XOR is the most luxurious phone in the world – and also the most secure
The most important item you own is probably your mobile phone. But what if that phone
enhanced your life rather than taking over it?
Cutting-edge handset manufacturer XOR – pronounced “ex-or” – takes the craftsmanship
usually reserved for mechanical watches or luxury cars and combines it with the kind of
cutting-edge security technology that will give its users – businessmen and women, thought
leaders, entrepreneurs – real peace of mind.
Both beautiful and functional, you can see from first glance that this is the antithesis of a
mass-market smartphone, from its sapphire crystal screen to its titanium chassis and leather
back. The pieces of sapphire used for the screen are grown from a single seed crystal at
temperatures above 2000 degrees before being cut to size, while the blemish-free leather is
sourced from Jean Rousseau, supplier to some of the top designers and artisans around the
world.
“It’s an object of desire first and foremost,” says founder Hutch Hutchison, a pioneering
designer with decades of experience in the industry. “It’s the kind of phone that when you put
it on a table, people notice. It’s like wearing a Hublot watch: you want people to see it. It will
give you that little feeling of discretion, sophistication and security.”
“It’s an object of desire first and foremost,” says founder Hutch Hutchison, a pioneering
designer with decades of experience in the industry
All hand-made in England, the design recalls the meeting of form and function seen in the
work of architect Zaha Hadid, with its swooping, organic curves serving a practical as well as
an aesthetic purpose. The result is an object that feels wonderful in the hand, perfectly
weighted, each one of its components working in harmony.
Echoing the design language, these handsets are also designed to work harmoniously with
your life. ‘Digital overload’ has become a buzzword in business circles, and XOR handsets
aim to help cut through the digital noise – it won’t interrupt you with constant notifications,
but with its exceptional battery life (an astonishing 138 hours in standby mode), it will always
be there for you when you need it most.
Security is at the heart of the XOR range, with the new X2 handsets offering several industry-
leading innovations. XOR-Peer is an exclusive peer-2-peer secure channel that uses a unique
encryption technology to protect your communications, be that to another XOR or a
mainstream smartphone. XOR-Shield is a patented in-built technology that protects you
against cyber-attacks, consisting of SIM Firewall, SIM Scanner, Baseband Firewall, SMS
Filtering and Fake BTS Detection modules.
Echoing the design language, these handsets are also designed to work harmoniously with
your life.
“The encryption is hardware-based,” says Hutchison. “It’s not bouncing off servers, which is
key to this level of security. It covers messaging and voice, pairing two phones with a key
that is never shared with a third-party device. And on the other side, we have firewalls to stop
malicious attacks coming in. So if you’re on a call and it sees the signal bouncing off a man
with a suitcase rather than the cell tower next door, it will alert you that you’re being
eavesdropped upon.
“One of our clients is a New York law firm who work on some very, very important cases.
The implications of their calls being intercepted could cost them millions, not to mention the
potential damage to people’s reputations and everything else. You can see why they were
keen on XOR”.
Other features include the first use of Smart Bluetooth in a luxury mobile phone, allowing
your devices to stay paired longer while using less power, as well as enabling you to connect
to a new generation of gadgets such as the ignition key for your new electric car. It even has
active noise cancellation technology to filter out background noise and a built-in air quality
sensor to help protect your lungs.
XOR isn’t trying to replace your smartphone – very few of us are able to give those up, after
all – but rather to exist alongside it. “It’s designed to be your second phone, your nice phone,”
says Hutchison. “Loads of professionals already have more than one handset – your work phone, your personal phone, your spare phone. This one just happens to be the one you’ll
want to show off to people.”
There are three distinctive collections for customers to choose. The XOR Titanium X2 is
available in colours including classic, ebony, rose and marine, each coming with matching
calfskin inlays. The XOR Gold collection – the most luxurious range of the brand, offers both
Prime Gold and Elite Gold limited-edition phones that radiate luxury and exclusivity, making
them highly sought-after by affluent clientele. The latest collection release, XOR Matte
Collection, comes with rose gold keys and a choice of black or red alligator leather inlays for
an even more distinguished look.
A common criticism levelled against super high-end handsets like these is that they won’t last
for 100 years like a mechanical watch; a better analogy is buying a brand-new Mercedes – it
might not be worth the same amount in five years, but my god you’ll fall in love with it.
The XOR Titanium X2 Collection is available from £5,100; The XOR Matte
Collection is available from £11,600. For more information, go to https://xor.inc/.