Motorola goes glam with the Aura

Motorola's Aura offers luxury appeal.

(Credit: Motorola)

Motorola thumbed its nose at the shaky economy Tuesday when it introduced a high-end luxury cell phone called the Aura. Sporting a swivel design reminiscent of the Motorola V70 (now there's a blast from the past), the Aura features a range of unique and posh design touches.

The display supports 16 million colors and a 300dpi resolution; the skin is stainless steel and shows a textured pattern (it takes two weeks to make sculpt, etch, and polish says Moto!); the lens is made from 1.62-carat sapphire crystal; the gears are tungsten carbide coated; the finish has a mirror polish that's used on luxury watches; the keypad is aluminum; and the swivel mechanism is custom engineered with 130 precision ball bearings made by the Swiss. Now that's a lot of bling.

The Aura's features aren't nearly as impressive. Inside, you'll find a 2-megapixel camera, 2GB of user-accessible memory, a music player, stereo Bluetooth, quad-band GSM support, Moto's CrystalTalk feature, messaging, e-mail, a speakerphone, and an open-source browser. The Aura will be available in an unlocked version starting December 4. So if you're looking for a stocking stuffer, you can pre-order now for just $1,999. Now there's a bargain.