Porsche Design P'9521

I thought it was about a time to add something to my wishlist. Just to set the record straight, my idea of a wishlist is having items that are beyond my financial reach (in other words too expensive for me) or items that would be nice to have but for several reasons that I'll explain per case, I don't intend to buy.

The Porsche Design P'9521 belongs to this category. From the looks of it, it is obvious that the company that design high quality items to be sold under the Porsche brand, has done a very good job. The aluminum casing and the "mineral glass" -whatever that means- give the emphasis to the design of the mobile. It looks solid, classy and unique, definitely unlike any other clam-shell mobile available in the market. The "Porsche Design" is clearly written in the front shell and the minimalistic exterior is absolutely perfect from any point of view.

So, is it just the looks? Well...not really! The phone comes out with several characteristics quite unique for the category like the fingerprint reader for security which is a great idea: when you pay something like €1200 for a mobile you definitely wouldn't like to be stolen and fingerprint is one of the best counter-theft implementations. In addition the fingerprint reader can be used for granting access to various functions of the phone, like access to address book or SMS inbox (a great functionality for all those naughty people with "curious" other-halves peeking in your mobile when you're away ;). It also comes packed with a 3.2 MPixel camera with auto-focus and video capability which makes use one of the nicest features of the device which is the swiveling front shell by 180 degrees that allows the camera to be used without having the full phone open.

The phone is also a multimedia player, supporting music (MP3 and six more formats) and video (MPEG4, 3GP and even streaming) reproduction on the 2.2" OLED screen - which also promises low power consumption so that your recharging needs stay low. On the same screen you can have internet browsing via Opera mini and in combination with the fingerprint reader that is used for faster and easier navigation (although that sounds pretty tricky to me). And you also get 32MB of internal memory and MicroSD expansion slot (i.e. up to 4GB) with a nifty 2GB MicroSD card included in the original package for all the storage you may need.

After all those full characteristics you possibly wonder why I keep it in the whishlist. Well, the €1200 is an amount that can be explained by the brand, so when you're buying a Porsche you expect to pay the respective amount. No the cost -even high- is not the reason. The reason is the manufacturer: yes.. right! Porsche does not manufacture phones! The company used for the manufacturing of the specific device is Sagem. Now the French tradition is good in design and quality but I dare to say that they seem far delayed in the mobile phone industry. Good or bad, and until gphone OS roll out, each of us is used to specific functionality based on the devices we are using: so Nokia fans know what to expect from Nokia devices, SonyEricsson the same, Samsung, Motorola and so on.. Unfortunately Sagem didn't continue a good perspective they have back in the end of nineties. Therefore I wouldn't personally risk giving the amount requested for a very classy branded phone for just showing it off... For sure, I haven't touched or extensively used the phone, therefore there's still a chance to move it to "wants" or even "haves"... I'll keep you posted if that happens...