TechnoLust – The Black Diamond

Following on from our first ever entry in the TechnoLust hall of fame – the i.Beat Organix Gold MP3 player – the second entry in this series has a style that is far more in lines with my admittedly conservative tastes though, at the stated price, I cannot envisage ever actually seeing one of these “in the flesh”.

The Black Diamond from VIPN is a mobile phone with a style that can’t fail to impress, but such jaw-dropping style invariably never comes at anything other than a jaw-dropping price and, in that respect also, the Black Diamond fails to disappoint.

A quad-band smart phone based on the Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system, featuring Wi-Fi, a four mega-pixel camera and a full colour 262K TFT 2” touch sensitive screen, it is constructed from titanium with a polycarbonate mirror finish and a three caret diamond set in the back of the casing, just below the camera lens. By way of good measure, another 0.25 caret diamond is also set into the phone’s navigation joystick.

Due to be launched in early 2007, further details concerning the phone’s full specification continue to be rather sketchy, but VIPN has stated that it intends to make only five uniquely numbered limited edition phones with the full “bling”, though it appears that a somewhat cheaper model, with less sparkle, based on the Black Diamond’s sleek styling will soon follow – however these will be white.

For those considering placing an order for one of the five limited editions it is reassuring to know that the company will also etch your name onto the device’s shell, courtesy of a precision laser. And, at a cool £160,000 ($300,000 USD) each, who could say fairer than that.

The VIPN website can be visited via this link.