HP Veer 4G Initial Impressions
By: Kris KeilhackMay 6, 2011
Reviewer's note: As most of you may gather, I am not a regular WebOS user, having taking a pass on the initial WebOS devices in 2009 and 2010. I do own a Verizon Pixi Plus, purchased new several months ago. I activated the Pixi, used it as my primary device for about two days, then switched back to my Motorola Droid X since I never intended to use the Pixi as my primary device. I keep the Pixi Plus around for comparison purposes, using it on wi-fi. It will be my primary comparison point for the Veer for the purposes of this review.
Packaging & Box Contents
I was a bit surprised to see HP carrying on with the rectangular Palm-style rigid cardboard box. The box is adorned in the standard AT&T blue, orange and white colors, which is starting to look a bit dated, as it reminds me too much of the old Cingular days. Nevertheless, the packaging is quite nice. My review unit is the standard all-black version but it also being offered in a two-tone white motif.
Inside the box is the Veer, the standard documentation and paperwork, a mediocre 3.5mm stereo headset, and, tragically, the magnetic microUSB cable and 3.5mm headphone jack adapter. Sadly, Palm's classy "Designed in California" text has been removed. The bundled USB AC adapter is still amusingly branded as "Palm" which is the only visible place on the hardware where the old logo carries over. "Palm" still does appear in a few spots throughout WebOS 2.1.2, however. The Veer is adorned with HP and AT&T logos but nothing indicating Palm (unsurprisingly) or WebOS (surprisingly).
Form factor & Build Quality
My initial impression out of the box is that the Veer is impossibly tiny! I was expecting something along the lines of a reduced-size Pre but I was not expecting anything this Lilliputian! The Veer can hide completely under a credit card! It slips safely into a shirt pocket without a moment's hesitation. Without a doubt, this little gizmo is the best execution yet of Palm's "river pebble" theme as first seen at CES 2009 with the original Pre. Despite my fondness for large-screen hummer sized handsets, I simply must confess that the Veer is a very pleasant device to hold in the hand. It has sleek yet gentle curves, pleasant contours and general soothing aesthetics showing that the zen of Palm still lives on. Indeed, I found myself walking around carrying the little fellow in my hand and marveling at how easy it is to use one-handed with the slider closed. The entire exterior is coated with a lovely soft-touch paint that does not suggest it will pull a Zire 72 and peel off after a few weeks' use. The Veer is the anti-Droid, in every sense of the term.
One of the biggest criticisms lodged at the current stable of WebOS devices has been the sub-optimal build quality. While we saw a few furtive steps on the road to quality recovery with last year's Pre Plus and Pre 2, I am glad to report that the Veer is leaps and bounds ahead of past Palm devices in this regard. There is no twisting to the keyboard when the slider is extended and only the tiniest hint of a wobble. No flimsy port doors are in attendance (more on this below) and the device's handful of external buttons feel fantastic. I have no worries that this little phone's power button will collapse or become unresponsive like my Palm Vx, Tungsten T5, and TX did in years past. The volume keys in particular feel especially solid. They don't protrude too much, they are not too deeply recessed and they don't wiggle or rattle.
I do worry about the long-term health of the exposed contacts on the sync/charge port. I have serious doubts they will survive over the long term, especially when used extensively by sweaty, grimy hands or when the phone is carried loose in a pocket and likely to come in contact with keys, change and other miscellaneous items.
As you may have gathered from the box contents description, it's true that the Veer cannot charge and have a headphone or headset connected simultaneously. Only one past Palm device--the all-but-forgotten Treo 800w -- required users to choose between connectivity and charging. Of course, the Veer's tiny size and robust Touchstone dock and Bluetooth wireless capabilities mitigate the issue somewhat but this is still certain to be a deal-breaker for some. Looking around the top panel of the device , the location of the lanyard loop would seem an ideal spot to cram in 3.5mm headphone jack, even if it enlarged the dimensions slightly. I suspect many users are like myself and could deal with perhaps one of these two shortcomings. But having to deal with an easily-lost proprietary charging plug, no standard headphone jack, no removable battery and no expandable storage are too many sacrifices in a single modern smartphone. I can just imagine the feeling of panic this would instill if I were on a trip and faced with a lost microUSB cord and rapidly dying battery.
Camera & Speaker
I was disheartened to see that that in addition to the microUSB port, removable battery and 3.5mm headphone jack, another casualty in HP's downsizing has been the camera's flash. Judging by a few quick test pictures, the Veer's 5mp camera is another area that greatly surpasses the Pixi's feeble 2mp camera, though I must admit that I would have a hard time giving up an autofocus smartphone camera lens if I had to switch to a WebOS device for daily use.
For such a tiny device, the integrated speaker is passable but certainly won't set any records for clarity or volume. During a few test calls over the speakerphone last night, callers reported I was a bit distant and muffled sounding. When navigating a voicemail setup menu, the system's voice prompts were occasionally distorted when on speaker. I had no issues when using the device on the ear speaker. I think the old Centro still holds the record for the best speakerphone quality on a "Palm" device.
The internal vibration is significant stronger on the Veer than on the Pixi. Thankfully, the Pre's nifty mirror has been carried over, though I still don't know if it's intended more for self-portrait compositions or applying makeup.
Keyboard
The much-beloved traditional Palm "smile" keyboard is back and basically in fine form. The reduced width of the keyboard compared to the Pre is definitely noticeable but something easily adapted to after a few minutes of typing. I still miss the contrasting orange numbers from the original Pre keyboard but, like the center button, I have a feeling those are not coming back any time soon. One huge improvement over my Pixi Plus is that the Veer has bright, consistent LED illumination across the full width of the keyboard. My Pixi is brightest in lower left corner with the top corners being rather dim.
Out of all of the current crop of WebOS devices, I still prefer the Pixi's flush-mounted, "clicky" keys but there is certainly nothing wrong with the Veer's keyboard. In this day of all-touchscreen candy bar smartphones, it's refreshing to see another real QWERTY entry, especially at this price point and segment of the market. About the only major complaint I can make about the Veer's keyboard area is that the lip at the very bottom of the device is still a bit sharp when the slider is open. Also, the space bar is still not backlit as it was on the old Treo 700p and earlier devices.
Screen
I will leave any extensive comments on the reduced screen size and resolution for the full review. However, let's just say that it's quite a challenge to go from a 4.3" 854x480 screen capable of 16 million colors on my daily driver (a Motorola Droid X) to a 2.6" 320x400 screen capable of 262k colors.
The omnipresent gesture area is still around and remains unchanged. Much like the silkscreen Graffiti area on Palm OS devices, this relic from another era continues to infuriate me greatly, as I feel that it exists merely to gobbles up space that could otherwise be used to bump up the screen's size and resolution. For future versions of WebOS, any necessary gestures could (and should) be accomplished onscreen or mapped to a keyboard key if desired. A simple bump to a 320x480 2.8" screen would make a world of difference in making the Veer a device capable of genuine productivity, not to mention reduce the level of fragmentation currently plaguing the WebOS ecosystem.
Screen size and resolution aside, the Veer's screen is significantly better than the Pixi Plus' LCD. Blacks are blacker, colors are richer, and the Veer handles motion in fast action games better than the Pixi. With both devices cranked to the max, the Veer's screen is significantly brighter than the Pixi. I do not have any devices in the Pre family handy for testing, but the Veer's LCD definitely seems to be better than what I have seen on any other WebOS device.
As I mentioned above, the Veer is imminently usable one-handed as far as web browsing or doing any task not involving text input. In addition, landscape-oriented activities such as web browsing, video watching or playing Angry Birds because incredibly more satisfying without having to deal with an exposed keyboard in the way. However, the lack of any kind of on-screen input for WebOS is really becoming quite distressing. Despite the minuscule screen, it would still be nice to have the option of some Graffiti 1 finger strokes or robust speech-to-text dictation capabilities!
OS & Performance
Again, I will delve more into this in the full review but there's no arguing about HP's claim that the Veer mitigates all of the Pixi's performance issues. Everything is so much snappier and responsive, whether gaming or in just general day to day navigation throughout WebOS. Doubling the RAM and moving to a newer CPU that is 200Mhz faster has certainly addressed most of the performance complaints with the older WebOS devices. That said, even with significantly fewer pixels to push around, things on the Veer still feel a step slow compared to the latest crop of Apple iOS devices or 1Ghz+ Android superphones.
Despite its tiny size, the Veer remains a multitasking champ. I had over 41 cards open simultaneously and did not experience the dreaded "too many cards" out of memory message. Voice dialing is FINALLY here, courtesy of Nuance, and it's actually baked into the OS, not a flaky add-on like we had in the Palm OS days.
Battery Life & Miscellaneous
Out of the box, the Veer is running HP WebOS 2.1.2. Out of the 8GB of internal storage present, a bit over 6.0GB remains available immediately for user storage.
After nearly two hours of sporadic testing (no BT, no wi-fi, 10 minutes of Angry Birds, 10 minutes of web browsing over HSPA, 5 minutes of voice calls, screen either at maximum brightness or 1/2) I had about 80% of my battery remaining.
Stay tuned for our upcoming review of the HP Veer 4G in the coming weeks.
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RE: very nice review
"There is a reason companies go into a tail spin, they don't make what people want. Cheap imitations are not going to work, nor is "wait until the upgrade, you will be impressed." How about now!" – TheSovereign
RE: very nice review
Have a nice day!
HP 41CX->HP 75C->Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->Pilot Pro->IIIe->IIIc->M500->M505->M515->TC->T3->T5->Treo 650P->Treo 700P->Droid>Pre Plus
RE: very nice review
I'm about to get a Pre 2. Was contemplating waiting for the Veer - I love the teensy form factor - but only 8GB of storage basically killed it for me. Having 16GB on my WP7 device has spoiled me and I'm never going back!
RE: very nice review
Timmmmay, how much is a Pre 2 nowadays down under? I finally got to a VZW store with a working Pre 2 display model recently and gave it a thorough fondle. I have to admit that the 1Ghz CPU & glass screen makes it feel like a much higher-end device. The build quality has definitely been improved. Basically, the Pre Plus is what the original Pre should have been. The Pre 2 is what the Pre Plus should've been. And the Pre 3 is the proper Pre sequel and should have been out 6 months or more ago.
Spoiled by 16GB? Heck, I filled that up in 2009 on my Droid 1. I'm now bursting at the seams on my 32gb MicroSDHC card. Those weekend trips with a bunch of 720p video recordings will quickly gobble up the space...
Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->Verizon Moto Droid + Verizon Palm Centro-> Verizon Moto Droid X + Palm TX
RE: very nice review
Pre 2 - nor any webOS phones, for that matter - is still not available officially in Oz. I was actually going to stick with WP7 (on my LG Optimus 7) until they were, but now that webOS Internals has found a way to get proper App Catalog access outside officially-supported countries, I'm ready to jump in. A UK website is selling it for $450 AUD unlocked. I'd actually rather just order one from HP in the US direct - with the Aussie dollar so strong lately, I could get it for $420 instead - but the US model doesn't support the same 3G freqs as the UK one.
I really miss webOS. Looking forward to having it back!
RE: very nice review
A device like this would have a certain appeal if everything synced real-time with a real phone, allowing users to swap sims to take out the Miata for a spin instead of the F-350 dually.
I cannot fathom trying to type on that infantile KB. The Pre+ is already too small for adult hands now. All the connector shortcomings would be deal killers for me (not to mention postage stamp screen) and unfortunately show that decision makers in this company still don't get it.
Looks like more of the same story ... a great OS and bad hardware, thus no buyers, thus no potential app profits, thus no app devs, thus dying platform. In the coming months ...
Pat Horne
RE: very nice review
By poesias on Sat, 07 May 2011 5:31 pm EDT
+0
because it must feel wonderful to have to rely on something the size of a gumball to do the most rudimentary functions of a phone. jog and listen to music? gumball. charge your phone? gumball. God forbid you lose the thing.
RE: very nice review
By UntidyGuy on Fri, 06 May 2011 6:46 pm EDT
+3
Josh Topolsky totally rags on the Veer in this week's This is My Next Podcast:
http://thisismynext.com/2011/05/06/podcast-005-05-06-2011/
"The Veer is so wildly underwhelming in comparison to any other smartphone on the market...It's like a Pre 2 again...Why should I get excited about this brand?"
"It won't be long at all (before they are giving them away}. I don't think it will be a hit product"
"This is the best you've got right now? The Veer should have never existed. It seems to me to be wasted resources."
RE: very nice review
Will it work? I dunno. I really like the form factor, but the specs (specifically, limited built in memory and a boring camera) made me pause. Then again, I'm a geek. Maybe that Centro market is still out there and hasn't moved en masse to the iPhone/Android already.
I hope it's a massive success for them. They sure need one at this point - the only thing that's going to get large numbers of developers onto webOS is an unquestionably hit product.
RE: very nice review
But Palm sure has ...
Tungsten W
LagDrive
Treo 800w
Treo Pro
Pixi
... only thing they could have done worse would have been to try to make their own laptop with typical Palm underwhelming specs for the price. Oh wait. :-o
Quit wasting time with these DOA phones HP. Get a 4"+ slab superphone to market yesterday to show off the fabulous and functional OS that the innovative people at Palm created. Maybe then customers might want one and devs might actually try to pursue them.
Pat Horne
RE: very nice review
Fast-forward to fall 2009 and what does Palm introduce but a cheaper model with a smaller, lower-resolution screen and the same amount of storage. Fast forward to 2010 and the Pre 2 comes with more storage, faster CPU but the same lame screen. Now in 2011 the first fruits of the Palm acquisition is.....another 8GB device with a <1Ghz CPU and the smallest screen yet on a WebOS device (or any modern shipping smartphone). Not good!
There is simply no way I would buy a new phone today with anything less than the absolute bare minimum screen dimensions of 800x480 and 4", with qHD 4.3" or better ideal.
Samsung's Infuse has raised the bar for screen sizes while sadly not bumping up the screen resolution. Still, a Droid X2 or an Evo 3D pack plenty of pixels into a 4.3" screen. All of those devices are probably going to actually be available in the next 30 days, which is something you cannot say for HP's "big screen" Pre 3 (3.58").
Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->Verizon Moto Droid + Verizon Palm Centro-> Verizon Moto Droid X + Palm TX
RE: very nice review
RE: very nice review
Evo to Pre 3, I could definitely see. Evo to Pre/Pre2, POSSIBLY . Evo to Pixi or Veer? NO WAY!
Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->Verizon Moto Droid + Verizon Palm Centro-> Verizon Moto Droid X + Palm TX
RE: very nice review
RE: very nice review
Honestly, the Veer & Pixi screens "feel" smaller to me than the Centro, primarily because of the loss of the d-pad and WebOS' UI elements making such horribly inefficient usage of screen space & pixels.
If I was in your position, I would follow the advice of TVoR and FJH and hunt out a new or mint condition 128mb Centro (since you use Sprint) on E-Bay and switch to it. If you can live with the incredibly lame Blazer, then that device was the paradigm of Palm OS performance. Stick in a decent 4GB microSDHC card and use Aceeca's new 64-bit Windows to Hotsync and you're all set!
Another option would be to carry a Centro for PIM & phone purposes then carry an iPod Touch (or equivalent Android PMP/PDA from Samsung or Archos) for multimedia, web browsing, picture taking etc.
Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->Verizon Moto Droid + Verizon Palm Centro-> Verizon Moto Droid X + Palm TX
RE: very nice review
I guess as far as advances in technology are concerned, sometimes you just need a screwdriver--not an 18v Li-ion drill. It works well and is really foolproof.
RE: very nice review
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Ericsson-Liveview-display-Android/dp/B004E2V4NM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305138187&sr=8-1
i was tempted to buy it but two things stopped me -
1. why would i wear this watch over the $7K watch i already own?
2. poor early reviews regarding connectivity, stability, and battery life. however - supposedly - things got much better after the last software update.
if you get it let us know how it works.
You like me! You really like me!
Satan! Now THAT'S a blast from the past!
TVoR - The best Palminfocenter poster of all time.
FJH - A legend in my own mind.
Mike "tabes dorsalis" Cane - poster child for early intervention with i.m. penicillin ;-)
hkklife - Palminfocenter's life support machine
Missing from your list:
Jeff Kirvin
Dr Opinion
Ska
stonemirror/"Lefty"/David Schlesinger
Marty Fouts/PenguinPowered
Rhino Steve
Pepper
legodude
Timmmmmay
David Beers/cervezas
relyons
Surur
Wait a minute... what's this?:
http://www.palminfocenter.com/comments/8378/#119116
FJH
Wherefore art thou, SeldomVisitor?
His picture is under the Webster's Dictionary definition of "vendetta". And "deranged". Carried on a "wee bit obsessed" 24/7/365, 10 year psyche-stalker vendetta after he got his a$$ fired at Palm. Wow. Just wow.
FJH
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very nice review
but very weak product.