Inspired by handcrafted watch design, Motorola R2 has created another icon that follows in the footsteps of the MicroTAC, StarTAC, v.3688 and RAZR models. Only this time it's a high-end product with an eye watering price tag
Motorola has always created iconic handsets, even if they've been almost impossible to use. No matter how poor the user interface was in each incarnation, we all put up with it to own a phone that had a certain 'wow' factor unavailable elsewhere.
Now Motorola Aura R2 has done it again, but this time they've made changes to the user interface as well as the design so perhaps we'll actually get on with it for longer than a week before wishing we'd stuck with a Nokia.
The swivel design has been used before, by Motorola, in the form of the V70. The only difference is that the V70 was rubbish, even for the time.
The Motorola Aura R2 Phone hasn't had a price set so far, but expect it to be somewhere between a Nokia 8800 Arte (expensive) and a Vertu (stupidly expensive). Anyone that can remember paying ?3,000 for an analogue StarTAC in 1996 will know that a high price means exclusivity.
Can you imagine showing up in a pub and finding someone else has one too? Well, rest assured, it's not likely to happen here - at least until Motorola makes a cheap mass market within six months and you can get it on pay as you go for ?100.
From reading the press release, we'd like you to see how passionate the PR company is about the AURA. We don't think we could ever come up with something so eloquent (PR people simply aren't paid enough!);
Inspired by luxury watches and handcrafted design, Motorola introduces AURA?, a unique handset that breaks convention and re-establishes artistry in the design and manufacturing of mobile devices. Classic design, the industry's first circular display and fine craftsmanship help AURA deliver a sensory experience that is second to none for those with refined tastes. Sophisticated design, high performance racing engines and the quality of the printed page proved the perfect muses to inspire the creation of AURA. Its form recalls the timeless beauty of luxury watches with the introduction of the world's first circular display on a mobile device. Technical precision and mechanical excellence are met with a Swiss-made main bearing and more than 200 parts that create a seamless opening for the handset. The quality of a photographic print is celebrated in the brilliant interplay of 16 million colours and 300 dpi resolution on the unique, round liquid-crystal display. Capped with a Grade 1, 62-carat sapphire crystal lens - one of the most scratch-resistant materials on earth - AURA is simply elegant. "AURA is Motorola's latest endeavour into the high-tier mobile device space and is the result of our continued inspiration to innovate in design, imagination and state-of-the-art handcraftsmanship," said Jim Wicks, corporate vice president and director of Consumer Experience Design, Mobile Devices, Motorola. "From the moment AURA owners hold their phones, they elevate their own experience in luxury and unmatched quality."
The hand-sculpted richness of AURA can literally be felt in its stainless steel housing, textures and patterns chemically etched into its surface. The front piece of the phone takes nearly two weeks to create. In that time, the stainless steel is sculpted, electro and hand polished, chemically etched and PVD coated. The result is a finely finished product that withstands the test of time. Turning the phone over reveals a window into its mechanical heart.
The Swiss-made main bearing, gears composed of Rockwell 50-55 hardened steel and 130 precision ball bearings work in tandem to drive the assisted-opening blade, an effect more like opening a luxury car door than accessing a mobile device. Its custom-engineered rotating mechanism is composed of more than 200 high-precision individual parts, and the gears are protected from harsh conditions with the same coatings used in high-performance racing engines. Motorola's proprietary CrystalTalk? technology takes AURA to the highest level of audio clarity on every call, while Stereo Bluetooth?1 technology enables AURA owners to make and take phone calls hands free by pairing with a compatible headset.
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