Going on to add that the phone's performance and build quality "speak to our exclusive design heritage, one that communicates the spirit of the 'Raging Bull' that adorns our crest".

 

The Lamborghini crest.

For anyone who has come into close contact with a Diablo, Gallardo or Aventador, that raging bull may be familiar, bearing as it does a striking resemblance to the badge on Lamborghini cars. Despite this, the press release announcing the new phone carries a footnote stating that Tonino Lamborghini is not linked to Automobili Lamborghini, the car company founded by Tonino's father Ferruccio 50 years ago. It politely asks reports not to use any pictures of cars when referring to Mr Tonino Lamborghini’s business.

Russia and China will be able to snap up the Android phone first, when it arrives in December. It will then arrive in Italy, and only come to the Britain and US next spring. Meaning that from next Spring for £2,500 the phone will be available in a very Lamborghini-esque style with the Lamborghini name but with no relation to the actual super-car maker.