There are two versions of the Aura from Motorola. The original handset was recently supplemented with a version commemorating the 40th anniversary of the moon landings. We actually saw the original version and this review is based on that. You may be pleased about that fact, as the Celestial edition, as it is known, while it incorporates the first sound and vision received from the moon, comes in at whopping £1,305 including VAT.

What makes the Motorola Aura so special is its build, and not its capabilities. Its circular display is not a good idea, in our view. It doesn't cope well with anything designed for the more usual rectangular displays of phones. Its menu system is difficult to get to grips with as icons appear in a clock-face arrangement and you have to move through them one by one to get where you want to be.

It does, though, like the rest of this handset, look superb. With a diameter of 1.55-inches and 480 pixels across the diameter it is sharp and bright, its sapphire crystal fascia lending it a good measure of scratch resistance.

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The handset is a flip type, but not in the conventional sense. It opens via a swivel mechanism under the screen. Wonderfully smooth, you can turn the phone over and look at the mechanism through a viewing window on the backplate. Apparently more than 200 parts contribute to the opening mechanism, including 130 ball-bearings. It feels like overkill and contributes to the hefty price.

Another contributor is the polished steel shell with its etched patterning back and front. The handset feels weighty at 141g and so it should, really, considering that price-tag. It is sizeable, at 97mm tall, 48mm wide and 19mm thick. These dimensions reinforce the fact that you actually have a phone in your hand or pocket, we suppose.

Under the flip the keyboard is flat and looks well made, but we found it a little tricky to use because of the smooth finish on the keys, which is not conducive to getting a good grip on them with the pads of your fingers.

But the real downside of the Motorola Aura has to be its specifications. For the money you might expect a phone at the leading edge, but this one is a long, long way behind. There is no Wi-Fi, no GPS, no 3G. The camera shoots at just 2 megapixels, lacks flash, autofocus or self-timer, and has a noticeable shutter lag.

And what you frame in a shot is nowhere near what you see in the final image. The round viewfinder does not show the edges of what will be a rectangular photo so framing a shot is a real guessing game and you are likely to end up with lots of spare unwanted edging to images, or you'll lop off things you really wanted in the shot. Dreadful.

The mains power and provided headphones use a microUSB connector, and while Motorola has the good grace to provide a microUSB to miniUSB converter so you can use pre-owned cables for mains power, carrying the converter may be irritating. There is 2GB of built-in storage and no flash memory card support for you to add more.

The one saving grace on the specifications front is the long battery life. We were still using the phone from its initial charge after three days. But then we didn't find much on board to stretch the battery.

It is quite amazing that Motorola thinks it can sell one version of the Aura, let alone two. Anyone thinking of buying one should be ashamed of themselves and instead buy a phone for a quarter of the price, giving the balance to charity.