HP's Jon Rubenstein told us that his company wanted to veer in a new direction, and veer it surely did -- the HP Veer 4G will arguably be the smallest fully-functional smartphone on the market when it goes on sale May 15th. In a nutshell, it's a Palm Pixi Plus in the guise of a Pre, only in a delightfully downsized package with webOS 2.1 and thoroughly modern functionality. What does it feel like to Just Type on its tiny keyboard or throw app cards across its itsy-bitsy 2.6-inch screen? How is it as a pocketable HSPA+ hotspot, and will that extra G decimate its miniscule 910mAh battery? These are the questions that drove us when playing with the Veer 4G this week, and you'll find the answers shortly after the break.
HP Veer 4G review
Sponsored Links

Gallery: HP Veer 4G unboxing and hands-on | 38 Photos
Pros
- Speedy webOS experienceTiny and cuteResponsive, durable touchscreen
Cons
- Petite frame isn't for everyoneSub-par cameraPoor selection of apps
Design
When first we saw the HP Veer, it was a miniature Pre 2 in most every appreciable way -- deep black coatings, soft-touch plastics and buttons in all the same places. AT&T's new white version, however, looks and feels like a jumbo chicken egg. It's still cute as a button and that hinge still slides shut with a superbly satisfying snap, but the ultra thin, lightly textured white plastic shell is a little bit creaky and cheap. (Note: the soft-touch black model will also be available.) We found it a little uncomfortable to hold flat against our palms for this very reason, actually, but the fingertip grip is risky too -- like the aforementioned egg, the Veer is relatively easy to drop, and we don't suspect that Humpty will take kindly to many falls. At the same time, we're not at all worried about the screen -- it's covered with a nice big piece of curved Gorilla Glass, and it takes a substantial, weighty press between thumb and forefinger to make any kind of impression on the liquid crystals underneath. There's a little speaker on top, and Palm's gesture area (with LED landing strip indicator) on the bottom.
Small definitely has its advantages, though. There's something to be said for dropping a phone in a pants pocket and barely feeling a bulge.
Display / audio / connectivity
The Veer's speaker is as small as you'd expect, at least judging from the grille around back, but we were actually pleasantly surprised with its capabilities. It's not suited for serious listening or a portable party, but it handles the occasional tune quite nicely -- you can fit a little over 6GB of them here -- and it's plenty loud, just the opposite of the Palm Pixi. Good stuff.
Camera
Gallery: HP Veer sample shots | 27 Photos
Videos are just plain terrible.
We kind of wish the Veer had a nice hardware camera button for single-handed photos of opportunity -- responsiveness aside, it's one of the few things we liked about the similarly-sized Kin One -- as the software button and keyboard shortcuts aren't terribly convenient for a single hand, and can jar the camera when you press down. But who are we kidding here? There's no excuse for a social phone without a good camera to begin with. Why not trade a couple of those megapixels for a better sensor, HP? The Sidekick 4G retails for the same $100 price on contract, but comes with a wonderful little 3 megapixel autofocus module.
webOS and performance
Gallery: HP Veer 4G software (webOS 2.1) | 42 Photos
If you're unfamiliar with webOS, it works a little something like this: every app and settings page is represented by a virtual playing card, and your phone is the deck. Swipe open the app drawer and select an app, and it will launch in a little card-shaped window. Swipe down to make it appear full screen, swipe up to minimize again. Add another, and the second will appear as another card next to it -- instant, intuitive multitasking. Repeat as many times as you'd like (we had 48 cards open at once and apps still worked fine, though they took additional time to load), then swipe them all the way up to the top of the screen, one by one, to deal them into the ether and free up system resources.
What's astounding is that -- except for some occasional hiccups and apps that take a moment to load -- all of this happens as quickly as your finger moves. That's how seamless this UI is, and it makes the mini Veer look mighty powerful. Truth be told, there is some potent silicon underneath -- the same 800MHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM7230 you'll find in the likes of the T-Mobile G2 -- and 512MB of RAM, but we've used "faster" Android devices that didn't feel nearly this fluid.
In fact, we almost wonder if the MSM7230 might be overkill here, at least without some additional throttling when it's not under load -- we enjoyed its power in a variety of apps, but it can suck down battery juice. You'll want to charge the battery nightly just as you would for most larger smartphones.
Wrap-up
The streamlined, swipe-based nature of webOS is what makes the Veer's tiny screen and keyboard actually somewhat viable, as while you may only be able to see a little piece of a webpage or a few status updates at a time, webOS cuts out enough of the scut work between point A and B for you to get where you're going. The question is -- with a $100 on-contract price -- whether you'd really want to purchase a Veer when the larger, faster, more capable Pre 2 can easily be found on Verizon for less money.
There is one more use case where the Veer makes sense, and that's with an HP TouchPad tablet alongside. Then, HP likes to imagine, you'd have your large screen for serious work, your small screen for portability, Touch to Share for a rudimentary take on the Continuous Client, and the Veer's HSPA+ hotspot serving up speedy WiFi. Everything in perfect harmony, right? It's definitely a compelling idea, and one we plan to test when the TouchPad actually comes out, but for now the Veer is a single tiny smartphone charging the Apple / Google beachhead... albeit one modestly well-armed.
Myriam Joire contributed to this report.