I first saw the Bang & Olufsen "Serene" phone advertised (advertised) about 6/7 months ago in Stuff magazine. Now it's at CES, still not released and it's best feature is "how calls sound" - but the testers couldn't actually test it for that because it wasn't a fully working model (yet they advertised it six months ago). It's also set to cost $1,300 when (if) it ever gets released. Ladies and gentlemen behold - utter crapness.....
Didnt Steve say the iPhone is 5 years more advanced than anything else at this stage? Steve is my hero... during my trip to America (from Australia).. I'm going to Cupertino.. how can I T'up a meet with Steve'o? I wanna shake his hand and give him a hug... hahaha
Has anybody in this thread used the Serene? I'm not a huge fan of it, and it's not the best of B&O, but it's well worth the $1300 IMO. As for 'everything B&O makes is crap', my B&O earbuds wipe the floor with most of the competition, and my BeoSystem 7000 is the best hifi I've owned (which is quite a lot). I'm guessing you haven't been into a B&O store recently...
The only problem with B&O is the price. For the price of their audio systems, you can put together much better systems. It's not that they have bad sound, just not as good as the price tag suggests.
The Macbook Pro isn't that bad, it is more expensive but not like 1000% more expensive (which the B&O phone essentially is). Still B&O probably is a "luxury" brand, whereas Apple... it is just another consumer goods company.
Whilst B&O do make some interesting products, how can you explain to me that the Serene is worth $1300? Complete BS.
Yeah I'd have to agree, it's definitely not worth $1300, especially when it's essentially a Samsung phone (they co-developed it), and given it's features and it's looks, it's essentially a $1300 pile of steaming ****. Apparently it's got the best call quality of any phone but in the article linked at the top, the demo version didn't actually work... Not all B&O stuff is crap, far from it. In fact a properly set up B&O music system sounds like nothing else. But the Serene phone is an exercise in pointless form over function (remember when Nokia tried a circular keypad with the 3650 and it bombed because it was so awkward). B&O should stick to making stereos and TVs.
A fantastic company that sells some absolutely amazing products, along with a handful of crappy toys for brand loyal rich folk who have too much money.
I still use 3650 as my main mobile phone! It's awesome! The keypad isn't that bad after you're used to it, I sometimes even prefer it over the normal keypad. It didn't cost anywhere near 1300, though.
Fair enough, but the first thing Nokia changed on its successor (the 3660) was the keypad - back to a regular style, horizontal one - so I guess in general, people didn't get on with it. Saying that, the first couple of weeks I was using a phone with a Qwerty keyboard were pretty interesting. Also, the Serene has the keypad on the top section of the flip phone (okay you can rotate it, but...) and you have to wait for a mechanism to flip it open in the first place. More pointless differences IMHO.
The electronics which make the Serene work (for example the motorised hinge, the acoustically transparent click wheel and the phonebook syncing with other phones in the house) are actually quite expensive. The build quality is also second to none. As I said, I'm not a huge fan of the Serene. It's worth the money IMO, but it's not B&O's best product. I know of somebody who used to work for Orange and now has one, he's very very happy with it (not earning that much money either, he just loved the design). I'm not sure where people get their opinions in this thread though. B&O TVs are second to none in terms of picture, sound and design. Their newer speakers are pretty outstanding too (2001 onwards, when they introduced the BeoLab 5s, some of the best speakers ever). The CD players are pretty good, although they really do need a decent audiophile quality source here. My B&O separates system is, as I've said, the best system I've owned in terms of sound. I've had Cyrus, Rotel (still do), Linn and some of Nad's higher end gear. The B&O beats it all in terms of sound, although it did cost a fair bit in comparison to the others, but not a huge amount more. None of the other systems work off one remote control like the B&O, none of them are built like it, none of them offer decent link systems which don't cost a stupid amount to get going and none of them look like the B&O. Most of the time when I'm listening to music, it's in the background while I'm doing schoolwork, so why have a system which looks like a science experiment gone wrong? Some people need to go into a (good) B&O store, have a look at the latest TVs & sound systems (well, ignore the entry level speakers, they're rubbish).
I've lived across the street from a B & O for two years. And I find the quality to be superior but a lot of the designs are just soo cheesy....like Eurotrash meets the sharper image....
Build quality / image etc aside, the Serene isn't subsidised. The SIM-free price of the iPhone is likely to be not far away from the Serene.
And what "crap" have you actually used??? I have few things from B&O and they are really top notch. You dont have to like neither price nor design, but dont use "crap" word cos its simply NOT true
Being Dane I can honestly say I like Bang & Olufsen However, this phone is minded at overly rich people who has more cash than sense heh.
Why, exactly, is it "worth the money?" I'm sorry but from any perspective, a motorized hinge, VGA camera, flashy click wheel and phonebook syncing does not make a $1300 phone. It's so far off being worth that value it's not even funny. And let's not forget it's essentially a Samsung phone (it's officially called the Samsung E910 Serene) and it's more Samsung than it is B&O. I like B&O stuff. I grew up with various separates systems from them years, but I can't see the point of the Serene.