After displaying it at the Mobile World Congress 2009 in Barcelona this month, Motorola has launched the Motorola Aura in India, unveiled in Mumbai yesterday by its brand ambassador Abhishek Bachchan, who presented the first Aura to fashion designer Manish Malhotra.

This luxury and artistic handset has come to India soon after it was launched in the US and the UK this month by the Schaumburg, Illinois-based mobile handset manufacturer.

"Aura is Motorola's latest high-tier mobile device targeted at the trend-setter Indian who has a taste for the exquisitely stylish, unrivaled quality and sensuous luxury,''said, Faisal Siddiqui, head of Motorola's Indian operations.

This is no mobile for those with a light pcket, as it comes with a hefty price tag of Rs1,11,000 and will be sold initially at selected cities like Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Mumbai and Surat.

What is so unique in this tiny handset that is priced beyond the reach of ordinary consumers? The company says the AURA is a unique handset that breaks convention and re-establishes artistry in mobile device design and manufacturing.

It has a circular display and is the world's first mobile handset with 16 million colour and 300 dpi resolutions in the mobile phone industry made out of grade 1, 62-carat sapphire crystal, one of the most scratch-resistant materials on earth.

It has a stainless steel housing with chemically etched textures and patterns that takes nearly two weeks to sculpt, etch and polish manually and at the center of the mechanical heart is a Swiss-made main bearing, which serves as the foundation allowing the blade to rotate with seamless precision.

The opening blade is made by custom-engineered rotating mechanism that has 130 precision ball bearings, which is like opening the door on a high-end luxury car. On the 100,000th opening, the blade glides with the same fluidity and grace that it did on its first.

Gears made to open the blade are composed of Rockwell 50-55 hardened steel, which are protected with the same coating used in high-performance racing engines with a visual of the tungsten carbide gear mechanism on its rear and the outer surface is PVD coating, the same used for making luxury watches and gives AURA its polished and mirrored shine.

It works on networks like the GSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900 and EDGE Class 12 and GPRS Class 12 and comes with 2GB of on-board memory.

It also has Stereo Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR and AD2P, a 2 MP camera with fixed focus, USB 2.0 hi-speed for connectivity, Symphony browser and a battery life of 7.3 hours of talk time and 400 hours of standby time.

Motorola says the Aura delivers a sensory experience that is second to none for those with refined tastes as from the moment Aura owners pick up their devices, they elevate their own experience in luxury and unmatched quality.