The Motorola Aura is the U.S. manufacturer’s first stab and the luxury phone market and it’s plundered the past for inspiration. The Aura’s circular display and swivel blade design is scarily reminiscent of Moto’s 2002 V70 handset but that’s where the similarities end. With a £1,400 tag, the Aura is aimed squarely at sophisticates with large disposable income to splash.
And Motorola has definitely pulled out the engineering stops to get you to part with your wad of cash. Build quality is top class with its compact 141 gram heavy stainless steel trunk providing the heft we look for in a premium blower. The chemically etched grooved pattern also gives it striking stripes and provides a tactile quality.
Mimicking a watch face, the 300dpi eye-popping round display is detailed and vivid. In fact it’s so good Motorola is protects it with a 62 carat sapphire crystal lens. It’s billed as one of the most scratch resistant materials on the planet but we still recommend you don’t go testing this theory out with rusty nail. Unfortunately, the circular screen isn’t well suited to web browsing while it’s also restrictive as a camera viewfinder.
The rotating mechanism is also influence by the inner workings of classic made timepiece, propelled by a series of custom engineered tungsten carbon carbide coated cogs and gears and 130 ball bearings. The result is one of the slickest but most durable swivel actions we’ve had the pleasure of nudging open.
Motorola’s rep for turning out thorny to use menu systems is long gone and even with a quirky carousel styled user interface, the Aura is straightforward enough to navigate around. Its thumb-tastic anodized aluminium keypad helps, although you will need to familiarise yourself with the four-way joypad and separate OK key arrangement.
On the feature front, the Aura is positively anaemic. Unlike the painstaking work gone into its design and construction, its line up feels like a mere afterthought. The fixed focus two megapixel snapper is terribly basic and bereft of any decent photo mods while the 2GB dose of internal memory and no card slot means there’s limited storage for tunes and other multimedia gubbins. Slow coach EDGE download speeds just increases the disappointment.
Verdict
This is undoubtedly Motorola’s most unique and striking design since the RAZR and its hard not to marvel at the Aura’s attention to detail and intricate craftsmanship. However its woefully basic feature set just makes this premium phone’s outrageous price tag even more exorbitant. File under niche appeal.
Best features
Awesome build quality
Precision engineering
Stunning 300dpi-quality display
Slick swivel action
Not so good
Expensive asking price
Basic feature set
Limited memory
Check out our Motorola Aura gallery:
Closest rivals
Samsung U900 Soul
This slider’s handsome metallic design is sometimes overshadowed by its magic morphing context specific navigation pad, five-megapixel snapper and turbo HSDPA download speeds.
Nokia E71
This QWERTY-packing smartphone bridges the gap between business and pleasure, thanks to its ultra slimline design, hi-grade metallic construction and multimedia friendly features.
HTC Touch Diamond
This touch phone shows Windows Mobile devices don’t have to be boring and business-centric with a slinky minimalist design and a barrage of multimedia features.
100% secured payment
