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Gold HTC One is 18kt. of ostentatious bling (photos)

HTC has made five special-edition versions of its flagship One smartphone. Each one is plated in 18kt. gold and will be given as prizes to winners of the MOBO music awards.
Photo by: Andrew Hoyle/CNET
The gold is smelted by Goldgenie founder Laban Roomes.
Photo by: Andrew Hoyle/CNET
HTC reckons the phone is worth around £2,750, but seeing as only five exist and you can't buy one, they may as well be priceless.
Photo by: Andrew Hoyle/CNET
The front speaker grilles are gold, too. It was quite a challenge, HTC told me.
Photo by: Andrew Hoyle/CNET
It's so shiny that it can be used as an emergency mirror.
Photo by: Andrew Hoyle/CNET
The MOBO logo is laser-etched into the back of the phone.
Photo by: Andrew Hoyle/CNET
All five phones are currently being transported in these heavy-duty flight cases.
Photo by: Andrew Hoyle/CNET
HTC representatives were also escorted by security guards when walking out on the streets of London.
Photo by: Andrew Hoyle/CNET
The phone runs the same Sense software as the standard model -- there's no gold font or special version of BlinkFeed onboard.
Photo by: Andrew Hoyle/CNET
The gold hasn't changed the physical dimensions of the phone, and it's almost exactly the same weight.
Photo by: Andrew Hoyle/CNET
The 4-megapixel camera is still onboard. HTC reckons the pixels are physically bigger than normal in order to give better quality images. We certainly found it to do a pretty good job of capturing our parties.
Photo by: Andrew Hoyle/CNET
The front-facing camera remains the same as well. It's sadly unable to indicate that it's housed in a shockingly expensive gold version.
Photo by: Andrew Hoyle/CNET
There's only five available, but it's possible that HTC may make one or two more to give away as prizes. Keep your eyes on its social media channels in the coming weeks.
Photo by: Andrew Hoyle/CNET
If gold doesn't take your fancy, HTC recently unveiled a blue model, joining the red one and the standard black and silver models.
Photo by: Andrew Hoyle/CNET

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