page_title: Motorola Aura
section_title: R1
hierarchical_section_title: Motorola Aura / R1
caption_attribution_description: Motorola Aura closed back. This shows the gears of the opening mechanism.
context_page_description: Motorola Aura is a series of luxury mobile phones from Motorola, and is part of the 4LTR line, announced in October 2008 and made available by December. Though it was going to be a series, only one phone was released, known as Aura R1. However, three further special editions of the Aura R1 were released through 2009: Aura Diamoniqe Edition, Aura Celestial Edition and Aura Diamond Edition. Aura used to be a luxury device with US$2000 price tag. It was made from premium materials such as stainless steel and sapphire to appeal large audience and comes inside a wooden box.
  The phone featured a unique high-resolution circular display with 300dpi and an adapted circular user interfaced based on Motorola's MotoMagx operating system. One of the main selling points of the device apart from its screen was its swivel-like opening mechanism. Motorola tried to replicate the success of Razr V3 series by making a new innovative phone. The screen's opening mechanism was made possible thanks to its Swiss-made gears composed of Rockwell 50-55 hardened steel and 130 precision ball bearings.
context_section_description: The R1 was announced in October 2008, and put in production in December 2008. The launch price was approximately €1,420 (UK£1,200, over US$2000) due to its premium materials and packaging. The phone featured GSM technology, 2GB of internal memory and an optimised user interface for its circular display, which was a 1.55" screen with a high resolution of 300dpi.
  Two Aura special editions were announced at Mobile World Congress 2009: Diamoniqe Edition and Gold Edition. Both of these were styled by luxury designer Alexander Amosu. The Diamoniqe Edition was adorned with 90 diamonds around the circular display whereas the Gold Edition featured a 24-carat gold-plated housing. Both editions received a limited release due to its exclusivity.
  Due to the 40th anniversary of the moon landing in which Motorola had collaborated with the equipment that enabled the Apollo 11 astronauts to communicate with Earth, Motorola released a special edition in July, 2009 to celebrate that accomplishment. It comes with exclusive pre-loaded pictures, audio and video content, given by NASA. The handset comes with a laser made inscription and 9 post stamps to commemorate the mission. The first unit produced was gifted to Neil Armstrong.
  October, 2009 saw the release of Aura Diamond Edition, a device upgrade with 18 carat gold plating and 34 diamonds around its screen and navigation buttons. Due to the more premium materials, it had a US$5,730 price tag at launch. Both the Diamond and Celestial editions were showcased at Mobile World Congress 2010.
caption: Close-up of swivel mechanism gears, visible through clear back window.
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