![]() It’s not nearly as responsive as an Apple iPhone’s OS. Although it adds some social networking integration and brings a set of widgets to the home screens, the interface is slow and somewhat of a nuisance. While Motorola hopes to improve the native Android experience with MotoBlur, much like the AT&T Backflip, the custom overlay destroys the experience. The Devour runs on Android v1.6, which is a major step behind the latest set of smartphones running Android 2.1 and those beginning to get v2.2. The package works, but it isn’t nearly an ideal configuration. Instead, they expect users to reach towards the touch-sensitive trackpad for navigating. However, in the process, Motorola did away with a directional-pad. It’s a step up from the Motorola Droid, which had flat keys with minimal spacing separation. ![]() Thankfully, the physical keyboard on the Devour is much-needed due to a poorly implemented virtual one. And with technologies such as Swype, physical keyboards are slowly becoming unnecessary for mobile devices. The iPhone probably set the standard for building robust virtual keyboards and as a result, most smartphones have a decent competing one. The colors aren’t as rich as they should be and photos also appear washed out.Īlthough I was a huge fan of physical keyboards back when smartphones were still a rarity, I’ve since become comfortable with touch-screen ones. It’s a step up from widely available feature phones, but isn’t comparable to the displays on the latest generation of smartphones. Viewing angles aren’t great and neither is outdoor viewing. Unfortunately, those characteristics makes the screen seem even smaller and that’s not even to mention the 4.3 inch displays on phones such as the EVO 4G and Droid X. The screen recedes into the casing with a large black border surrounding it. The 3.1 inch 480-by-320 pixel LCD display isn’t particularly outstanding. There’s noting unique, refreshing, or outstanding about the design, but it gets the job done. A standard 3.5 mm headphone jack is, thankfully, featured on the top and the bottom of the phone has perforations for a speaker. The 3 megapixel camera, which lacks a complementary flash, resides on the back side. As for the trackpad, it occasional comes in handy for some finicky one-handed use, but is unnecessary for the most part.Īside from those features, there’s an odd side access door on the left for removing battery pack besides a microUSB port for charging and data transfer. It lacks a dedicated search command, which is now heavily featured on most smartphones. A row of three touch-enabled buttons offer instant access to the Menu, Home, and Back commands. The front side features an oddly positioned square trackpad off to the bottom left. There’s a flush power/unlock button on the top, while a camera shutter, voice command key, and volume rocker are on the right side. The slide out design, which reveals the keyboard, isn’t new either. Instead it houses a silver coated heavy aluminum encasement with black rubberized keys for contrast. While not as robust, it doesn’t have a cheap lightweight plastic feel. Much like last year’s Motorola Droid, the Devour is also built like a tank. Unfortunately, this device, much like other mid-range Android smartphones, are hard to recommend despite a fairly decent set of features. The device touts a MotoBlur interface, which is also present on the AT&T Backflip, and offers plenty of other features as well. While we published our thoughts on Skype Mobile, I never had a chance to talk about the Devour. Earlier this year I had a chance to pickup a Motorola Devour from Verizon Wireless during their joint press with Skype in San Francisco.
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