tech2 News Staff

When it comes to luxury smartphones, we love the fancy build materials and the attention to detail. However, as we have seen time and again, an exorbitant price tag does not ensure high-end specs. The last time one of these hit India, it sported a mind-boggling price tag of Rs 6.5 lakh.

But we may finally have a luxury smartphone that pushes the envelope on hardware. Tag Heuer has unveiled the latest in its Meridiist range of luxury phones at Baselworld 2014. It's called the Meridiist Infinite and the name gives us a clue as to the handset's biggest USP.

The Meridiist Infinite features a perpetual power reserve i.e. it charges its own battery while in standby mode. This is possible thanks to something called Wysips Crystal. Developed by SunPartner Technologies, Wysips Crystal incorporates transparent photovoltaic cells, which is placed between the glass and the display such that the display charges the handset when exposed to natural or artificial light. The display of the Meridiist Infinite is protected with sapphire crystal glass.

We first heard about French startup, SunPartner last year, when the idea first came to light. Founded by optician Joel Gilbert and businessman Ludovic Deblois, SunPartner's technology uses stripes of thin-film solar cells on the screen and a layer of tiny lenses is added on top so that the image displayed by the screen is still visible despite the solar cells. The photovoltaic cells capture the light, while the viewer can still see the display on the phone. At the time, the method was said to add about 20 percent to the phone's battery life. It remains to be seen how well Tag Heuer has optimised this for the final production version.

SunPartner had estimated that using solar panels in manufacturing displays for smartphones will add $2.30 to the production cost. Tag Heuer will be more than recouping the cost when the Meridiist Infinite hits markets. The price of the phone has not been announced, but its highlights are standard for this segment. The Meridiist Infinite is made using titanium, carbon fiber, and fancy rubber, which supposedly adds a premium feel. There's no word on the rest of the specs (and we seriously don't expect much), but the picture on the promo site, does show hardware QWERTY keys, which is quite incongruous to the high-tech display being employed. The Meridiist Infinite will be available in a limited quantity of 1911 units.