Motorola AURA: An Extraordinary Phone

Motorola AURA: An Extraordinary Phone

Prasad Naik, Jun 12, 2009 1510 hrs IST

Ultra exotic and ultra expensive

Brilliant design & construction, exotic quality of materials used, display quality, exclusivity and high flaunt value

Exorbitant price, highly under-equipped, circular display is small and awkward at times, slow UI speed, lack of attention to details

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Design & Construction

This is where the AURA gets all its praise and earns it points. The design and the materials that have gone into creating the AURA is what you pay all that money for.

The AURA has a swivelling form factor. The design is basically the same as the one that Motorola pioneered a long time back with their V70. The display forms a part of the hinge of the swivel, while the top part swivels 180 degree , either clockwise or counter clockwise. However it cannot do a complete 360 degree and you need to turn it back in the opposite direction to close it.

The swivel mechanism is made by a Swiss company that specializes in making bearings. It consists of 130 precision ball bearings and an assisted mechanism for smooth and effortless opening of the blade. The gears are composed of Rockwell 50-55 hardened steel and are coated with tungsten carbide. The blade mechanism is capable of opening with the same smoothness on the 100,000th time as it did on the first. And it should too, as the only way to access any function of the phone is to open it, as the phone serves only as a digital clock when closed.

The entire body of the phone is made of stainless steel with chemical etching that creates the patterns on the metal. The front side has the circular display at the top with a brushed metal ring surrounding it. Below you see the blade with the Motorola logo at the bottom. The logo has a ring of light that blinks green when the phone is charging and blue when the Bluetooth is being used. Below the logo is the call speaker that goes on top when you swivel open the phone.

Open the phone and you are greeted by the keypad. Each key is made separately from aluminium, anodised, spin brushed and then fit into the phone. The design of the keypad goes perfectly with the rest of the phone. I just don't quite understand the choice of fonts on the keys though.

There isn't much to be found on the sides of the phone. You just get the volume control keys on the left side and the buttons for opening the battery cover at the back on either sides. On the rear side you can see the stainless steel back cover with the same etched pattern as on the front. On the top you have a transparent glass that allows you to take a peek at the gears of the swivel mechanism. You can see the gears in motion whenever you open the swivel.

The lens of the 2 MP camera lies above the gears. At the bottom of the rear side is the only area covered in plastic, underneath which lies the radio antennae of the phone. The plastic has the same pattern as on the steel, but it does not feel the same. However, the gloss perfectly matches that of the steel and blends smoothly at the sides. The loudspeaker of the phone is also placed there but unfortunately due to its position it gets easily muffled whenever you place the phone on a surface.

On the back of the blade, when it is open, you can see the same pattern as on the front, this time it is painted there on the matte surface, with the exposed nickel chrome plated screws.

Under the battery cover you can take a better look at the gears of the blade mechanism. Once again you see the nickel chrome plated screws, sitting proudly beside the gear mechanism. It must be mentioned that although opening the battery cover was very easy, closing it was somewhat fiddly.