"Does it drive for you?""If it could type for me and think for me and get the dry cleaning, I would consider it,"said the fashion designer Peter Som.

It comes in a few metal varieties. There is the pink or black sapphire, which will set you back a mere $7,900. One in yellow gold retails for about $25,000.

"What's the concept of a Vertu phone?"asked the financier Dennis Paul.

"That's how much it costs?" asked the actor Adrian Grenier, who was trying one out.

"It is very pretty, and I could see wearing it as a brooch."

On Wednesday at the Berry Hill Galleries on the Upper East Side, the latest Vertu smartphone, the Constellation Quest, was launched.

"Look at the sapphire keys, the sapphire screen," Ms. Gorman said.

Casey Gorman, the managing director for Vertu in the Americas, took a reporter for a tour of the less expensive model.

"To own the most expensive thing that ever lived? Maybe it's a status symbol in the Middle East or China, but I don't fit that. I'm one of those people who are cheap. My friends will tell you that."

"She then went on to discuss the device's concierge features, which are free for the first year and $2,000 per annum following."

"For instance, it's location aware. You type that you're in New York and it lets you know where to go.

"One person who understands that choice is, apparently, the pop musician Seal. He has gone through six Vertu phones and is the company's new U. S. brand ambassador.

"I'm attracted to passion and courage," Seal explained, fondling the Constellation Quest he was given earlier in the evening.

'Mingling nearby was Perry Oosting, the company's president. He explained that Vertu has sold 300,000 units in eight years.

He was asked why anyone would buy one."Luxury is not about rational, it's about the emotional. Luxury is the liberty of choice.

He was drinking a glass of water in an adjacent room.