MURMER GADGET

The new Moto X may have a metal frame and leather back options but it has nothing on the new Vertu Aster. The Aster is a more affordable (by Vertu standards) version of the Signature Touch. Besides the titanium and sapphire, the Aster features a hand-polished ruby key – a gem chosen both for its looks and its durability. For the back you have a choice of Calf leather (Onyx, Lagoon, Blush), Karung snake skin (Caviar, Tangerine, Raspberry) and Cognac Ostrich. The Android smartphone is hand-crafted in England from hardened titanium. It has a 4.7" 1080p screen guarded by sapphire crystal, surrounded by front-facing stereo speakers with Dolby Digital Plus tuning. The main camera is a 13MP Hasselblad-tuned shooter with dual-LED flash similar to the Signature Touch camera. Theres also a 2.1MP front-facing camera, both back and front camera lenses are guarded by sapphire. The Vertu Aster is no slouch in smartphone terms either, it runs a modern Android 4.4 KitKat and on fast Snapdragon 80...

Strong sales of the iPhone 6 has driven Apples share of the UK smartphone market to its highest ever level. Apples share of the UK smartphone market has reached an all-time high thanks to strong sales of the iPhone 6. iPhones now account of 39.5 per cent of British smartphone sales, the Californian companys highest ever UK market share, a rise of 10.4 per cent during the three months to October 2014. The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus were released in the UK on September 19, and swiftly become Apples best-selling product to date, shifting more than 10 million units within three days. The new phones represented Apples first foray into creating smartphones with larger screens, which are growing in popularity across the UK. The 4.7-inch iPhone 6 outsold the 5.5-inch 6 Plus by 4:1 in the UK, Kantar said. Use of Apples iOS operating system saw a 5.7 per cent rise across Europe, compared to a drop of 2.6 per cent for rival Googles Android system between October 2013 and October 2014. Although A...