HP/Palm Reveal One of the Smallest Smartphones
The Veer is a tiny little WebOS miracle.
It's a big day for the HP/Palm, as the company just unveiled a handful of new products that all use the fantastic WebOS mobile operating system.
It may have all started with the original Palm Pre, but with HP's muscle, the platform is getting the push that it deserves. In fact, it seems that the Palm brand is riding off into the sunset and it'll be HP's name on the products from here on.
One of the products revealed today is the HP Veer, which is the smallest WebOS phone with a footprint around that of a credit card and no thicker than a deck of cards. Like the Pre, it has a full slide-out keyboard, vivid touchscreen and support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1 beta in the browser.
"While much of the industry is trending toward larger and larger devices, we believe there's also a whole lot of room for thinking small," said Jon Rubinstein, senior vice president and general manager, Palm Global Business Unit, HP. "Veer bridges the gap for a new generation of smartphone users, proving they really can have it all without sacrificing the size they want."
At just 54.5 mm x 84.0 mm x 15.1 mm and only 103 grams, Veer touts an 800-MHz processor; a vivid 2.57-inch glass display; full slide-out keyboard; 8 GB of internal user storage; a high-performance browser with full access to the web, including support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1 beta; Wi-Fi; integrated GPS; messaging support; and multimedia options, including music, photos, video recording and playback, and a 5-megapixel camera.
Veer also includes HP Synergy, which is exclusive to webOS devices. Synergy brings together information from multiple sources across the web automatically, so the information you need is all in one place.
The HP Veer smartphone is scheduled to be available in the early spring. Exact pricing and availability will be announced at a later date.
HP Veer features and specs:
* HP webOS
* High-speed connectivity(1)
* Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM7230 800-MHz processor
* 2.57-inch multitouch screen with a vibrant, 18-bit color, 320 x 400 resolution display
* Gesture area, which enables simple, intuitive gestures for navigation
* Full slide-out QWERTY keyboard
* 8 GB of internal storage(9)
* High-performance browser with full access to the web, including support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1 beta for access to rich, Flash-based web content(1)
* Wireless connectivity:
o Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n with WPA, WPA2, WEP, 802.1X authentication(1)
o Integrated GPS(3)
o Bluetooth® wireless technology 2.1 + EDR with A2DP stereo Bluetooth support
o Wi-Fi router functionality for up to five devices using HP mobile hotspot(8)
* Multimedia options, including music, photos, video recording and playback, a 5-megapixel camera with geotagging and 3.5 mm stereo headphone adapter
* Email, including EAS (for access to corporate Microsoft Exchange servers) and personal email support (Google Gmail push, Yahoo!, POP3, IMAP)(5)
* Robust messaging support (combining IM, SMS and MMS capabilities)(4)
* Proximity sensor, light sensor and accelerometer
* Rechargeable 910 mAh battery
* USB mass storage mode to transfer your media and other files quickly between desktop and device
* Ringer switch, which easily silences the ringer with one touch
* Compatible with HP Touchstone (sold separately)
* Tri-band UMTS, quad-band GSM/EDGE world phone(10)
* Dimensions: 54.5 mm x 84.0 mm x 15.1 mm (2.1 inches x 3.3 inches x 0.6 inches)
* Weight: 103 grams (3.6 ounces)
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i'd get one if it was running android. All I care about is a fast CPU, decent GPU, built-in GPS, qvga touchscreen and full querty keyboard. Don't really care about a camera (3mp is enough for me), large screens (witch make the phone bigger) and other fancy things...
It'll never sell well.
The problem with HP, Dell phones etc is that they don't market them well. They just expect people to buy them.
Apple have stupid adverts on TV. But that's the point isn't it?
A message to HP:
Go Android or go home. Who cares about WebOS?
The only way it would be worth the cash is if it ran Android apps.
RIM knows this, and rumor has it that they're working on that functionality.
It's the right way to go.
It'll make them relevant in the consumer market again because they have access to apps that consumers want. Corporations will want them because they will boost the morale of the employees they are issued to, and having a solid back-end for Exchange and other apps that are already coded for BlackBerry.
HP is blind to this. If it could get Android apps, it'd sell well.
WebOS is dead. Who would buy this and enjoy using it?
Otherwise, it looks like a great device, with great internals, but seriously: who buys a smartphone that can't do anything?
Also, this thing better boot faster than 3 minutes.
So much for the earlier story about HP "abandoning" WebOS the smartphone market.
I would say, judging by the specs compared to current phones, it should honestly be free with something as low as a 2-year contract, 3 at the most for being free. Nothing absolutely spectacular about it, other than small. That's just my opinion though. I prefer having a decent size touch-screen device, but to each their own. For people who like to have smaller phones that don't do quite as much as touch, this would be ideal. Like posters have said above, if it was running Android, it would probably go better. But, I can honestly say I have never used WebOS, so I can't judge the OS comparing it Android.
If you've used WebOS on the Palm Pre 2, you'll know that its without any doubt the best smartphone OS. Check Youtube.
A message to HP:Go Android or go home. Who cares about WebOS?The only way it would be worth the cash is if it ran Android apps.RIM knows this, and rumor has it that they're working on that functionality.It's the right way to go.It'll make them relevant in the consumer market again because they have access to apps that consumers want. Corporations will want them because they will boost the morale of the employees they are issued to, and having a solid back-end for Exchange and other apps that are already coded for BlackBerry.HP is blind to this. If it could get Android apps, it'd sell well.WebOS is dead. Who would buy this and enjoy using it?Otherwise, it looks like a great device, with great internals, but seriously: who buys a smartphone that can't do anything?Also, this thing better boot faster than 3 minutes.
Have you used WebOS? I have...it's10x better than Android as far as I'm concerned, 100x better than Android as it pertains to battery life. RIM PlayBook possibly might be able to use Android ap not BlackBerries.
Wasn't that 'abandoning' smart phone market story yesterday?
Maybe Nokia needs to partner up with HP. Between them they might be able to to something.
It'll never sell well. The problem with HP, Dell phones etc is that they don't market them well. They just expect people to buy them.Apple have stupid adverts on TV. But that's the point isn't it?
You are correct but the reason Apple is successful is not due to their adverts. They run very few commercials. Most of their advertising is through word of mouth and brand recognition. Their product looks like quality, this piece of crap does not. When will these other manufacturers learn that making another little plastic toy is not cool. It's also not going to sell well because their product lines are too wide. They have too many products and few people remember their name. Apple has only a few product lines but develops them and markets them well. Everybody knows what an iMac, macbook, iPad, iPhone, iTunes, etc. you get the idea.
Have any of you used Web OS??? It's unfortunate that it does not have the application support it deserves. Web OS is amazing faster than any mobile OS on the market right now. You can do things so quickly that it will leave other serious smart phone users shaking their heads. However, as you have all pointed out, image drives sales, not quality.
And Apple became popular because Steve Jobs is a marketing guru. He makes you want to buy stuff, he created an image, a brand. And he made things easy to use so layman could easily use them. Case in point. In 2002 there was a black and white ipod, no color, not video no applications. the competition was microsoft powered PDA's running Windows Mobile. Technically it could play mp3, and videos, but it had no good programs nor did any of the tech heads at Microsoft care to make it user friendly for the general population. Even though it had superior hardware, there was no vision or good marketing.
HP's Web OS tablet should be amazingly quicker than any other tablet JUST because of WEB OS. Someone should actually try it with a side by side video demonstration....
woot! more WebOS devices 4tw... though this looks like a palm pre shrunk as the processor isn't much faster at 800 Mhz... btu then again my old origional palm pre s still pretty zippy and easy to use so it'll probbaly do just fine... as for mr go android or go home it is called a free market, palm made an excellent OS and just because YOU didn't buy it doesn't mean the rest of us can't enjoy, go fanbody in an android story your negitivity isn't needed here
Im a android user but I have to agree with Jaksun5, the webos operating system is way better than any other mobile operating system.
too many OS kill the phone.
seriously, HP is a little late to the game.
I used and enjoyed an HP smartphone. IPAQ series are deserve the best compliment. But this phone, has no external memory card slot. This is a fatal engineering error in smartphone market. It is a stillborn. (I also used Garmin Asus Nuvifone M20, I know what it means. And I never recommend a phone with no external memory.)