Hands On Gallery: The itty-bitty webOS-powered HP Veer

Oh man this thing is small. Really. I’m not sure its size is conveyed properly even in pictures, and even if I use italics on the word “man” to indicate just how serious I am. This thing is to the Pre as the iPod Nano was to the old non-touch iPods. If it wouldn’t have stirred up all kinds of legal trouble, I’m sure they’d have called it to the Pre Nano.


The keyboard, for its size, is surprisingly comfortable. I don’t think I could ever make this size of keyboard my daily go-to — but if you’re just looking for something to slip in a purse or backpack and blast out texts every once in a while, this size should fit you fine.

Another good thing: in the 10 minutes or so I spent with the device, I didn’t see any hint of the horrible, terrible lag that plagued this device’s now-abandoned older sister. This could change once we really push this thing hard — but so far, so good.

The SIM slot — which here contained an AT&T SIM (they haven’t announced carriers yet, so take that as you will) — is located on the top and is pretty dang hard to open. Fortunately, you don’t really do that all too often.