Design and technology bound together in an everyday gadget a juicy piece of smartphones' market. Such a way Motorola Aura appears to be a rival to many other phones includingNokia 8800 and others. Will Aura succeed? Probably yes, because sales round the globe start in December – right when everyone is thinking hard over another set of New Year presents for their families. But I think Motorola Aura is more like a present for your girlfriend rather that for someone else. Anyway, 2000 USD is an enormous sum of money for a smartphone, even if is close to a work of art.
There is a lot to tell about how Motorola Aura is built, so the first glance is mostly attracted by its body. Stainless steel housing panels are decorated with patterns and fancifully crossing lines. This beauty will last through ages because materials are really of a high quality. The coating around the moving parts is a PVD one – the same technology is used in producing Swiss watches. Aura's keyboard is one of the most intricate keyboards out there. Every key on it is being lined up one by one and carefully polished.
Rotating form factor that was chosen for Motorola Aura by designers became a headache for technicians. To make the rotary mechanism work stable after thousands of openings and closings, more than 700 unique components were tested. Aura doesn't share any of its parts with other Motorola products.
The final part – display and lens – are actually record breakers. Motorola has installed in Aura the first ever screen with 16 million colors in it. Resolution is 300 dpi. The whole ensemble is sheltered with a sapphire crystal lens. It weights 62 carats and will prevent the record-breaking screen from being scratched.