Phones.com » Cell Phones » Review of the Motorola DEVOUR

The Motorola Devour comes in a clean, silver, curvilinear package. A tad heavier than slim phones, this smartphone is solid to touch with curved edges and has strategically located rubber grips at the back. Aside from its full-on 79mm (3.1-inch) screen size, the interface offers vivid colors and bright backlights. It has touchscreen keyboard feature and touch sensitive buttons. A small track/optical pad at the lower left works like a mouse for point-navigation. The buttons Menu, Home, Back, and a small indicator light at bottom left which flashes blue when a message comes in, are placed in a row, amply spaced for convenience. The front of the phone is sleek and uncomplicated. On the top side of the phone are the power button and the 3.5mm phone jack. This is convenient when going for a walk or jog while listening to music, with the phone inside jean pockets. On the left side of the Devour are the micro USB charging port, and hidden behind a strip panel are the Standard 1400 mAh lithium ion battery and pre-packed 8G SD card slot (upgradable to 32G). On the right side there are volume keys, a voice dial/search key as well as a camera quick launch button. At the back are the sound speakers and the 3.0 megapixel camera with internal flash and auto focus. As with most touch screens, the fingerprint marks left on the screen are visible when the phone is off. The side slide keyboard snaps smoothly and faster than its predecessor Motorola Droid. The full 4-row QWERTY has large keys, nicely raised for a more enjoyable typing, and a dedicated top row to number keys. A fully charged battery will last about 2 days tops when used for sending SMS, emails,  listening to music, and calling. Turning the WiFi on will run it down for half a day. Downloading new services or software to the Devour will speed up the battery life by about 50%. The unit is rechargeable thru a PC or laptop when connected via USB. The feel of this smartphone is cool and smooth. It hugs your palm at the right moment and slides when you turn from the edges. It's sturdy, without the bulky weight. Devour is very decent looking and classy.

The Motorola Devour utilizes pre-installed Android 1.6 operating system and google applications. It may not be the most up-to-date version, but it meshes well with the unit. Devour is designed especially for social network enthusiasts. The integrated apps allow updates from Facebook, Twitter, or Myspace to appear on the phone's homescreen at real-time. Creating a MotoBlur  account with the installed app, it can gather all social networking accounts, as well as some online photo storage accounts, and have all contacts and profiles collectively accessible through the Devour. A 'Happening' widget makes all 'shoutouts', 'happenings' or 'tweets' from contacts appear on the homescreen. The overload of widgets like weather clock, text bubbles, calendars, status, and more, is overwhelming at first. But it can be deactivated, organized, or scattered into 5 homescreens. Obviously it functions well for sending texts, MMS, ringtones and photos. It combines all SMS and emails from online accounts (Facebook, Tweeter, etc) into one inbox. With built-in google apps, it offers free googlemaps with navigation, complete with routes and directions. Aside from browsing HTML websites, one cool feature of the Devour is that it's the first of Verizon Wireless' Motoblur phones to have Adobe Flash Lite. From standard portrait mode, opening the keyboard panel will automatically switch the screen to landscape mode. It doesn't have an accelerometer to turn the screen into landscape mode when the phone is rotated.

Motorola Devour has excellent range in terms of getting a full signal. It makes clear phone calls and gives a good reception when used as speaker-phone. Surfing the net is quite a breeze as well. It has Bluetooth, built-in WiFi, and a reliable web browser. Uploads and downloads are effective with its fast data speed.

The installed Android 1.6 webkit browser is fast while supporting Flash sites. Needless to say, HTML pages load quickly. It can also accomodate multiple windows. Devour also delivers a speedy 3G EV-DO connection. Given a low 3-megapixel camera, the pictures taken cannot replace the ones from a real camera. Within light, photos taken are acceptable. But do not attempt on moving objects or people. It will appear blurry and defocused. The speakers from the back emit a clear, crisp sound. With hardware dial for volume, and buttons for quick-launch camera, everything seems within reach in this multimedia phone.

For social networking addicts, this phone will deliver all connectivity necessary to fulfil one's daily tweets and activities. It doubles as a multimedia mayhem its music, photos, and video stream features. Surfing the web is convenient with its modest-sized screen and QWERTY pad, not to mention a speedy connection to boot. It is little bulky in size as it has solid frames and weight. Photos are as good as amateur shots with its low resolution. Weighing the facts, its cost pretty much compensates for what it has and what it misses, compared to the Droid.