Bang & Olufsen Serene

If you're willing to invest in the very best cell phone out there, don't squander your money on models with typhoon-tracking mechanisms and Spanish grammar alarms. Instead, keep your extravagance simple and good-looking: the new Serene from Bang & Olufsen and Samsung. A more likely name for an aromatherapy juice bar, the Serene is actually a glossy black clamshell handset with a unique rotary-style button layout. It does have bell/whistleage, but these features only make the phone more functional, i.e., an iPod-ish scroll wheel and a smudge-free screen. But what really sets the Big S apart from other uberlux handsets is its unmatched sound quality. By leveraging their own speaker know-how with Samsung's cell phone ninjastery, B&O has achieved superlatively clear conversations and ring tones so pleasant, it'll sound like you're carrying around a Yorkie-sized Charlotte Church in your backpack.The Serene is available for pre-order now and will ship in time for Christmas. So get yourself a cell phone that'll make you fiercely unique -- and not because you'll know how to properly text or avoid the gusty winds walloping the Outer Banks.