Money may not be able to buy you happiness, but it sure can give you some exclusivity. Take the Tonino Lamborghini 88 Tauri for example, which costs a mere Rs. 4 lakhs, which is enough buy a car and still have plenty left over. It's meant for a very exclusive section of society, that being those who have the money to buy it. The phone has specs to rival the most expensive flagships today and a price tag that will make them look very cheap. If that weren't enough, the company is making only 1947 units of the phone, in honor of Antonio Lamborghini, son of the founder of Lamborghini, who was born in 1947.
So, without further ado, here's what a phone worth Rs. 4 lakh looks like.
Packaging..
The mere packaging of this device would cost more than some lower end smartphones. The company has designed the box to look like the rear grill of a Lamborghini Aventador, which most of us have seen only in pictures and videos.
Inside the box..
Press the lid and the box opens, like the boot of a car, to reveal the phone itself, placed in a somewhat slanted position.
Accessories..
For an ultra-luxury device, there's surprisingly little that you get in the way of accessories. The phone comes with a charger and charging cable, along with two convertors for two pin and three pin sockets. There's also a pair of earphones, which look quite regular.
Fancier still..
The company has used calfskin leather to make the phone feel like no other. The texture may look like Samsung's faux-leather back on the Galaxy Note 4, but it feels completely different and more premium.
Built like a car..
While the design does have some elements of Lamborghini vehicles, the phone is also made using automotive grade stainless steel, which is also gold plated in the blue-gold version that you see here. There's also a red-black and black steel version that you can buy.
Operating System
If you thought it was all about the looks, think again. The 88 Tauri runs on the Android 4.4.4 KitKat operating system along with a 2.3 GHz Snapdragon 801 SoC. There is also 3GB of RAM to go with all this.
Camera
The high-end specs don't end there. There's also a 20MP rear camera on this device.
Front camera
Selfies are catching up in the ultra-luxury segment too. Tonino is using the hashtag #TheLavishSelfie to market this phone. It has an 8MP front camera for that purpose.
More automobile-like design..
The SIM, micro-SD and charging slots are covered by flaps made of stainless steel. These aren't flaps that you see on Sony phones though, they open like car doors.
Noise cancelling headlights..
The bottom of the phone holds the loudspeaker and primary mic, which have been covered in a car headlight-like casing.
Speakers
The speakers on the back are quite loud and the phone comes with specially made ringtones by DJ Ravin for you to make use of them.
Size
For a 5 inch device, the phone is quite large. It is larger than the 5 inch Xiaomi Mi3 and much larger than the 4.7 inch Moto X (1st Gen).
Thickness
It's also much thicker and heavier than most smartphones. That makes sense, since the phone is also built like a tank. You would probably not mind this when you're going for such luxury.
Top
The top of the phone holds the headphone jack and another noise cancellation mic, with gold plated steel.
DTS-HD
DTS-HD sound is very good, but we really wish Tonino had found a classier way to showcase this fact. The branding on the side eats into the phone's design, looking out of place. Not something you would want on an ultra-luxury smartphone.
UI
While most smartphone makers are overahuling their UIs to achieve product differentiation, Tonino seems to have decided that this phone doesn't need that. While the company has changed some icons on the phone, the UI is basically stock Android. If you ask us, a special UI would have been good here, something thats light, but looks classy and completely different. The UI on the phone looks out of place with everything else that it has going on.