Motorola AURA – the new hope for Moto mobile phones?

News has come through of Motorola’s first attempt to reinvigorate their brand, as they try to stop themselves from going completely and utterly bankrupt, defunct and devoid of life, and according to Engadget Mobile, the way they hope to do it is not by releasing a top-end, feature-packed mobile phone, but a phone that costs roughly £1250 and isn’t very powerful…
However, I will concede something: the Motorola AURA does actually look quite stunning.
Clearly Motorola aren’t going for the high-end market with the AURA, but for those people who buy premium mobile phones, who care more about premium materials and design. In other words, the Nokia 8800 Arte crowd. Now, it’s quite easy to mock, but… well, I can actually see some sense in that, you know.
Think about it, Motorola have, rightly or wrongly, developed a reputation for making the RAZR. And then for not doing much else except the RAZR. They’ve never really been known for making high-end mobile phones, so they’re probably on safer ground to go after the more niche mobile phones. So, you get things like a premium metal body, a bearing in the swivelly bit made in Switzerland, and a 62-carat crystal display.
Oh, while we’re on the subject of the screen, this is where the AURA shows off its only real bit of innovation, since it’s one of the first (if not the first) mobile phones in history to have a round screen. Which is pretty cool, although it’s not quite the same as 8 megapixel cameras, or new Google operating systems, really, is it?
Basically, Motorola seem to be billing in a similar to the way Rolex promote their watches, with style and engineering over features, and the price tag of about £1250-ish reflects that.
Even if it is just a flashy Motorola V70…