Show off your wealth everytime you make a call

Move over Vertu, Sony Ericsson is muscling in on the ‘more money than sense’ market, tempting affluent fashionistas to part with their wedge for the newly-launched Jalou, which also comes in a Dolce & Gabbana variation for label addicts.

Men, we have some bad news, it’s not aimed at you. Well, you’re more than welcome to buy one, but when SE talks about the ‘beautiful facet-cut jewel form’, a ’stylish addition to any handbag’ and a handset that’s ’shorter than your favourite lipstick’, we suspect the target market isn’t male. Anyway, read on, it might be the perfect birthday or Christmas gift.For what’s certain to be a significant outlay, you get a 2-inch screen that doubles up as a mirror with the touch of a button, a Walk Mate step counter to keep you trim, a display that automatically updates with zodiac signs and special events throughout the year and for more practical use, a 3.2-megapixel camera, music player, video recording, 3G, Bluetooth, a built-in FM radio plus net and email access. Jalou will be available in the fourth quarter 2009 in the colours Deep Amethyst, Aquamarine Blue and Onyx Black. Well, you wouldn’t expect anything else would you?

If all of that isn’t quite ‘designer label’ enough for you, here’s something that will have you throwing yourself at the credit card – the limited edition Jalou by Dolce & Gabbana. Yes, aimed very much at footballer’s wives, it offers the same gem-themed clamshell handset and pretty much all the same features. But it also comes with exclusive Dolce & Gabbana packaging and accessories, specifically three silky rose satin bags to protect the phone, store the charger, or to ‘carry jewellery’ (yes, really) a Dolce & Gabbana branded headset with classy *cough* gold accents and some exclusive content like photography and video clips from the label’s autumn/winter 2010 runway show, themes, wallpapers and access to the Dolce & Gabbana blog straight to your phone.

Sold in what’s described as Sparkling Rose, Jalou by Dolce & Gabbana will land in time for Christmas for an as-yet undisclosed (but likely to be very expensive) price.