Motorola AURA - a fob watch for the 21st century

Motorola has broken new ground in the mobile phone fashion stakes with its latest handset - the uniquely designed AURA. While the phones' specs - which include a 2MP camera, H.264 video capture, 2GB on board memory, hands-free Bluetooth connectivity and an open source browser - don't exactly set it apart from the pack, the craftsmanship, classic styling and high-end materials that have been utilized to create it certainly do. The immediately recognizable highlight is the circular liquid-crystal display, an industry first innovation inspired by luxury watch design that incorporates 16 million colors and 300 dpi resolution protected by a highly scratch-resistant 62-carat sapphire crystal lens. We're not sure how practical this would be in terms of usability, but it certainly oozes elegance.

A great deal of engineering has gone into making sure you can open the phone - its drive-assisted rotating blade mechanism, relies on a 200 piece Swiss-made main bearing and Rockwell 50-55 hardened steel gears (which use the same tungsten carbide coating as high-performance racing engines) to deliver seamless access to the keypad.

Overall, the AURA consist of 700+ individual components including up-scaled, nickel-chrome-plated exposed screws and individually manufactured aluminum keys. The mirror finish is achieved with a hand-crafted, PVD coated, stainless steel housing takes nearly two weeks to sculpt, etch and polish.

This kind of craftsmanship comes at a price of course. The AURA will be available in Q4 2008 and pricing is reportedly around the USD$2000 mark.

Read on for more specs or visit the gallery for more angles on this stunning design.

Motorola AURA specs:

• Messaging: MMS, SMS, Email (POP3/IMAP embedded)1, Open Source
• Audio: AAC, AAC+, AAC+ Enhanced, MIDI, MP3, WAV, WMA v10, WMA v9 (includes Motorolas CrystalTalk™ technology for audio clarity)
• Video: Capture/Playback, Capture/Playback/Streaming1, H.263, H.264, MPEG4
• Camera: 2 MP, Fixed Focus
• On Board Memory: 2GB user available memory2
• Connectivity: Stereo Bluetooth3 Class 1, Version 2.0 plus EDR and A2DP, USB 2.0 Hi-Speed
• Browser: Open Source
• Bands/Modes: GSM 850/900/1800/1900, EDGE Class 12, GPRS Class 12
• Weight: 141.00 g
• Dimensions: 47.60 x 96.87 x 18.55mm
• Display: 1.55” in diameter, 480 pixel diameter, LCD round
• Battery: 810 mAh typical, 780 mAH minimum
• Standby Time: Up to approximately 400 hours4
• Talk Time: Up to approximately 7.3 hours