Solarin Smartphone Offers World Class Connectivity And Privacy For Up To £14,500

The eye-wateringly expensive Solarin smartphone has gone on sale in the UK, promising to combine the luxury of a Vertu handset with the privacy features of a Blackphone.

Whereas Vertu focuses more on craftsmanship and aesthetics, Sirin Labs says it wanted to create a smartphone as if money was no object in both terms of appearance and interior, using the best technology available. Which is just as well, given the cheapest model costs £11,400 and the most expensive comes in at more than £14,000.

“We do not accept that price drives what’s available in technology,” boasted president and co-founder Moshe Hogeg. “With Solarin, we break the rules.”

“Every single design decision and material choice was based on performance and functionality. The product you hold today unites the very best of the world stage,” added Fredrik Öijer, vice president of product. “Our network of extraordinary partners is the culmination of our unwavering focus on quality, not cost, regardless of complexity.”

Read More: Inside Luxury Smartphone Maker Vertu’s Hampshire Factory

Privacy focus

The smartphone has been in development for two years and is made from 2,500 components, protected by a metal matrix chassis typically used by the aerospace industry, titanium panels and Gorilla Glass.

The Solarin has a 5.5 inch 2K resolution display, 23.8 megapixel camera, front facing flash and state of the art sound system, but it is privacy and connectivity that it hopes to make its mark.

Sirin hopes to target the “international business person” who carries a lot of sensitive information but doesn’t want to compromise on functionality. It claims the privacy features are unparalleled outside the world of government agencies.

These include Zimperium threat protection that promises to protect against network, device and application attacks, as well as military grade KoolSpan chip-to-chip 256-bit AES encryption for protected conversations. A dedicated switch on the back of the handset activates fully encrypted calls and messages.

“Cyber-attacks are endemic across the globe. This trend is on the increase. Just one attack can severely harm reputations and finances,” added Tal Cohen, CEO and co-founder of Sirin Labs. “ Solarin is pioneering new, uncompromising privacy measures to provide customers with greater confidence and the reassurance necessary to handle business-critical information.”

Expensive connectivity

Given the price tag, it’s hardly surprising that the Solarin has a range of connectivity options. It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, supports 24 LTE bands and WiGiG Wi-Fi speeds of 4.6Gbps – if you have a network that can deliver them. The Solarin also supports Qualcomm Quick Charge, which enables fast charging and algorithmic batter optimisation.

The device is on sale today online, at a boutique in Mayfair and at Harrods from 30 June. It comes in four 128GB variants: Fire Black Carbon Leather with Titanium: Fire Black Carbon Leather with Diamond-like Carbon, Fire Black Carbon Leather with Yellow Gold, Crystal White Carbon Leather with Diamond-like Carbon.

The yellow gold edition is the most expensive of all, but it remains to be seen whether any will be added to the typical corporate network in the near future.

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