Motorola Aura - the Non-resalable Phone

Motorola’s new Aura phone, along with its oddly inspiring design and features, will also come feature packed with a contract for buyers stating that they will not resell the device on ‘eBay’. So what do you do if you get bored of the device? You can sell it back to Motorola!

Each device will come with a unique ID making it nearly impossible to resell the device outside of the contract rules. The question then becomes, what happens with hardware upgrade periods that most providers have? In other words, you can purchase a phone on a contract, and after a certain period of time, you can go get a newer device on the same contract at the subsidized price or close to it. So does this mean that providers will offer the upgrade free upon returning the Aura? Or does it mean purchasers of this device will not be eligible for upgrades?

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The price at which Motorola will pay for returned ‘used’ devices is unknown at this point in time – and Motorola was not available for comment.

Some people wonder why anyone would buy such a phone, especially at its estimated cost of nearly US$2,000 (without subsidization). Some mobile forum users think the binding contract is just a good way to deter people from buying it in the first place – stating there are devices out there that range between a quarter and third of the Aura’s price and have four times as many features.