I've made a very tiny bit of progress in rooting the devour, but I don't have an update.zip package to play around with.
I have found out how to force the update, though.
With the phone off, hold down the R and the spacebar, and turn it on. Hold them down until you get a warning-sign screen. Then you can press ZB for the text/menu:
Motorola/Android system recovery utility
E:Can't open /cache/recovery/command
F+H - reboot system now
Z+B - toggle log text display
Z+N - apply sdcard:update.zip
Z+M - wipe data/factory reset
All I really want to do, at least in the beginning, is turn on wifi - I bought this thing without an account, and the verizon 1.6 load comes with wifi disabled and no way to turn it on. I'd need an account for about 10 minutes, since my world is filled with wireless. Once I've got it enabled, I'll almost never need the phone (and I'm locked in to a 2-year cellphone contract anyway...)