Verizon’s third Android phone: Motorola DEVOUR

Robert Hallock 3 Feb, 2010 at 11:05am ET Article published in Tech

Verizon Wireless has announced today that the company has officially unveiled its third Android-powered phone, the Motorola DEVOUR.

“Motorola DEVOUR will be the first Verizon Wireless phone to feature MOTOBLUR, Motorola’s unique Android-powered content delivery service created to make wireless phones more personal and customizable,” Verizon said in a press release.

“MOTOBLUR is the first solution to sync contacts from work and personal e-mail services, including Gmail, with posts, messages, photos and more from popular sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. With MOTOBLUR, content is automatically delivered to the home screen and fed into easy-to-manage streams.”

Known internally as the Motorola Calgary, the DEVOUR supports a modest display and an Android 1.6 reskin with hardware that sits somewhere between the HTC Magic and the Motorola Droid in terms of capabilities.

Specs

Display: 3.1″ 320×480
Processor: Qualcomm MSM7627 (600MHz ARM11 family)
RAM: 512MB
ROM: 256MB
WiFi: 802.11b/g
PAN: Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
GPS: Yes (A-GPS)
Radio: 800/1900MHz EV-DO Rev. A
Storage: 8GB class 2 MicroSD
Battery: 1400mAh
Weight: 5.89 oz
Size: 2.1″ x 4.54″ x 0.6″
Other features: Adobe Flash Lite, 3.5mm headphone jack, Micro USB, optical trackpad, aluminum exterior

The Motorola DEVOUR with MOTOBLUR will go on sale next month, but its pricing has not yet been revealed. If we had to wager a guess, something in the range of $100-$150 after MIR doesn’t seem out of the question.

Comments

3 Feb 2010 ~ 2:17pm Thrax I think it'll be very interesting to see how this device sells compared to, say, the Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus. The DEVOUR broadly bridges the convenience and capabilities offered by those two devices, but the DEVOUR also brings a better app store, an arguably better brand name (Google) and a better advertising campaign.
3 Feb 2010 ~ 2:20pm AlexDeGruven That's a pretty nice looking device. I also like that they're not quite positioning it as a Droid-lite, but rather as a separate entity.

The addition of the optical trackpad is a very nice consideration, and would help to alleviate some of the issues that people might have with the Droid.
3 Feb 2010 ~ 2:50pm Kwitko Damn you AT&T contract!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3 Feb 2010 ~ 3:58pm Bandrik This strikes me more of a "traditional" Verizon-Motorola type phone. This isn't necessarily a "bad" thing, but I hear this "MOTOBLUR" thing and worry that Verizon will lock the phone down and tie it with a leash.

Why is this not a "bad" thing, then? I imagine this will be marketed as more of a mainstream phone. Less for the geeks and more for you average Joe/Sue.
3 Feb 2010 ~ 4:03pm QCH Looks similar to my Cliq. It also uses the Motoblur. Differences: D-Pad missing from keypad. Keypad has 4 rows so no need to hit "Alt" to get to the numbers. 4 buttons on the face instead of Cliq's 3 buttons. Also looks like it might have a trackpad on the face....
3 Feb 2010 ~ 4:42pm ardichoke Shouldn't this say "Verizon's THIRD Android Device"? They already have the Droid and the Droid Eris (basically a rebranding of the HTC Hero), both of which run Android. Not to be a nit-pick or anything...
3 Feb 2010 ~ 5:38pm Thrax You're right. The article has been corrected (it's easy to forget the Eris).
3 Feb 2010 ~ 5:40pm Thrax

Bandrik wrote:

This strikes me more of a "traditional" Verizon-Motorola type phone. This isn't necessarily a "bad" thing, but I hear this "MOTOBLUR" thing and worry that Verizon will lock the phone down and tie it with a leash.

Why is this not a "bad" thing, then? I imagine this will be marketed as more of a mainstream phone. Less for the geeks and more for you average Joe/Sue.

It's a complete Android device, albeit with 1.6. MOTOBLUR is just a reskin, much like HTC's Sense UI, that adds integration and contact features not presence on a stock Android ROM. The presence of MOTOBLUR also indicates that it's a budget/economical device, as all flagship Android phones will be Google Experience devices, or phones which include all of Android's fixings.
3 Feb 2010 ~ 5:52pm ardichoke

Thrax wrote:

You're right. The article has been corrected (it's easy to forget the Eris).

Indeed, since they went on the all-out marketing blitz for the Droid proper without mentioning the Eris. I think most the Eris devices they moved were because they had the whole "Buy a Droid, get a Droid Eris free" promo going for a while.
3 Feb 2010 ~ 11:54pm Komete It looks like a cheap knock off of something that wasn't worth it to begin with. I'm digging all the android phones though. It's like Droid is slowly going to take over.