Video: Motorola Aura in action
By Paul Miller 
posted January 11th 2009 7:07PM
posted January 11th 2009 7:07PM
posted January 11th 2009 7:07PM
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The display is synthetic sapphire. It will scratch glass. Pretty much the only thing that will scratch it is a diamond.
Nice gift for the non-tech savvy wife...
it's called v70 years ago people!!!!!! somebody took it to the mall, and had some lady glue on some stones and and call it Aura.............LOL
@ken: We had the same thought a few mins apart but I couldn't remember the model number. The v70 was a real POS.
http://www.kija-shop.de/pics/motorola_v70_1.jpg
Reintroducing old designs and marking them up a few hundred percent is dumb.
Didn't Motorola have the exact design about 6 years ago? The phone had a circular display and 'slid' open. Can't find a picture of it though, anyone else remember that POS?
I am so happy to see that there are some people on this post that have their head screwed on tight. I do not understand this device. Who cares about about this phone? Why would engadget even post about this device in the wake of all of the great announcements of the last week?
Like, OMG!
ya thats all youll be able to text on that keyboard.
300 dpi? Wow, Watching porn movies on it would be awesome!
it looked like that wasnt connected to anything......... O_O
i would have stolen it
I'm sorry, I just don't see anything special about it except for the 300dpi screen, and I'd much rather see a square version of that screen on a normal flip phone design. The circular UI looks like a pain in the ass to use.
Eh. Just another reason why Moto is goin down the tubes. Do I care whether or not it takes two weeks to forge the steel body in the fires of Mount Olympus? Don't think so. Throw in a better camera while you're charging such an exorbitant price for it, please. What person would spend $2,000 on a phone that can't do anything other than act like a phone from 2001.
That being said, that screen is super sexy. Wish it were bigger, though.
I love my Rolex. Like others said this is a v70. They gave these away to celebrities as a gift for some awards event. I forgot the name of it. Here it is... It was the Oscars...
"The nominees for best actress - Halle Berry, Sissy Spacek, Judi Dench, Renee Zellweger and Nicole Kidman - have been treated by the lingerie company Victoria's Secret to a limited-edition bra, worth $5,000 (£3,500) because of the 14-carat white-gold straps, studded with 22 round white diamonds, which can be detached and worn as a choker. These five lucky ladies, along with the five nominees for best supporting actress, will also receive the brand new Motorola v70 "swivel-flip" phone, and a handcrafted toile suitcase stuffed with Estée Lauder products, a Tse cashmere robe, Manolo Blahnik suede slippers, and an invitation for the recipient and a friend to enjoy £10,000 worth of spa treatments in their own home. The same 10 nominees have also been chosen by make-up artist Trish McEvoy to receive a leather case filled with $1,000 (£700) worth of make-up hand-picked to suit their colouring. No wonder they look so good on the red carpet. "
i appreciate all the engineering behind this phone, but the first impression i get when i saw the aura in "closed" position is... it looks like a friggin' old-fashioned bathroom scale!!!!
Looks like the pomegranate phone. Except the pomegranate is waaaay better. It makes coffee.
http://pomegranatephone.com/
I think it's just pretty, not impressed though...
Worth the price tag? Hmm, NOPE
They have done this formfactor like 10 years ago so it's not that new actually..
http://www.freefoto.com/images/04/19/04_19_22---Motorola-Mobile-Phone_web.jpg
So, where's the crapgadget tag?
oPhone anyone?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WazA77xcf0A
stupidest tech coming from a company on the verge of falling into the crapper. When your family is hungry, buy milk and bread, not beluga caviar.
Style and class is in the eye of the beholder. Luxury and functionality do not always follow the common logic and reason. I'd be in the market for a (small sized) stylish dumb-phone, however, this phone doesn't even come close to be worth considering, let alone being shortlisted. This screen size, thus text and numbers are way too small.
Motorola has been struggling for 2 years and it gets worse. Coming myself from a company that is successful in both low-cost, commodity products and luxury product lines, it seems to me Motorola's decision making and execution is incredible unprofessional and amateuristic. How can their shareholders keep on accepting this? Executives all over the world promote over-delivery on realistic commitments and promises however it seems Motorola keeps on drifting the opposite way (over-promise and under-deliver).
The worst is believing that they can get away by creating a (luxury) customer image as being a dim wit. (And unfortunately there will be some.)
Holy crap, what's happened to the Engadget community?! Can't a single news post go by without a tidal wave of negative comments? C'mon guys, it's a gadget, gadget is in the site's name. Whether YOU like the item or not doesn't mean you have to constantly barrage those of us seriously discussing the pros and cons of the item in question with your horribly biased and unfounded hatred against it. At least come up with a real reason to hate the thing other than, "ZOmG TEH MOTOROLA IS TEH GAYEST S*** EVAR O_o". Grow up guys.
In relation to the real topic, this fone looks gorgeous. I haven't seen a fone that literally made me drool since I lived in Japan. That screen looked amazing, and I've always been one for cogs and gears, the rotating mechanism looks amazing. Granted, the menu looked sluggish and the buttons were way too small, but I'm sure this is the first in a line. They'll take this design and redefine it, make it more consumer friendly and more affordable too. I'm more for function than form, but when that day comes, I may just have to let go of my exceedingly high standard/expectations in a fone(IMHO Japanese cell fones and years ahead of any fones on the American market) and settle for one of these beauties.
It's pretty obvious that this phone is rather aimed at the Vertu etc. than at the iPhone or the Palm Pre. And if I were in that market I would take this any day over a Vertu. It's more advanced, the screen seems to be gorgeous, and I kind of like the design. But obviously, I, as an Engadget reader, would take the Pre or even the iPhone over this any day. But then I don't think we are what this thing is made for. Nicely done Motorola, so now where is your Android phone?
Btw., I think Motorola should do that high end Android thing... and then release a version like the Aura of it. As technologically advanced as it can be, and with the same no compromise built quality of the Aura.
Is a truly circular screen a big deal? To me that just seems to make it even less useful, as nothing seems to benefit from it, aside from maybe the clock. I mean, the pictures wouldn't have corners, your text would have to be all in in the middle, etc.
And two weeks to cut and polish? It takes less time to make a freaking car. No wonder moto is having so many problems.
Im waiting for it right now :)
It will be delivered between now and 3,5 hours
On a side note: What I notice is a lot of misunderstanding and some envy between commenters. The only thing I can say about that is, if you do not understand why somebody would buy a phone like this, your probably not in the target audience for the aura.
I would like one as my drinking phone. Flashy and probably tough to break.
Oh, it was a phone. Did'nt realize.
2 weeks to polish. I mean, come on. If your using an tumbler possibly. You could hand polish this (piece) in less than a day. Not to mention there is no way in hell there is 2 grand worth of workmanship and material in this phone (period). $200 tops. The rest goes to pay for the useless research and development that went into this piece of shite.
Just one question: Motorola has presumably earned like hmmm quadrillions with their RAZR v3 and offsprings, where has all that money/their yields gone? Other companies use their flagship model to become a top competitor ... motorola seems to the exact opposite "yay, we had a great phone, now close down the company, so that uhhhh every can remembers us producing a hot-selling phone?!?" I do not understand motorola ... seriously ... At least PALM tries hard to earn money again.
If this had of come out of Steves' pocket at the end of a keynote these comments would be awash with drool.
Oh, by the way, its ugly.
This is a cool phone design, but watching the video I see two problems. One is a huge missed design opportunity. The menu "scroll" wheel SCREAMS to be a thumb ring around the display. That little button they used for advancing through the menus looked very clumsy. An iPod style capacitive "wheel", but around the edge of the screen would have been perfect.
The 2nd problem is that it's too damn small. It's doesn't fit in the palm. The two reviewers had to hold it in their fingertips. I know they are were showing it for the camera, but it still looked uncomfortably small. I guess if you only make Borg (Bluetooth) calls, then It doesn't matter.
Well I have received the aura yesterday morning and I can tell about some of my experience with it so far.
The phone is smaller then it looks like on numerous videos and pictures I have seen. It is of average size. It does weigh a bit more then average but never becomes heavy in your pocket or hand.
The menu is lagging a bit at times but never becomes an annoyance. Clearly they can polish the interface and responsiveness some more with a future update.
The phone is very well build and it is also very clear it was not easy to build. There are small imperfections and I suspect not one aura to be the same.
This is a phone you will enjoy having and not per se to show of with. In reality it is less shiny and not to provocative. For the lack of better words. It is like a famous model just before she was discovered.