Short Version: Hey ladies! Your Droid is here. The Motorola Devour (it’s actually DEVOUR but I refuse to shout at you) is a social media Android phone with enough style to beat down a million Droids. But is it just one more brick in the Android wall?
Features:
- Amazing extruded aluminum case
- MotoBLUR UI
- Full keyboard
- Removable battery
- 3.5mm headphone jack
Pros:
- Removable storage
- Good interface performance
- MotoBLUR adds lots of social networking features
Cons:
- A true toss-up between Droid and Devour
- Cramped keyboard
- Heavy
Review:
As if there were any doubt as to whether the Droid was from Mars and the Devour was from Venus, just think about last Devour commercial featuring an unclothed Megan Fox taking pictures of herself in a tub.
Here, let me show you it:
The Droid, if you recall, is a man’s phone. It is everything the Devour isn’t: thin, lithe, ready to cut, and mean like a snake. The Devour is the MacBook of the Motorola line, clad in soft, soothing aluminum and graced with an elegance that haven’t seen out of Motorola since the RAZR.
The Phone
The phone has a full 3.5mm jack and slide down keyboard. It has a small, hidden slot for a MicroSD card – it includes 8GB out of the box – and is fairly featureless except for three buttons on the right edge and a main optical trackpad/button below the message indicator. The 3.1-inch, 320×480 pixel display is quite handsome but it does not support multi-touch. There are three soft buttons, menu, home, and back, along the bottom edge.
The keyboard is extremely usable but very cramped. I had some initial trouble hitting the right keys because the space bar is crammed in between the V and the B, thereby putting off my sense of key balance when typing.
The case is the real draw, here. The extruded aluminum is extremely rugged and the screen slides up like a tank shell getting ready to lock and load. While it’s elegant, it also means business.
MotoBLUR
I was pleased to note that MotoBLUR, Motorola’s special UI, ran very well on the 600MHz processor. I had used Blur before on the Cliq and it was bogged down and slow. Here I found a strong and quick window into messages and social networks.
The best thing? If you already have a MotoBLUR phone, you can log into your BLUR account and bring over all of your previous Facebook, GMail, Twitter, Tooter, and Pooter accounts.
Calling and network
Ooof. What happened, Verizon? I live in Brooklyn. You guys are supposed to be the pasta fazool out here. Calls were tinny and soft and you dropped a few times. 3G load times are strong but just on par with the iPhone 3GS. These were obviously anecdotal tests and a quick DSLReports speed test gave me 1495 kbit/sec, which is speedier than AT&T’s 3G at my location.
Price
The Devour ranges from $100 at Best Buy to $150 elsewhere, both with two year contract. You also obviously need a data plan. This is the same price as the Droid. Which should you buy?
Bottom Line
John at Giz asks whether the Droid will always win in a Droid/Devour shoot-out. They are, after all, the same price on the same carrier. I think, however, the two phones are different in intent. The Devour is a fashion-forward social media phone. The Droid is a “geek” phone or, if you like, an app phone. Granted, these phones are essentially the same. However, the Devour is clearly aimed at a less geeky consumer.
Android can be all things to all people, and that’s what’s happening here. The Devour is, in the aggregate, a phone for those less interested in high tech and more in high art. However, with the Droid and this launch, it’s clear that Moto has got its groove back.
Product Page: Motorola Devour
Nice work John. I’ve been thinking of squeezing the brains out of Motorola PR to let me review it, but I’ll wait a little bit. In my personal opinion, I think the DEVOUR (I WILL shout at you) is a Droid for the masses. The Droid is for us gadget bloggers. :)
That megan fox commercial doesn’t get too old…! Me? I think its already fair, seeing it landing on sub-100 eventhough the specs aren’t that quite of a bragger. Just a little bit retouch on the bezel part and it’ll be good. Newest Updates on the devour..
wow I don’t remember the super bowl commercials for the Motorola phone but those were pretty much good stuff. too bad commercials can’t be cool all year round. hehe check out my blog sometime http://www.retrostruggle.com
I don’t know why, but I’m obsessed with the fact that this thing has such a decent aluminum case. Other than that, I’m not too impressed.
If something came out in this shell running droid 2.x+ I’d have a bulge in my pocket full of that thing.
Not sure I’m sold that women want a big chunk of aluminium as their phone. I would hazard a guess they would want something more elegant than that. Ladies?
I’ a gal….I actually held it today @ Best Buy- like the keypad- but the screen is smaller. Trade offs. Tough choice between the the two….
i am a woman and this is not designed with a woman in mind. Looks like something that Marketing at Motorola decided was for women. Good luck! Maybe someday, people will actually use women in their product focus group….. too novel!
I actually really like this phone and I am a nerdy guy. The aluminum case is definitely a big plus. It would be a tough decision between the Devour and the Droid.
Wow that phone looks like the t-mobile sidekick slide that moto designed the ID for over 4 years ago:
http://ak.buy.com/db_assets/large_images/744/211900744.jpg
Good to know they recycle designs. :P
They should have just made a DEVOUR with a better screen positioned symmetrical (horizontally), three thin metallic buttons sort of like on the Sony Ericsson Experia but flatter (instead of the big non-clicky buttons), and a slightly better keyboard (space-bar not encroaching on bottom row is first priority). And get rid of the direction pad. Winner. It would be the most popular Android phone for 2010 Q1 and maybe Q2.
The Droid is only good on paper. Sure it has a good processor and screen, but the keyboard is almost as hard to use as an on-screen keyboard, the battery cover falls off way too easily, and the thing has so many out-of-place ridges and over-done decorations that it only looks good to people who think Motorola knows how to design. Not to mention that it doesn’t sense well when the phone is against your face and the touch-screen isn’t very accurate.
This gadgets looks very cool
Yeah, I don’t really understand why you think this is a phone for women, Biggs? Which antiquated stereotype suggested that to you?
Not a big fan of Motorola but $100 seems pretty cheap, I cannot buy it now as I just got my new phone 3 months ago, so I may have to wait for another 6 months.
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They need to come out with different colors…like…I don’t know…pink! The it’ll truly be a phone for the ladies:)
I completely agree (as a lady!) I lived in Japan for years and their phones come in a rainbow of colors and everyone, men included, are happy to buy something that isn’t just black or silver. =P I’d like my lime green phone back, please.
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I just got the Droid Devour a couple of days ago and its amazing. It has anything and everything you could want in a phone. Pictures turn out crisp and clear and internet is fast and reliable. By far the best phone I have ever purchased.
I love my Devour it is nice and I needed a derable phone, I drop mine all the time and this phone can take it lol. The only thing I dont like is I just dont understand how to use the phone yet, it is taking me a while to learn every little thing it has on it, I have had it for a week and I dont think that I am going to get read of it, I thought about it but I like it. I just need to learn how to use it lol, any thoughts let me know thanks.