HP Veer 4G Review - Getting Us Excited for Pre 3
by Brian Klug on June 7, 2011 5:01 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- HP
- AT&T
- Palm
- veer
- webOS
- HSPA+
- Mobile
- HP Veer 4G
So I think it’s time to finally talk about the Veer’s small size and about how that actually works in practice. It’s an incredibly tiny phone, and Zoolander jokes aside, can indeed feel considerably awkward to hold if you’re coming straight from one of innumerable substantially larger phones. The first couple of calls I made on the Veer were slightly challenging because of the phone’s minuscule size.
First up is how the Veer looks side by side with some other devices. The most obvious comparison is the Palm Pixi. The Veer is unfortunately a bit thicker to accommodate the slide out keyboard system, but preserves the same width and also is a fair bit shorter.
Next is how the Veer compares to the Palm Pre Plus and HTC EVO. Here you can get an appreciation for just how small the phone is compared to a growing list of comparatively gargantuan >4” display phones.
I also got an opportunity to take photos of the Veer next to the Pre 3 and a black Veer.
The difference in aspect ratio between the Veer and the Pre 3 is pretty dramatic, which does make me worried that developing good applications that work well on the Pre 3 and Veer using the same binary could be challenging.
Already there are Pixi-specific versions of some applications in the WebOS store, and the difference between the Pre aspect ratio and Pixi isn’t all that great. The difference between Veer and Pre 3 will likely cause even more of this, especially for games. For example, there’s currently a Pixi specific version of Angry Birds that works fine on the Veer as well.
With the keyboard slider closed, it’s understandably a bit unnerving to hold the Veer to one’s head. There’s an impulse to want to have all five fingers on the phone, when realistically your pinky will hang off, otherwise the grip is fatiguing. In reality, that’s not a big problem since the pinky doesn’t add much grip strength at all - the problem is that it hangs out awkwardly, and as a result holding the phone to one’s head is like drinking tea in polite British style.
The solution to this is actually pretty simple, with the keyboard slid out, the Veer is much easier to hold with a normal five finger grip. In addition, since microphone is located right next to the symbol key, there’s a chance you’ll get better voice quality this way. I tested with the phone open and closed and couldn’t detect any appreciable difference, so it’s clear that it’s intended to be used in either state, but all bets are off when talking outside in the wind.
In the palm when in regular use the Veer is also a little bit awkward to hold, but only for the first couple of hours. After that there’s nothing challenging about holding the phone with the slider closed and doing anything normal. With the slider open, it’s easier to get a good perch and firm hold on the phone.
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cptnjarhead - Tuesday, June 14, 2011 - link
I'm am excited for the pre 3.Veer is way to small for me and my pre + oc'd @ 1ghz will keep me happy till the pre 3 comes out.
WebOS is the best in mop. My wife has the same phone and this is the first smart phone that i haven't had to constantly show her how to use it :)
trust me, if you have never used WebOS, just try it and you will be amazed how great it is.
vshah - Tuesday, June 21, 2011 - link
Have you guys stopped including these as a standard part of the reviews?Brian Klug - Saturday, July 2, 2011 - link
We haven't, however as I noted there's no way to get RSSI out of the Veer.-Brian
theinvisibleduck - Monday, June 27, 2011 - link
I bought my wife one (she wanted a small phone) neither of us believed it would be big enough when I got it, but we were both pleasantly suprised! It is excellent and you do not notice that it is small (except yesterday when I lost it in my pocket and my wife and I had a heated discussion about who lost it before I started digging through my pants pocket and found it). I would HIGHLY recommend trying this awesome little device out I think you will be very pleasantly suprised like I was.CellPig - Tuesday, June 28, 2011 - link
This phone is adorable, ha. I'm very skeptical of it making it in a big phone market though. HP has such a small stance in the smart phone market to begin with and I'm not sure if this phone will get them moving in the right direction, regardless of how cool it is. I used to have a webOS device, but I switched to Android and then to Apple, each time gaining more access to things that mattered. We're actually stumped over whether or not we should stock accessories for this phone at http://CellPig.com - Anyone have thoughts/suggestions?