The Vertu Aster is your electronic Jeeves

From booking a private jet to clicking superlative photographs, the Aster is the best Vertu phone so far

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What comes to mind when one talks about understated English elegance? I generally think of a bespoke suit from London, Oxford brogues, fountain pens, silverware and cologne. And, of course, Jeeves. The Bertie Woosters might be dwindling, but they’re not extinct. For those Bertie Woosters, who, unlike P G Wodehouse’s creation, don’t loath work, luxury phone brand Vertu has come up with its own version of Jeeves. It’s called the Aster.

The Aster sports all the conventional goodness of any Vertu phone: titanium frame. Check. Sapphire crystal glass screen. Check. Leather finish. Check. And yet, it stands out for its subdued elegance. Confused? Let’s use a Hollywood analogy. If the Vertu Signature Touch is Sean Connery, the Vertu Aster is Michael Caine. 

Both phones are hand-made in England. So while the Signature Touch is elegant yet bold with its sharp lines, metal edges and the logo, the Aster is the one with rounded metal edges, a toned-down logo (yet retaining the “pillow”) and subdued lines.

The Aster feels solid yet light in hand and while people appreciate its good looks, it doesn’t draw attention to itself. The SIM card slot, as always, is on the back of the phone. The Aster I used, though, didn’t sport the D-ring to unlock the SIM compartment; it has a spring-loaded sliding mechanism.

While the D-ring feels more solid, this works equally well. Also, the Aster doesn’t sport memory expansion as a look at the specifications sheet told me it has 64 GB of memory on board. The phone supports 4G LTE and logged on to the Airtel network in a jiffy.

One switches on the phone and is taken aback by the dated Android KitKat interface. But one doesn’t buy a Vertu for the latest operating system or bleeding-edge hardware. Vertu bundles wallpapers matching the finish of the phone. And there’s a 3D wallpaper set as default, which looks fabulous on the brilliant screen. There’s also the analogue watch that has been given a 3D mode.  

But there’s a reason this phone is an electronic Jeeves. While it won’t provide advice about your love life, it does do a lot else. What makes Vertu phones a lifestyle statement are the three pillars — concierge, certainty and life. The concierge is your personal assistant, who, is at your service 24x7 and will get for you anything from a burger to a chartered jet. Something Jeeves would have done.

Aster blush calf leather front left slant white background

Certainty offers secure calling, messaging and access to millions of Wi-Fi hotspots globally. And Vertu Life is, of course, all about bespoke experiences — from access to private lounges, cruises on yachts or even front-row seats to a sold-out concert. Again, like Jeeves, the Aster recommends certain experiences, while keeping your conversations discreet.

The phone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor running at 2.3 GHz and paired with 2GB of RAM. While I didn’t throw graphics intensive games at it, I did play Need for Speed: Most Wanted without a hitch. The Aster didn’t break into a sweat even when I had five apps open in the background and was browsing the Bloomberg website on its browser.

At home, it easily connected to my Wi-Fi network and I was able to pull videos off my home media server. The front stereo speakers were loud enough for my bedroom as Berlin Philharmonic’s version of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 filled my ears. The bundled headphones, too, were satisfactory. And the bespoke ringtones only add to the experience.

The icing on the cake is the Aster’s camera. The rear 13-megapixel camera sports auto-focus, a dual-LED flash and uses technology from Hasselblad. This piqued my interest, and I went out to click some pictures on a cloudy day. I wasn’t expecting superlative results, but was floored by what I saw.

The pictures were even better after the sun came out. This phone possibly has the best camera among Vertu phones and perhaps among the best cameras on Android phones. The only glitch is one might accidentally click too many shots, if one is using the volume switch as shutter. Despite extensive use, the phone’s battery lasted through the day.

The Vertu Aster at Rs 4,75,000 isn't for everybody. But if you can afford one, you can’t do better than this — despite this not being a flagship, the Aster is possibly the best Vertu till date. And as Bertie would agree, one can’t beat Jeeves.