I should be ashamed. With millions of Americans out of work, the economy on the brink of collapse and mortgages failing every minute, what am I doing looking at the ridiculously priced Motorola Aura??
I can't help it. While the mature woman inside of me weighs the Aura's luscious 16 million colors and 300 dpi resolution display against more mundane features, like the 2 megapixel camera and 2GB user memory, the girlie girl in my brain says, The thing has a freakin' 62-carat sapphire crystal lens over the display! You have to have this!
Trying not to let my desire for all things shiny take me over, I cling to my journalistic integrity and try to objectively evaluate the drool-worthiness of this economy-defying phone.
One thing's for sure, Motorola went all out on the design. The Aura's impeccable engineering is a riff on luxury jewelers? techniques, according to Motorola's website, and features a chemically etched, stainless steel body, tungsten carbide-coated gears, a reflective polished finish, aluminum keypad, and a swivel mechanism with 130 Swiss precision ball bearings.
The features, however, are a little less stellar. With other cell phones in the market sporting up to massive 8-megapixel cameras (like the LG KC780), the Aura's camera, at just 2 megapixels, seems kinda measly. The phone does have a music player, stereo Bluetooth, quad-band GSM support, messaging, e-mail, speakerphone, and browser, but these features are all fairly standard these days. And while it's cool that the phone is being offered unlocked starting December 4, this is a small perk considering that I expected much, much more for the whopping $1,999 price tag.
The verdict? Wanting an Aura is like pining for a date with the most popular kid back in school: While there may be a sexy exterior and a definite cool factor, this object of desire has a beauty that's really only skin deep. But people don't always covet substance, and against all logic, I keep daydreaming about what it would be like sporting this piece of hotness at my side.
