Closer Look: Porsche Phone

With this week's news that all LG Prada phones will get free insurance I started thinking about those designer phones and when the line between regular, but functional phones and luxurious brand-name driven models will be drawn. As we know from the Vertu Ferrari phone that line clearly won't be drawn by car companies. Porsche has upped the market with the concept drawings for a Porsche P'9521 Phone, which makes the unlicensed Porsche Cayenne phone we saw a few months ago look just plain silly.

According to Yanko Design, the casing for the phone is milled out of a solid aluminum block while a double hinge enables the screen to be rotated through 180 degrees, a feature which will allow the phone to be used as a digital camera.

Even more exciting (and slightly 007) is the fact that the phone has a fingerprint reader, which will identify the user and protect personal data. The phone will reportedly be released fall of 2007 in Porsche Design Stores. It will not be sold in the US, Japan or Korea. And so I cry, just a little.