A closer look at the Porsche phone

(Credit: Red Dot Museum)

Porsche may be synonymous with speed, but it's been a tad late in the mobile phone race until now. Still, better late than never--at least its marketing department has progressed beyond the kitchen, where it's been taking on Lamborghini and other rivals to produce appliances like coffee makers.

The first Porsche Design Mobile Phone was christened earlier this week in Germany as the "P'9521" (not a typo), though no details were available at the time it was unveiled at the Red Dot Design Museum in Essen. Today, however, the museum's blog gives up at least some of the goods.

The casing, which is "milled out of a solid aluminum block," has a double-hinged screen that can be rotated 180 degrees when the phone is used as a camera. Even more interesting is the handset's biometric security features, which include a fingerprint reader that can be programmed to correspond with various functions.

Then comes the bad news. It's slated to hit the market in the fall, but not in the United States or even Japan or South Korea. Which means we'll just be stuck with the likes of Ferrari and McLaren. If we could afford any of them, that is.