Spotted in the Wild: The Motorola Devour Feels Like a Droid, Only More Elegant

Today, while hanging around the Motorola booth at Mobile World Congress, I got my hands on the Devour, a phone announced two weeks ago on Verizon Wireless. As a Droid owner, I experienced some serious deja vu: the Devour has a similar slide-out QWERTY keyboard-and-touchscreen combo, only with a more elegant build and the same social-networking friendly MOTOBLUR interface introduced on the Cliq.

Unfortunately, the unit Motorola had on display wasn’t up and running beyond a setup screen, so it’ll be a bit longer before we can show you what a Droid-like phone with Motoblur looks like. For now, we’ve got close-up shots aplenty to pique your curiosity. Find those, as well as some early  first impressions, after the jump.

For better or worse, the Droid is often described as “masculine.” That can mean various things: it’s heavier, thicker than most phones. It feels solid, well-constructed. It has a severe geometric shape. And it’s not subtle.

For people in the latter camp, who wouldn’t buy a Droid because they find the design overbearing, the Devour is Motorola’s answer. Although it has the same form factor– a thicker-than-average phone that combines a capacative touch screen with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard– the Devour looks and feels more refined. The smooth aluminum body adds an instant dash of sophistication, as do the slightly more contoured edges. The turquoise accents on the keyboard and on the sides also give the Devour a more playful look than the Droid.

Unfortunately, one complaint about the Droid I’m afraid Motorola didn’t answer with the Devour is the QWERTY keyboard. I’ve long since given up on using the keyboard on my Droid: I find that although the keys are large and have a soft finish, their flatness leads me to make too many typos. The Devour’s keyboard looks and feels similar, although we’ll reserve full judgment until the LAPTOP team gets a final production unit with a functioning OS to play with.

Check out the gallery of close-up shots, and stay tuned for fuller coverage once we get a unit to review.