Aston releases new toy

Branded top-end Nokia phone. Looks nice...

Nokia 8800 Aston Martin Edition

Aston Martin has released a new and completely unexpected new product. It's a phone.

Well, it's a Nokia 8800 to be precise, the product of a tie-up with the world's biggest mobile phone maker. A limited edition, it features a discrete laser-etched 'Aston Martin' logo on the stainless steel casing and the words 'Power, Beauty & Soul’, etched into the Nokia 8800's stand-alone charging station. And the packaging apparently bears the Aston Martin wings too.

According to Nokia, the 8800 is its flagship phone, whose slender stainless steel slider case has a weighty, machined feel, with the polished and brushed metal casing. The surgical-quality resin is finished with processes usually used in watch-making, offering a uniquely tactile experience (it says here). The bistable spring mechanism opens to reveal a concealed camera, and uses ball-bearings. Sliding open the phone is a precise and smooth movement. The colour display is protected by a specially toughened glass screen.

It's also a tri-band phone including Bluetooth, email, a 64MB MP3 player, an FM radio and ringtones by Ryuichi Sakamoto.

The Nokia 8800 Aston Martin Edition will cost £800 excluding VAT. It's available now from Aston Martin dealers.