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By Damian Koh
Sep 23, 2008

Tag Heuer, the company which has been bringing us sports watches and chronographs since 1860, is now eyeing a piece of the luxury phone market with its Meridiist. So what does it take to own this luxury handset that has been "conceived to ride the meridians"? For starters, the damage to the wallet is about the cost of the down-payment for a family sedan in Singapore, which puts it in the same league as the premium Vertu phones. The immediate question that comes to mind is, how does the Meridiist compare with the latter?

Let's just say that at that price, you aren't just looking at a phone. In fact, in our hands, it feels more like a solid block of aluminum that's masquerading as a mobile device. According to Tag Heuer, the Meridiist is made from corrosion-resistant, hypoallergenic 316L steel and the 1.9-inch 60.5 carat sapphire glass display is "unscratchable". We weren't allowed to test that out on the prototype we had, so we'll leave the claim as it is. Further down, the angled keypad reminds us of the ones on the Nokia Siroccos which weren't the best around. We tried tapping a few digits and are happy to report that the travel and tactility of the buttons are excellent.

The feel of the Meridiist is very similar to what you would get with a Vertu--that much we can say. It's surprisingly solid, yet doesn't weigh like a ton, though we did notice the phone is top heavy. The look leans toward a more masculine touch with its smooth angular edges. This is something which sets it apart from the Vertu range, and which will probably appeal more to men than women.

Unlike buying a Vertu which entitles you to a free one-year use of its concierge service, the two dedicated buttons with Tag Heuer emblazoned on it doesn't put the Tag Heuer staff on the other end of the line at your whim and fancy. Instead, the one on the side calls up the time on the top-mounted OLED screen and doubles as a discreet call reject button. The other simply does what most other center buttons do on phones--it brings up the main menu. The OLED display recognizes the phone's orientation, so the time won't appear upside-down when the phone is flipped over (doesn't work sideways, though). But the fact that it disappears whenever the handset goes into energy-saving mode doesn't make the feature very practical.

Elsewhere on the phone, a single piece of alligator back plate (also available in rubber and leather versions) wraps around from the back and peeps out from the bottom edge of the Meridiist. From our understanding, the silver and black versions of the phone with rubber or leather backings will be available first, while the other shades and finishes will be made available at a later date. We had the pink alligator one for a shoot. There's also a Meridiist adorned with 2,256 diamonds totaling 6.42 carats designed specially for women, though we are pretty sure that also means a heart-arresting sticker shock.

According to the company, it took more than five years to bring the Meridiist from concept to final product. So the lack of features is a conscious effort on the timepiece maker's part to include only the essentials. That said, the Meridiist still boasts some pretty decent specs, such as a 7-hour talktime (28 days on standby), 2GB onboard memory, 2-megapixel camera, mini-USB port, quad-band GSM connectivity and Bluetooth stereo A2DP.



Our verdict after spending a few quality minutes with the Meridiist? Barring the fact that only very limited units will be available, which immediately propels you to the upper echelons of rich and exclusive, it also earns you instant elite social status. 3G would have been a great addition, but otherwise, the Meridiist looks like it could give the Vertu range some serious competition in the luxury mobile phone market when it launches in Singapore and Malaysia over the next two months.

The Steel and Black Steel Meridiist in rubber or calf leather costs S$7,200 (US$4,818.31) and S$8,900 (US$5,955.97), respectively. You can expect to top up another S$650 (US$434.99) for the Alligator-designed back covers.

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